In 2017 Bourne was a judge of the BBC Young Writers’ Award, along with Nikesh Shukla, editor of The Good Immigrant. [9] She crafts stories and characters with lives so real and relatable, you can't help but feel a part of it all. Jamie grins and talks with his mouth full of egg. "You've got something weird and new that they haven't figured out yet?" Yes, this is a great stylistic device, but it just annoyed me so much. There were also a lot of words in all caps to emphasise it, which caused me to read sentences as if the person saying it was screaming some words. And this annoyed me as well because it's so very exhausting if the voice in my head is screaming all the times. I find that last part really interesting, especially after reading the quote in Challenger Deep, where Caden says, ' There is no such thing as a "correct" diagnosis. There are only symptoms and catchphrases for various collections of symptoms. [...]

I think about prime numbers. How they don’t bend and shape themselves just so they can divide nicely into the world. They stand strong and unmalleable and refuse to have a pattern to them. They are snowflakes and the rest of the numbers are lemmings.” That's when the top blows off his volcano. "BECAUSE I'M IN A BAND!" he shouts and Sophie squeals. "I'm not traumatised or poor or abused, okay? I just smoked a shit ton of weed because I'm in a band and that's what people in bands do. I'm just a selfish idiot addict. How are you going to save the world from selfish idiots? Because I'll tell you what..." his voice lowers to almost a growl. "I don't think absolving myself of all responsibility for the bad decisions I've made in my life is going to make the world a better place. In fact I think it's going to make it a worse one. Yeah shit happens, yadda yadda. But I'm the reason I'm here. I'm the reason I'm like this. And I'm the reason the moment I'm out of here I'll probably go straight to my dealer and buy an ounce, smoke it and probably start tripping out again. Letting people off is not the answer."' (p254-255)* Olive, the main character, was so complex and sometimes hard to follow, sometimes frustrating, really flawed, too, yet she had such a unique voice, too. If I wasn’t entirely loving her course of action in the story, I rooted for her as a character and really wanted her to feel better and most of it all, not to feel like a bad person. Spread the kindness virus with your own Prime Numbers group inspired by Holly Bourne’s latest release, Are We All Lemmings & Snowflakes?The writing is hilarious and witty and Bourne, totally aces the incredibly touchy topic of mental health. The content is incredibly honest and never even for a moment gets pretentious or preachy. She seem to totally GET IT! Young Adult fiction takes over the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2018". Edinburgh Festival. 12 July 2018 . Retrieved 3 September 2018. My heart feels like it’s been sliced down the middle and every painful thing that’s ever happened is oozing from it.’ Olive is standing on the edge of a cliff, screaming up at the sky. Screaming because she feels scared and worthless and wants that feeling to end. The outstretched hand of a policeman coaxes her away from oblivion, and Olive finds herself agreeing to a month’s trial treatment at a teenage mental health facility. We join her at Camp Reset, as she struggles with therapy, relationships, and the biggest dilemma of all, how to make this crazy world a kinder place. Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? by Holly Bourne is the latest from one of our most popular YA authors.

Do you ever wish your life could be different? Calmer? Happier? That maybe the world could be a kinder place? Thought so. Welcome to the Prime Numbers. A group dedicated to making the world a kinder place. Every small act of kindness makes a small difference. So join us and change the world with us. Because, together, snowflakes create avalanches. I think real kindness, real compassion, is having the strength to stop and try and see where another person is coming from. To try and work out why they’re being the way they’re being. It takes time and patience. It’s not easy, but that’s real kindness.” The end wasn’t exactly what I wanted. I feel like we didn’t really have a complete ending. Even Olive’s storyline was rushed and not really over, I would have loved to see her talk to her parents during the final weekend of camp. That’s why I’m giving this book 4 stars. Because of this, I feel it's kind of more respectful to Olive not to discuss what she is dealing with. Saying that, knowing a bit more about mental illnesses through the reading I've done, I did have a theory about what she might have, which was partly confirmed. More on that later. Even though she doesn't want to know exactly what it is she has, she definitely has some thoughts about it. During a Core Beliefs class, the teens are given a sheet of paper listed with negative core beliefs, and they are asked to circle two they feel applies to them. The idea is that they then reword it to say "I would prefer it if I was not..." and rework it into something more positive. This was actually really interesting, and something I think everybody could do with thinking about - whether you have a mental illness or not, we all, at times, suffer from self-doubt, low self-esteem, or negative thoughts about ourselves, and I found it really interesting. Anyway, Olive is looking through the list, after circling one, trying to decide on another, because there are several that she thinks. I’m a big fan of Holly Bourne and everything she writes. This book was no exception. It’s an uplifting story about the power of kindness and compassion.All in all, Are We All Lemmings & Snowflakes is an important, poignant book written for teens and should definitely be read by all teens. I am confident that most people will enjoy this novel to a far greater extent than I did (I think I’m still experiencing a contemporary slump that’s been making it more difficult for me to enjoy the genre – but I digress). Holly Bourne has done it again! This is a story about finding your way and losing it, about the passionate pursuit of hope in seemingly hopeless situations, about recognising that everyone is different and is fighting their own battles. But perhaps most importantly, this book is about kindness; about being kind to yourself. You can’t be kind to others if you can’t be kind to yourself. It’s this lesson that Olive and her friends learn as they spend their days at Camp Rest, and while their ideas for creating a better world to live don’t always go according to Olive’s grand plans, it’s a start. And sometimes a step in the right direction is just the spark that’s needed. I enjoyed reading it though, and I think this is a good book if you don't know much about mental illnesses and what it's like to have them.

Review: Cat Clarke and Holly Bourne - Finding Resolve, EIBF 2018 | The Fountain". The Fountain. 22 August 2018 . Retrieved 3 September 2018. I really loved the message of the book overall about kindness and, most importantly, being kinder to yourself. It’s a message that really hit home for me and my own mental health issues and I really appreciated that the author highlighted that. It’s such an important message.

Popular Posts

Bourne was one of the headlining authors of the 2019 London Book Fair, appearing as 'Children’s Author of the Day' on the final day. [15] Recognitions [ edit ] A very good and nice message was definitely the one sent out in the end: you must be kind to yourself first. I strongly believe it is true, sometimes you really have to be a bit selfish and think about yourself if you want to be better and then be able to help others.