Simon Sort of Says

Simon Sort of Says

By Erin Bow

Disney-Hyperion

2023

Simon O’Keeffe’s biggest claim to fame should be the time his dad accidentally gave a squirrel a holy sacrament. Or maybe the alpaca disaster that went viral on YouTube. But the story the whole world wants to tell about Simon is the one he’d do anything to forget: the story in which he’s the only kid in his class who survived a school shooting.

Two years after the infamous event, twelve-year-old Simon and his family move to the National Quiet Zone—the only place in America where the internet is banned. Instead of talking about Simon, the astronomers who flock to the area are busy listening for signs of life in space. And when Simon makes a friend who’s determined to give the scientists what they’re looking for, he’ll finally have the chance to spin a new story for the world to tell.

Erin Bow

In the beginning, Erin Bow was a city girl from farm country—born in Des Moines and raised in Omaha—where she was fond of tromping through woodlots and reading books by flashlight. In high school Erin captained the debate team, founded the math club, and didn’t date much. 

 In university, she studied particle physics, and worked briefly at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva, Switzerland. Physics was awesome, but graduate school kind of sucked.  Erin got sick, and at some point she remembered that she wanted to write books. So she switched gears from research scientist to poet and children’s writer.  Erin thinks her parents thought she would end up living under a bridge.  But things actually worked out okay.