Publisher's Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he's pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he's never met.
Incredibly funny and poignant, this twenty-first-century coming-of-age, coming out story—wrapped in a geek romance—is a knockout of a debut novel by Becky Albertalli.
Incredibly funny and poignant, this twenty-first-century coming-of-age, coming out story—wrapped in a geek romance—is a knockout of a debut novel by Becky Albertalli.
Our Reviews
There is so much about this book that I loved, from the incredibly crafted and human good guy Simon, to the subtleties of the “blackmail” from Martin after seeing an email he shouldn't have seen, to the relationships with parents and friends that felt real in their complexity. His friends are awesome, and have normal, fast paced and emotionally charged lives that change when he is not around much to his chagrin. Simon shows some real teenage behaviors and his friends react like real people. The biggest flaw in the book is that there is the potential for real danger here, and the book doesn't do much in depth exploration of how emotionally loaded coming out in Georgia could be or how different people could have different reactions, nor much about how dangerous it could be to meet and share things with anonymous people on the Internet. That being said, the novel is first person and focused on how Simon feels about all of this so that excuses some of this. It meeting that way happens all the time in real life with app and Internet dating which is something young people can certainly relate to. The voice in this story is wonderful with Simon and his friends sounding as if you had a secret microphone in any high school in America. I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to any high school student. Gay or not they could relate to Simon and his journey. 5 stars ~M. Vannoni
4.5Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Simon is a gay high school student who is grappling with the idea of "coming out". He starts an online friendship with another gay student in his school, with neither boy knowing who the other one is. Another student, Martin, reads one of their email conversations after Simon leaves a school computer, forgetting to sign out. Martin has a crush on one of Simon's girl friends, and decides to use the email as blackmail to get Simon to set the two up. Simon goes through a range of emotions and dilemmas as he thinks about revealing his secret to his family and friends. I would recommend this book for high school students as there are many sexual references. 4.5 stars ~Donna DeLuca
Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda is the classic teenage tale of secret crushes and unrequited love. The main character asks the same question all teenagers ask themselves: “Will my crush like me back?” In Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda, we meet Simon Spier, the main character, a junior in a Georgia high school. He is in the school play, Oliver. Simon is secretly emailing another classmate- both of whom use pen names to keep their identities a secret. A classmate, Martin, reads Simon’s email and discovers Simon is gay. And still in the closet. Martin blackmails Simon promising he won't share the screenshots of the conversation if Simon introduces Martin to Simon’s friend, Abby. Continuing with the theme of unrequited love, we meet Simon’s two good friends Nick and Leah. Leah has a crush on Nick. Nick has a crush on Abby. So if Simon fixed Martin up with Abby then it will end the drama between his two good friends.
The book is organized where every even chapter is the emails between Simon and his classmate. I enjoyed this format of the book. The book does not take on political agendas and is not very emotional. It has an after-school special feel to it. I enjoyed reading this book. 4 stars Michelle Labuski
The book is organized where every even chapter is the emails between Simon and his classmate. I enjoyed this format of the book. The book does not take on political agendas and is not very emotional. It has an after-school special feel to it. I enjoyed reading this book. 4 stars Michelle Labuski