High school senior Greg sticks to himself. He spends most of his time making avant-garde films with his only friend, Earl. But when Greg’s childhood friend Rachel is diagnosed with leukemia, everything begins to change. Greg, Earl and Rachel grow close, and soon the boys set out to create a film for their friend. Unlike other books in the sub-genre of YA dubbed “sick lit”—which includes The Fault in Our Stars and Five Feet Apart—Me and Earl and the Dying Girl isn’t a romance. Instead, it’s an examination of friendship. Poignant, honest and heart-wrenching, Jesse Andrews’ debut novel is a tender examination of grief that’s also laugh-out-loud hilarious. Published in 2012, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was adapted into a 2015 film of the same name, also written by Andrews, that won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. —Madeleine Carlisle
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