ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL Revised Edition

Narrator Thomas Mann is flawless as insecure high school senior Greg Gaines. Based on a shared love of filmmaking, Greg establishes an unlikely friendship with Earl, an African-American teen from a dysfunctional family. Greg has cultivated "invisibility" in school, but that changes when his mother insists he befriend the dying Rachel. First-person narration allows Mann to channel the paradox that is Greg. We hear his muttered responses to girls while at the same time being privy to his humorously insightful self-examinations. R.J. Cyler portrays Earl, whose street-talking honesty is in sharp contrast to Greg's reticence. As the two friends make their movies, listeners are treated to scenes—complete with narrator, setting, and script notes. L.T. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2015]