{ "item_title" : "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda", "item_author" : [" Becky Albertalli "], "item_description" : "Now a major motion picture: Love, Simon, starring Nick Robinson and Katherine Langford William C. Morris Award Winner: Best Young Adult Debut of the Year * National Book Award LonglistA remarkable gift of a novel.--Andrew Smith, author of Grasshopper JungleI am so in love with this book.--Nina LaCour, author of Hold StillFeels timelessly, effortlessly now.--Tim Federle, author of Better Nate Than EverThe best kind of love story.--Alex Sanchez, Lambda Award-winning author of Rainbow Boys and Boyfriends with GirlfriendsSixteen-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 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.Incredibly funny and poignant, this twenty-first-century coming-of-age, coming out story--wrapped in a geek romance--is a knockout of a debut novel by Becky Albertalli.Plus don't miss Yes No Maybe So, Becky Albertalli's and Aisha Saeed's heartwarming and hilarious new novel, coming in 2020", "item_img_path" : "https://covers3.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/0/06/234/867/0062348671_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "18.99", "online_price" : "18.99", "our_price" : "18.99", "club_price" : "18.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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A teen's fight for identity

Note to self: Don’t forget to log out of your personal email on a public computer. That’s the lesson 16-year-old Simon Spier learns the hard way after a high school classmate reads his emails to his secret, anonymous boyfriend, Blue. Simon hasn’t come out to his friends or family, and now he feels pressured to keep this fact, as well as the identity of Blue, a secret. 

Moments of teen life, drama and angst are well drawn by debut novelist Becky Albertalli, a clinical psychologist who previously worked with gender-nonconforming children. Her insights are spot on, from the dialogue to the raw emotions Simon and Blue experience. As the book alternates between daily life and the emails between Simon and Blue, readers are immediately and magnetically pulled into this story of coming out, being true to oneself and challenging the societal status quo, or the “homo sapiens agenda,” as Simon refers to it. 

Topical relevance aside, this book stands in the YA canon as an outstanding book about teens coming of age, where several of the characters just happen to be gay.

 

This article was originally published in the April 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.