­ New Young Adult Novel Explores Suicide Due to Bullying‏ Two years ago, on a day off from work, I thought I’d have a relaxing day watching TV and playing with my dogs. But as I was flipping through the channels, I ended up on the Dr. Phil Show watching a mother talk about the suicide of her daughter. This girl’s name was Rehtaeh Parsons and she was assaulted and then bullied and cyber bullied until she committed suicide. Something struck me about her story and my heart went out to the family. I immediately went on the computer and started researching the statistics on teenage suicide. The results I found were horrifying. Every year, approximately two million adolescents attempt suicide in the US. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in young people, with approximately 4600 deaths annually. Victims of bullying accounted for as much as half of those deaths. I couldn’t believe that I had never heard these numbers before. Hundreds of famili...