Off The Shelf : Nothing Everything Nothing

Today I'm going to tell you about a book I've read called Nothing Everything Nothing by Casia Schreyer. It's a work of young adult fiction that explores a few topics that are important lately. Including bullying and suicide awareness. You can find it for purchase on Smashwords. If you prefer a hard copy though, they are available through Amazon.com.

Nothing Everything Nothing
Casia Schreyer
220 Pages

This book, in many way hit home for me. The characters are very relatable and believable. In some ways scarily so, because a few of the characters sound like people in my daily life. Which makes everything that much more heart wrenching as the story goes on.

The story revolves around a girl named Molly, who's trying her hardest to fit in with a group of popular girls. But unbeknownst to her, she's only part of the group to make the rest of the group feel better about herself. But this saddening angle isn't the only one that's explored in the book, where many levels of depth make things more complicated and emotional.

A few different ideas about love are explored. Unconditional love is shown in varying degrees. Yet darker points about teenage love is explored, how it can be used as a prize. You give me what I want and I'll love you. Be what I want you to be and I'll love you. You can be popular if you're like us. You can be like us if you just lose a little weight. It makes the reader reflect on what's enough. How much should anyone change to try and fit in, how much should anyone have to give up to be popular?

The author also deals with the reality of cyberbullying in a way that clearly illustrates how harmful this can be. While teenagers, and even adults may think what they say and do online can have no repercussions they're not necessarily correct. It's wrong to think words online can't hurt people emotionally. When hurtful words are coupled with negative experiences, there's no telling the havoc they can cause.

Suicide is also a touchy subject. Many people like to brush it under the carpet, often believing that no one they know would ever succumb to the temptation. This book not only looks at the situations and occurrences that lead up to someone feeling  that suicide is the only answer they have, but it also illustrates clearly how the actions change the lives of more than just one person. A factor that I appreciate.

If you've read some posts in the past that look at suicide on this blog you may understand why I found that to be something to appreciate. Too often there's a lack of clarity in situations surrounding suicide. People often think things like that don't happen to people they know. But by expressing things in the book as they are, it becomes clear that things are not always so cut and dry.

A good read, with some trigger topics. But as long as you're aware of them you can enjoy the piece. Sales of the book also help support a help hotline. A noble gesture. If you read this book, please let me know what you think of it also, it's always nice to compare interpretations.

School is starting soon!

So it's time to look at a topic that is a bit uncomfortable for some people. But it's been brought up and rehashed a lot in the media, as well in schools. Today we're going to look at bullying. I know that many of you aren't worried about it. But here's the thing. Being aware of how something works and havig the knowledge of how to react to a situation is very important.

To start we should look at what the basic definition of the problem is. By knowing how something is defined we become more aware and our ability to identify it in action improves. Bullying is defined by StopBullying.gov as follows.

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.

Which isn't necessarily clear about what can be percieved as bullying by various individuals. This isn't necessarily science, as each of us are unique individuals and have our own quirks. But the site also gives a clear break down of 3 specific types of bullies that people may have the bad luck to encounter. Verbal, social, and physical bullying are the three kinds that they give rather extensive elaborations on.

What they don't look at though, which has become a real problem since so many kids are spending so much time attached to technology, is cyber bullying. Of course you can argue that cyber bullying is a combination of two out of the three offered types. Verbal and social. This is something to think about when you're posting on facebook or other social media.

So really when you go to interact online you should think about what you're writing or making available indefinetly. Things that go out into the digital world are never completely gone. So be aware that something you may say off handedly, without thinking about it, could come back to have negative repercussions. Yes you have the freedom of speech, but what you say and do should not be done with the intention of hurting someone.


Poster a resource from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

Now I know that most of you aren't going to find this interesting or useful. But in truth there's specific people that this is intended for. I'm really hoping that they find the time to read and look this over. But for those of you that might be interested in looking further into the topic, or have a strong opinion on the matter I'd like you to think about the following.

HeyUgly.org looks at various ways to prevent bullying, as well as looks at the topic of suicide prevention. They offer a variety of perspectives and resources for both students and adults for raising awareness as well as how to campaining against both societal problems.

HeyUgly.org also runs various contests that can help youth to think about the topics. By participating, it helps to make them think deeply about the ideas, as well offers them the opportunity to win a prize. Currently they have contests running for the following: acronym, essay, photo, poetry, songwriting, and video. If you want more information go to their site. It's the thirteenth year that they're running the contests. So if you're between the ages of 7-17, you may want to look into them.

If you have another resource that you use or find interesting, please feel free to share it with us in the comment section below. I'm always interested in learning about new programs. Being informed, after all, is half the battle.