Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda

by Becky Albertalli

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 Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn''t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone''s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he''s been emailing with, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon''s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. 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.

My thoughts:

Sixteen-year-old  Simon Spier is gay and he's having an email relationship with an unknown boy, Blue,  this year at his school. Simon is not ready to come out but when his emails fall into the wrong hands, Simon’s secret becomes very public.  What could be a very serious and depressing story instead is an engaging uplifting romance that deals with real issues young adults face..

I loved this story told from the first person point of view of Simon.  He is funny, authentic and relatabled.  His family and friends are supportive and likeable. Readers will race through this to find out the identity of the Simon’s secretive love interest and will be rooting for Simon and Blue as they follow along through the emails sent back and forth between the two characters.  Not only does this story deal with Simon coming out to his family and friends but also focus’ on friendships, consequences of actions, bullying and prejudice.  After finishing this story it is hard not to smile.  One of my favorite reads this year!  Highly recommended for anyone who likes romance, suspense and humor.