diff --git a/app/components/SimpleEditor/SimpleEditor.jsx b/app/components/SimpleEditor/SimpleEditor.jsx
index a88a8b4a8a48dee74209aaad3a20527fab9454df..3492ac3b9d8db4b71a19b5b44aef8b5918663489 100644
--- a/app/components/SimpleEditor/SimpleEditor.jsx
+++ b/app/components/SimpleEditor/SimpleEditor.jsx
@@ -217,8 +217,8 @@ export default class SimpleEditor extends React.Component {
 }
 
 SimpleEditor.propTypes = {
-  book: React.PropTypes.object.isRequired,
-  canEdit: React.PropTypes.bool, // needed?
+  book: React.PropTypes.object,
+  // canEdit: React.PropTypes.bool, // needed?
   fragment: React.PropTypes.object,
   history: React.PropTypes.object.isRequired,
   onSave: React.PropTypes.func.isRequired,
diff --git a/app/components/SimpleEditor/SimpleEditorWrapper.jsx b/app/components/SimpleEditor/SimpleEditorWrapper.jsx
index 1e6f62650325b552c49170f7b9072b5707327d69..180008ea2620a14443f48c2ba418cd4bec363881 100644
--- a/app/components/SimpleEditor/SimpleEditorWrapper.jsx
+++ b/app/components/SimpleEditor/SimpleEditorWrapper.jsx
@@ -17,11 +17,11 @@ export class SimpleEditorWrapper extends React.Component {
   }
 
   componentWillMount () {
-    const { book, actions } = this.props
-    const { getCollections, getFragments } = actions
+    const { getCollections, getFragments } = this.props.actions
 
     // TODO: might not need to fetch all the collections?
     getCollections().then(() => {
+      const { book } = this.props
       getFragments(book)
     })
 
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ export class SimpleEditorWrapper extends React.Component {
 // TODO -- review required props
 SimpleEditorWrapper.propTypes = {
   actions: React.PropTypes.object.isRequired,
-  book: React.PropTypes.object.isRequired,
+  book: React.PropTypes.object,
   fragment: React.PropTypes.object,
   history: React.PropTypes.object.isRequired,
   user: React.PropTypes.object.isRequired