426 reviews for:

The Greatest Thing

Sarah Winifred Searle

4.0 AVERAGE

crosberg's review against another edition

5.0

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What a perfect book for my first read of 2022! For the weird, artsy, LGBTQ+ kids, The Greatest Thing is a love letter to our teen selves. It's gentle and kind with tough topics like eating disorders and gender identity, tackling them head on with unflinching grace and bravery. The book is totally appropriate for YA readers and some advanced middle grade ones, and serves as an excellent reminder of just how important our friends and our dreams are.

Though the book does mention a lot of tough topics (eating disorders, mental illness, exploring gender and queer identities), it does so kindly and in age appropriate ways for teen readers. The kids are all supported by caring friends and loving, qualified adults.

ohemgee's review against another edition

3.5

emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

depleti's review

4.0

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An absolutely lovely graphic novel, full of emotions and love with delicate art that feels fragile and precious. The zine scenes were really fun too, and despite the heavy and complicated topics, this graphic novel helps highlight the power of comics.

illustrasa's review

3.0

Strong character development: No

kaitlphere's review

4.0

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A lot of this story felt like it was about Win, Oscar, and April as a friend group, but then the end of the book changes course. It felt like it ended suddenly and overall bittersweet.

I enjoyed getting to know Oscar and April as characters and watching Win discover herself as a person. I also enjoyed the zine story in the book. Overall this was a good coming-of-age story.

bookgerm__'s review against another edition

3.5

emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

typo27's review

3.25

inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

alexelspeth's review

4.0

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

maejorlybookish's review

4.0

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I'm a sucker for graphic novels that take place during my own middle school/high school years. They just feel cozy to me in a way that most other things don't.

The Greatest Thing explores a lot of tough subjects. Also, Win's mom is pretty cool, even when she breaks the (fairly mild, tbh) rules.

imnotadorableimpunk's review

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes