No Man Is an Island: Finding Friendship in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

This engaging, offbeat coming-of-age film offers much to discuss in the secondary classroom, from social hierarchies to death. Perhaps most notably, writes Garry Westmore, it presents a convincing case for the value of close friendships, despite and because of their inevitable pitfalls.

Additional keywords: Screens in the Classroom, middle years, senior secondary, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Spectacular Now, Jesse Andrews, teen film, cancer, death, coming of age, Werner Herzog, sweding.