#12: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

 

 People are like houses with vast rooms and tiny windows.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Becky Albertalli

 

Year Published: 2015

Pages: 303

Genres: YA fiction, contemporary realistic fiction, LGBTQ fiction, romance

Topics: Coming out, first love, high school, friendship

Recognition

    William C. Morris YA Debut Book Award, 2016
    Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2015
    Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's/Young Adult LGBTQ Literature, 2015
    Basis for the 2018 film Love, Simon

Summary

Simon Spier is a high school junior in an Atlanta suburb. He loves Oreos and Elliott Smith, and he's in the school production of Oliver! He's also gay, but no one else knows that yet.

When Simon is captivated by a social media post from a boy at his school who uses the pen name "Blue," the two strike up an anonymous email correspondence with each other. Hiding behind pseudonyms, their relationship grows flirtations, then downright romantic. But Blue refuses to reveal his identity, despite Simon's cajoling.

Their arrangement becomes even more complicated when Simon's classmate Martin discovers the emails and threatens to reveal them to the whole school unless Simon helps him woo his friend Abby. Simon's not particularly afraid of coming out, but he doesn't want to jeopardize his deepening relationship with the mysterious Blue. With Martin's threat hanging over him, Simon must navigate the normal ins and outs of high school while protecting his own identity and falling in love with a boy who refuses to even meet him in person.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Me

My mentor teacher recommended Simon to me when I was looking for YA books to read for this project. I hadn't paid much attention to YA literature for over a decade, and I didn't realize how successful or influential this novel had been in the late 2010s. I had only ever heard of the movie, Love, Simon, and I didn't know it had also spawned a Hulu series.

The stakes are much lower in Simon than in most of the books I've read for this project. Although Simon is blackmailed to protect his identity, he says early on that coming out "doesn't really scare [him]." Much of the conflict in the story—especially in the first half—derives more from standard high school social drama and Simon's pining after Blue than from a real fear of being outed. Ultimately, it is a light romance, and I struggled to get into the story for a while because so little seemed to be happening. But Albertalli really nails the voice of a snarky, insecure high schooler, and even if parts of the novel already feel dated, it's still a quick, easy, and pretty fun read.

While I didn't absolutely love this novel, I did like the characters' voices, and the short excerpt in the back from the sequel Leah on the Offbeat piqued my interest. If it's as quick and easy as Simon, I wouldn't mind reading it.

Teaching Considerations

Young Adult: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is a high school romance, and while a mature 8th grader might enjoy it, I would recommend it to 9th-11th graders (ages 14-17).

Small Group or Independent Read: I think Simon's strength as a novel is its ability to make its readers feel seen and understood. I don't think, necessarily, that it's a strong book for exploring universal themes in a group setting. Having the book available for students and being able to recommend it seem more appropriate to me than teaching it as a whole-class text.

Character Social Media Profiles: One of the strengths of the novel is the detail with which the main characters are developed. Because social media plays an important role in the story, students could create social media profiles for the characters and use textual evidence to explain the choices they made.

Sensitive Content: Simon doesn't really have too many content barriers. It contains some typical high school language, sexual innuendo, and one make-out scene with some minor anatomical descriptions, but it's pretty approachable in general.

Read-Aloud Passages

  • That's a pretty sexy story, Blue.  ...  (Eyebrows, butthole mouth, etc.) - Blue (pp. 13-16)
    • This is an early email exchange between Simon and Blue, where Simon describes when he first realized he is gay. It's a good way to introduce the relationship between Simon and Blue and their repartee, and it's an honest and relatable representation of a teen boy understanding his sexuality.

  • I was the one who found him.  ...  I'd rather not lose him. (pp. 18-19)
    • Simon explains the social media post that first attracts him to Blue and his early infatuation. Albertalli includes some eloquent similes describing Simon's realization that he's not alone, and she introduces the reader to Simon's feelings for Blue.

  • "Martin tonight," Abby says, shaking her head.  ...  And then we go home (pp. 123-125)
    • Simon comes out to his friend Abby and makes her promise not to keep it secret. It's the first time he's told anyone, and it represents an important character development.

Liked Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda? Try These:

Becky Albertalli has released two sequels to Simon:

Other books to explore:

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