diff --git a/recommender/recommender.py b/recommender/recommender.py
index e1922e1..15cf914 100644
--- a/recommender/recommender.py
+++ b/recommender/recommender.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 import codecs
 import hashlib
-import json
+import simplejson as json
 import lxml.etree as etree
 import pkg_resources
 import re
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9670041..0cc9401 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-webob
+bleach==2.1.4
+boto
 fs
 mako
-boto
-bleach==2.1.4
 pycodestyle
+simplejson
+webob
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6e0968c..f70a5f7 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ def package_data(pkg, root_list):
 
 setup(
     name='recommender-xblock',
-    version='1.4.4',
+    version='1.4.5',
     description='recommender XBlock',   # TODO: write a better description.
     long_description=README,
     author='edX',