Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Albertalli, Becky. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. 2015. 303p. ISBN 978-0-06-234867-8. Available at FIC ALB on the library shelves.

Simon is gay. When he was younger he thought it might just be a phase, but now he knows for sure. What he doesn’t know is how to come out and break it to his family and friends. It’s not that he’s afraid of what they will think, or of what the rest of the school will think, per se, but rather that it’s just going to be awkward. And possibly dramatic. And it could change everything. His solace, and the only person he has shared this information with, is a teenager he has only meet online, named Blue. Like Simon, Blue is also gay and dealing with how to announce it to his family. Both of them go to the same high school, but because they don’t share names of friends and other revealing details they are able to remain anonymous. They share messages about their lives and the struggles they encounter.

Simon couldn’t wait to check his emails, however, so he used the school library’s computer, and forgot to log out. Martin, the juniors’ class clown, begins to blackmail Simon into getting a date with Addy, one of his best friends. Simon doesn’t want to do it, but he doesn’t want to be outed out by Martin, and, more importantly, doesn’t want people looking for Blue, so he goes along with it.

Unfortunately, Martin reveals Simon’s sexual orientation to the whole school after Simon is unable to secure a date for him, and bullying starts in earnest. Even the theatre, Simon’s refuge, offers no relief. His communications with Blue are the only things he looks forward to, but even these are getting strained. And his group of friends is breaking apart before his very eyes. For someone who doesn’t like to be in the limelight, Simon must now step on life’s stage and become its star in his own performance, before he wrecks everything with his friends and misses a chance at love with Blue.