Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Email Correspondent Review”

In this activity, students will write to an imaginary correspondent reviewing the book they have just finished.

Much of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda is told through the emails between Simon and “Blue.” Write an email to an imaginary correspondent that gives an honest review of the novel.

• Using the emails in the book as a model, create your own pretend email address and pen name. This shouldn’t be your real name, but might reveal something about your interests.
• In the body of your email, review Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda. Your review should include:

o A spoiler-free summary (i.e., a book “blurb”)

o A reflection on the ways in which one of the main themes is developed over the course of the book

o An overall rating out of 5 stars with a 1-paragraph rationale

o A list of 2-3 books that complement Simon’s story as potential “next reads”

After all readers finish, the emails will be redistributed. Consider what your anonymous correspondent thought about the novel. Evaluate the helpfulness of the review with 2-3 brief bulleted comments.

Teaching Suggestion: For a different approach to the activity, consider secretly pairing students at the beginning of the unit. This way, they can write summaries, reader reactions, predictions, and thoughts about the novel to their anonymous correspondent as the unit proceeds. They might provide hints in the last correspondence regarding their identity and can participate in a final discussion about the book with the correspondent after partners are revealed.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who benefit from support strategies with writing assignments, a template with additional instructions or examples for each section might be helpful.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Consider Blue’s and Simon’s experiences coming out.

• How do their views on sexuality differ? (topic sentence)
• Find at least 3 moments in the text in which Simon and Blue differ on their opinions or in their experiences coming out. Analyze and discuss what readers learn through indirect characterization about Simon and Blue through these examples.
• Then, in your concluding sentence or sentences, compose a summary statement regarding the novel’s overall message about Individual Coming-of-Age Experiences.

2.  Consider the perspective of the novel, a combination of Simon’s first-person point-of-view along with epistolary chapters made up of emails between Simon and Blue.

• What does this combined perspective help readers understand about Simon? (topic sentence)
• Consider what is gained from each storytelling perspective. What can readers learn about Simon through his emails? What can be learned from his interior monologue? In your analysis, cite at least 3 examples from the text that provide insight into Simon’s character.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate the effectiveness of the combined perspective in developing the theme of Mysterious Interior Lives.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Throughout the novel, Simon reassures readers (and perhaps himself) that his coming out will likely be a non-event. Upon what factors does Simon base this reassurance? In a 3-paragraph essay, discuss the likeliest reason or reasons why Simon chooses against coming out until Martin’s Tumblr post. In your essay, consider and address Simon’s support system and any weak spots it might contain. Support your ideas with details and examples from the text.

2. One of the major themes of the novel is Reintroducing Yourself to the Universe. Select the secondary character (not Simon or Blue) who best represents this theme. In a 3- or 5-paragraph essay, examine how this theme applies to this secondary character. Describe and analyze the ways in which their characterization is evident in the novel before and after their “reintroduction.” Cite at least 3 quotes from the text to support your character analysis.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which word best describes Simon’s interior monologue?

A) Aggressive

B) Sarcastic

C) Terrified

D) Cool

2. Throughout the “blackmailing,” who is Simon most concerned about?

A) Himself

B) His Parents

C) Abby

D) Blue

3. What is the impact on readers of Simon’s emails to Blue?

A) Readers see more than Simon portrays to most people.

B) Readers see how mature Simon is despite his innocent exterior.

C) Readers see that Simon is exactly who he wants to be with everyone.

D) Readers see less than Simon shows people he knows in real life.

4. What is implied by the fact that only Simon and Leah do not participate in Gender Bender Day?

A) They don’t have any school spirit.

B) They are both questioning their gender/sexuality.

C) They forgot to plan an outfit.

D) They made a pact to skip it.

5. Which theme is best embodied by the following quote from Chapter 6, “Sometimes it seems like everyone knows who I am except me”?

A) Mysterious Interior Lives

B) Reintroducing Yourself to the Universe

C) Individual Coming-of-Age Experiences

D) Complex Decisions

6. What is the referenced “Homo Sapiens Agenda” from the title, according to Simon and Blue?

A) The desire to find love

B) The support of the gay community

C) The fact that everyone should have to come out

D) The tendency for similar people to find each other

7. Which of Simon’s family members is the least outwardly supportive during his coming out?

A) His mother

B) His older sister Alice

C) His younger sister Nora

D) His father

8. Which of the following was a correct guess that Simon had about Blue’s identity?

A) He likes to draw.

B) He shares a name with a president.

C) He has blue eyes.

D) He once pushed Simon in a rolling chair.

9. What does Simon mean when he tells Blue that he “knows him”?

A) He has decoded all of the secret messages about Blue’s identity.

B) He has been friends with Blue for a long time in real life.

C) He knows Blue’s personality and character, which is most important.

D) He was told by Martin who Blue is.

10. What type of figurative language is used in the following quote from Chapter 35, “People really are like houses with vast rooms and tiny windows”?

A) Paradox

B) Simile

C) Irony

D) Personification

11. Which situation in the novel is the best example of the theme Mysterious Interior Lives?

A) Martin “blackmailing” Simon

B) Cal having a crush on Simon

C) Leah teaching herself to play the drums

D) Simon getting drunk downtown

12. Which of Simon’s friends does he most relate to?

A) Leah: Simon sometimes feels like an outsider, and so has Leah.

B) Nick: Multiple friends have had crushes on both Simon and Nick.

C) Abby: Simon is the newest of the friend group besides Abby.

D) Bram: Simon is really good at soccer, and so is Bram.

13. What does the theater program symbolize for Simon?

A) He is always surrounded by fake people.

B) He is often putting on an act of who he really is.

C) He finds the world around him overly dramatic.

D) He needs to be more involved in the community.

14. Which adjective best describes Simon’s relationships with his friends?

A) Sincere

B) Superficial

C) School-based

D) Superfluous

15. Which of the following does NOT relate an idea implied by the title about the novel?

A) Simon battles against a foe larger than himself.

B) Simon is alone in his struggles.

C) Simon is the main character of the novel.

D) Simon is not human.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How has Simon changed from the beginning to the end of the novel?

2. Compare the ways in which Simon’s sisters react to his coming out.