Simon vs the Homosapien Agenda
By: Becky Albertalli
By: Becky Albertalli
Release Date: April 17, 2015
Pages: 320
Grades- 8 and up
Awards
William C. Morris Award Winner
National Book Award Longlist
The Story
Simon is a normal sixteen year old living in Georgia.
His family watches the Bachelor religiously
He has a Golden Retriever named Bieber (Named after Justin Bieber to be exact)
He is a huge Harry Potter fan
....and he is gay.
He isn't ready to tell anyone yet though. The only person that knows is Blue. Simon met Blue over an anonymous Tumbler page. Blue is gay too and goes to Simon's school, but they are anonymous to each other. Their quiet friendship is only evident within the emails they share with one another. One day, a classmate named Martin finds Simon's email pulled up on the library computer. He approaches Simon and tells him that he knows he is gay and found his emails to Blue.
He will expose Simon to the school, unless he helps him to get with Simon's friend Abby. Cornered, Simon agrees to help.
Simon must now try to get his friend Abby to date Martin all the while trying to hide his secret and protecting Blue, but who is Blue?
Strengths
I hate to admit it, but I don't read much LGBT literature. The LGBT books that I have read were just strictly about how the character was a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. This really annoyed me because there is so much more to a person then this. What I loved about this book is that the character Simon is well developed. He is just a normal kid.
The character has a wonderful family, hilarious friends, and is passionate about drama.
The bigger theme of this book is being afraid of showing your true self. It was brilliant! I think this is a universal theme that a lot of people can relate to.
I also really enjoyed the mystery of trying to figure out who Blue was.
I stayed up late with Simon trying to figure it out. (At one point I suspected everyone). When it was finally revealed, I flipped back through the book looking for clues that I might have missed.
What a great story!
Weakness
There is a lot of swearing.
It is characteristic of the character, but for reader's advisory it is something to make note of.
Favorite Quote
I don't remember openly giggling to a book in a long time.
This book had so many hilarious and relatable quotes.
One of my favorite is:
Simon is a normal sixteen year old living in Georgia.
His family watches the Bachelor religiously
He has a Golden Retriever named Bieber (Named after Justin Bieber to be exact)
He is a huge Harry Potter fan
....and he is gay.
He isn't ready to tell anyone yet though. The only person that knows is Blue. Simon met Blue over an anonymous Tumbler page. Blue is gay too and goes to Simon's school, but they are anonymous to each other. Their quiet friendship is only evident within the emails they share with one another. One day, a classmate named Martin finds Simon's email pulled up on the library computer. He approaches Simon and tells him that he knows he is gay and found his emails to Blue.
He will expose Simon to the school, unless he helps him to get with Simon's friend Abby. Cornered, Simon agrees to help.
Simon must now try to get his friend Abby to date Martin all the while trying to hide his secret and protecting Blue, but who is Blue?
Strengths
I hate to admit it, but I don't read much LGBT literature. The LGBT books that I have read were just strictly about how the character was a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. This really annoyed me because there is so much more to a person then this. What I loved about this book is that the character Simon is well developed. He is just a normal kid.
The character has a wonderful family, hilarious friends, and is passionate about drama.
The bigger theme of this book is being afraid of showing your true self. It was brilliant! I think this is a universal theme that a lot of people can relate to.
I also really enjoyed the mystery of trying to figure out who Blue was.
I stayed up late with Simon trying to figure it out. (At one point I suspected everyone). When it was finally revealed, I flipped back through the book looking for clues that I might have missed.
What a great story!
Weakness
There is a lot of swearing.
It is characteristic of the character, but for reader's advisory it is something to make note of.
Favorite Quote
I don't remember openly giggling to a book in a long time.
This book had so many hilarious and relatable quotes.
One of my favorite is:
"Awkwardness achievement unlocked."
"Should we be filming this?"
Overall
This book is delightful. I would recommend it for grades 9 and up.
With its incredible plot line I can see why it was the winner of Morris Award.
I look forward to sharing this book with my teens.
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