Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
by Becky Albertalli
★ Top 25 book of 2015 · #11 on Best Books of 2015
Simon is a sixteen-year-old who keeps his sexuality private until an email lands in the wrong hands and he is blackmailed. Meanwhile his flirty correspondence with a mystery boy named Blue keeps growing.
Best for: Teen readers wanting a warm, funny coming-out story with an email romance
Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is #11 on BookWard's Best Books of 2015, out of 56 2015 books that cleared our data bar.
What Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is about
Simon Spier is sixteen, a high school junior in a suburb of Atlanta, with a fondness for musical theater and a secret he has not shared: he is gay. He has been emailing a boy who goes by Blue, while Simon writes under the name Jacques, and their messages are growing more flirtatious as they get closer. Then a blackmailer threatens to expose the emails unless Simon helps class clown Martin win over Simon's friend Abby.
The threat puts both Simon's privacy and Blue's at risk, and strain starts to show in Simon's once tight-knit circle of friends. The title parodies the phrase "homosexual agenda" and recalls a joke between Simon and Blue that everyone, not only gay people, should have to come out.
Becky Albertalli's debut is a story of first love, friendship, and stepping out of one's comfort zone. It won the William C. Morris Award from the American Library Association. Morris Award and the German Youth Literature Prize, was longlisted for the National Book Award, and made the Wall Street Journal's list of the best young adult novels of 2015.
Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda on the Best Books of 2015
Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda came out in 2015. Of the 56 books first published in 2015 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #11 on our Best Books of 2015 list.
Why it made the list: 653 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (52 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2015 list
- Corrupt Penelope Douglas, #9
- Tales from a Not-So-Perfect Pet Sitter Rachel Renée Russell, #10
- The Bazaar of Bad Dreams Stephen King, #12
- Children of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky, #13
See all Best Books of 2015 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2014 Best Books of 2016.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 574 want to read it, 18 are reading it now and 61 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.2 out of 5 from 52 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 82 | 55% |
| Reader love | 70 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 63 | 20% |
Questions about Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
When was Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda published?
Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli was first published in 2015.
Was Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda one of the best books of 2015?
Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is #11 on BookWard's Best Books of 2015, out of 56 2015 books that cleared our data bar. 653 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (52 ratings).
Why is Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda on the Best Books of 2015 list?
653 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (52 ratings).
More of the best books of 2015
- Six of Crows Leigh Bardugo, #1
- The Hired Girl Laura Amy Schlitz, #2
- Queen of Shadows Sarah J. Maas, #3
- November 9 Colleen Hoover, #4
- The Sword of Summer Rick Riordan, #5
- Red Queen Victoria Aveyard, #6
See the full Best Books of 2015, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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