What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedPEN15
Anna Konkle · Series · 2019
If you loved PEN15, start with Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham, 2018) — a film on the same thread. Below: 4 books, 4 films and 2 podcasts, each matched to PEN15 across media.
What hooked you in PEN15 was the way it captures the excruciating, hyper-specific vulnerability of being an outsider during those formative middle school years.
Books on the same thread
Smile
Raina Telgemeier · Book
Explores: adolescent anxiety, self-discovery, dental trauma.
Like PEN15, this memoir grounds its humor in the visceral, physical indignities of adolescence, turning the common anxieties of middle school into a relatable story of self-discovery and survival.
Ghost World
Daniel Clowes · Book · 2001
Shares a thread with PEN15: Female friendship.
If you appreciated the intense, codependent female friendship at the core of PEN15, you will recognize that same caustic social alienation and existential dread in these iconic teenage outcasts.
Idlewild
James Frankie Thomas · Book · 2023
Shares a thread with PEN15: Nostalgia.
This novel mirrors the way PEN15 treats the past with both humor and gravity, exploring the same themes of intense teenage bonding and identity formation within a specific era.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
and Jeff Kinney · Book
Explores: Middle school struggles, Adolescent awkwardness, Social hierarchy.
You will find the same focus on the social hierarchy and awkward middle school struggles that defined PEN15, presented here with a similar comedic lens on the trials of adolescence.
Films on the same thread
Eighth Grade
Bo Burnham · Film · 2018
Shares a thread with PEN15: Middle School.
This film captures the exact same tidal wave of adolescent anxiety and social awkwardness found in PEN15, grounding the end of middle school in a raw, deeply relatable emotional reality.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
Kelly Fremon Craig · Film · 2023
Shares a thread with PEN15: Female Friendship.
This film echoes the way PEN15 navigates the messy transition of early puberty, focusing on the same themes of female friendship and the persistent, awkward search for belonging in life.
mid90s
Jonah Hill · Film · 2018
Shares a thread with PEN15: Nostalgia.
The nostalgia for a specific past era and the focus on an outsider finding their footing among a new crew mirrors the core emotional journey of the characters in PEN15.
The Edge of Seventeen
Kelly Fremon Craig · Film · 2016
Shares a thread with PEN15: Female Friendship.
The messy, high-stakes nature of teenage female friendship portrayed in PEN15 is mirrored here, showing how quickly close bonds can shift during the volatile years of high school.
Podcasts on the same thread
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Team Coco & Earwolf · Podcast · 2026
Explores: parasocial relationships, professional intimacy, self-deprecating humor.
If the self-deprecating humor and focus on the complexities of human connection in PEN15 resonated with you, you will appreciate this candid, often awkward exploration of building professional intimacy.
Girls Rewatch
Podcast
Shares 2 threads with PEN15: female friendship, nostalgia.
This podcast captures the same spirit of female friendship and retrospective analysis of the past that made PEN15 such a sharp, comedic look at the process of growing up.