To This Day: For the Bullied and Beautiful by Shane Koyczan

This book began as a poem then became a You Tube video that went viral and now it’s a beautifully illustrated book. The following description is from the Good Reads website:

'To This Day is an authentic rallying cry for anyone who has been affected by bullying.

In February 2013, Shane Koyczan's passionate anti-bullying poem "To This Day" electrified the world. An animated video of the lyric narrative went viral, racking up over 12 million hits to date and inspiring an international movement against bullying in schools. Shane later performed the piece to sustained applause on the stage of the 2013 annual TED Conference.
Now this extraordinary work has been adapted into an equally moving and visually arresting book. Thirty international artists, as diverse as they are talented, have been inspired to create exceptional art to accompany "To This Day." Each page is a vibrant collage of images, colors and words that will resonate powerfully with anyone who has experienced bullying themselves, whether as a victim, observer, or participant.
Born of Shane's own experiences of being bullied as a child, "To This Day" expresses the profound and lasting effect of bullying on an individual, while affirming the strength and inner resources that allow people to move beyond the experience. A heartfelt preface and afterword, along with resources for kids affected by bullying, make this book an invaluable centerpiece of the anti-bullying movement.'
See the video version of the poem on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltun92DfnPY (less)

The video version of the poem is wonderful, especially Shane’s narrative (he’s an award winning spoken word poet), but I loved being able to go through the book more slowly and savour the words and illustrations.

You can find the book in the teen non-fiction section of Paraparaumu Library at call number 821. 

Reviewed by Carolyn