Simon Sort of Says

Simon Sort of Says is a middle grade realistic fiction novel written by Erin Bow and originally published in 2023. The novel deals with the subject of coping with the aftermath of surviving a school shooting and is narrated from the perspective of seventh-grader Simon. Simon consistently demonstrates The Importance of Humor in Life’s Darkest Moments and heals through The Redemptive Power of Friendship. Simon’s story also illustrates Healing From Trauma as a Family and the process of Living With PTSD. Among many other awards and lists, Simon Sort of Says is a 2024 Newbery Honor Book and a Schneider Family Honor Book, and it is on the 2024 National Book Award Longlist. In addition to Simon Sort of Says, Bow has written three volumes of poetry, a memoir, and five novels, including The Scorpion Rules.

This guide refers to the 2023 Scholastic hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain descriptions of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of surviving a school shooting.

Plot Summary

Simon O’Keeffe and his parents move to Grin and Bear It, Nebraska, a National Quiet Zone where astronomers use massive radio telescopes in an attempt to discover intelligent life in space. The use of the Internet, radio, and television is forbidden in the town, which is ideal for Simon; he is the only survivor of a school shooting, and he and his family are attempting to outrun the media and other forms of negative attention. Simon’s mother is a funeral director, and the family purchased the local funeral home, Slaughter & Sons, where they also live. Simon’s father is a deacon at the local church.

Although the town is small, Simon is determined to keep his past a secret from the people who live there. He starts seventh grade in the middle of February and makes a fast friend in a boy named Kevin Matapang. Two weeks later, Simon is relatively settled into a routine and makes another friend: a girl named Agate van der Zwaan. Agate is on the autism spectrum and is proud of her differences, and she sees Simon as the perfect person to help her with a secret project. Agate lives on a farm near the radio telescopes and hopes to fake a message from space to renew the astronomers’ hope. She also hopes that she and Simon will become friends. Simon never agrees or declines to participate, so Agate shows up at his house one day. After safely getting past the peacock that lives in the yard, Agate and Simon hang out together, and Agate teaches Simon about the importance of prime numbers in sending a radio signal “from space.” A few days later, Simon goes over to Kevin’s house for the first time and sees that Kevin’s family has a microwave inside a special metal cage. The next day, Simon meets Kevin at the local coffee shop that Kevin’s dad runs, and Kevin tells Simon that funding for SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence) is at risk. Simon’s inner anxiety reacts to the thought of the town’s reason for being without Internet suddenly being taken away.

Simon bikes over to Agate’s farm one day to discuss the space message and learn from Agate about sidereal time. He also meets the service dog puppies that her family is raising. The father of the puppies, Todd, is the family’s dog. Simon connects with the smallest dog in the litter, and Agate later surprises him by giving the dog to Simon to take care of. Simon names the dog Hercules. The first few weeks of caring for the puppy are difficult, but Simon gets through it. Meanwhile, a squirrel eats through the church’s supply of altar bread, and Simon’s dad has to leave town for rabies shots. Simon invites Kevin over for a sleepover, and they walk Hercules to the coffee shop. They run into Agate, who wants to let Kevin in on the secret project, but Simon worries that Kevin will judge him for it. Simon invites Agate to come back to his place with him and Kevin, and the trio watches a movie together about contact with alien life. When Agate hears that microwaves have confused astronomers in the past, Simon knows that she will want to use Kevin’s for the project. Simon starts to think about the reality of the project and the media attention it might draw. At the same time, he distracts himself by taking care of Hercules and socializing him at school and elsewhere. When Simon goes to visit Agate at the farm, she tells him about the Vega star and how she hopes to use it as the decoy for the space message. Agate shows Simon her treehouse, and standing up in the confined space makes Simon nervous at first. Agate understands that Simon has trauma, and she tries to talk to him about it, but Simon isn’t ready.

Two days before the anniversary of the shooting that Simon survived, his new school hands out orange ribbons to all the students. Most of the students turn it into a joke and pin their ribbons all over the school, and Simon is constantly surrounded by reminders. On the anniversary date, Simon stays home from school and spends most of the day under his bed with Hercules and his parents. Kevin goes into town and has access to the Internet, so he Googles Simon and finds out about the shooting. When he approaches Simon about it, Simon feels bad for keeping the secret, and Kevin is hurt by Simon’s secrecy. Simon then realizes that he should tell Agate before she hears it from someone else.

Simon and his mother are called to Agate’s farm in the middle of the night and find a chaotic scene in which the neighbor’s emus are loose on Agate’s family farm. Simon and Agate follow instructions to trick and lure the emus back into the barn. While they do so, Simon tells Agate about surviving a school shooting, and he adds that she has become his best friend. At school, Simon tries to connect with Kevin again, but Kevin distances himself from Simon for a while. Two days before summer vacation, a tornado hits the town, and Simon reacts to the sirens by curling up into a ball on the ground. He loses sense of reality but has his dog and Agate with him. Agate helps Simon remember to breathe, and Simon’s teacher pulls him into the school basement, where he is safe. The church where Simon’s dad works is struck by lightning during the same storm, and it’s an emotional reunion when Simon sees his parents again. Simon dreads going back to school, where all his peers now surely know about his past.

When Simon does return to school, he is met by a memorial shrine on the school steps. He responds strongly and yells at Agate, who is only trying to help him. Simon goes to church and listens to his father give a sermon about God’s plan and his doubt in it. When he mentions the shooting, Simon rushes out of the church, and Kevin chases after him. Kevin apologizes for being distant, and Simon decides to invite Kevin to help with the space message by borrowing his microwave. Simon and Kevin sneak away with the microwave and take it to Agate’s farm, where Simon apologizes for yelling at her. The last piece of equipment needed is an extension cord, which the trio takes from Simon’s basement. While down there, they overhear Simon’s mom talking to the principal about a body that went missing from the back of a truck. Simon’s mother spends weeks dealing with the aftermath of the incident, and Simon’s father causes controversy with his church. Simon, Agate, and Kevin set up the equipment for the alignment and wait for the following day. When Simon gets home, a news reporter is there, and he and his dad hide from her. Eventually, the peacock chases her away.

On the day of the alignment, Simon and his friends have a campout together. They set everything up and wait for the right moment, and when the time comes, Simon gets to push the buttons on the microwave. He presses it five, seven, and 11 times, and the signal is sent to the radio telescopes. The astronomers instantly react to the new development, and Simon feels a sense of accomplishment and peace. The next morning, Simon goes with his parents to a nearby town so that they can participate in a television interview about the shooting and the missing body. Simon stays in the hotel and uses the Internet for the first time in months, but he soon realizes that he would rather be back home with his friends. When he does get back to the farm, it’s swarming with news reporters and scientists. The neighbor, frustrated by all the radiation, releases his emus and chases away the scientists. Simon, Agate, and Kevin sit in the treehouse, hoping not to be discovered, but when the microwave falls out of the treehouse, Agate’s neighbor finds the kids and is angry. Simon responds by jumping out of the treehouse, and Agate follows him. Simon only hurts his ankles, but Agate ends up with a concussion and three stitches. At the hospital, Simon gets to meet Agate’s father, who suggests that Simon keep Hercules permanently. Simon is mostly worried about Agate, but when he sees her, he knows that she’ll be fine. Simon spends a moment alone with Agate, feeling grateful for the present, past, and future.