The Greatest Thing
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A 2023 Lambda Literary Award Finalist
A 2023 YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens
A 2023 Children's Book Council Young Adult Favorite
It’s the first day of sophomore year, and now that Winifred’s two best (and only) friends have transferred to a private school, she must navigate high school on her own. But she isn’t alone for long. In art class, she meets two offbeat students, Oscar and April. The three bond through clandestine sleepovers, thrift store shopping, and zine publishing. Winifred is finally breaking out of her shell, but there’s one secret she can’t bear to admit to April and Oscar, or even to herself—and this lie is threatening to destroy her newfound friendships.
With breathtaking art and honest storytelling, Sarah Winifred Searle delivers a heartfelt story about love, friendship, and self-acceptance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Searle's semi-autobiographical graphic novel covers teen relationships, mental health, art-making, and disordered eating with crackling specificity. In 2002, Winifred Cunningham is an anxious white 10th grader whose closest friends have recently transferred to other schools. Win, who is self-conscious about eating in front of others, "trick" her body "into forgetting it was hungry by making it sick instead" at night and stays awake worrying. But she soon befriends wealthy, enthusiastic April, cued as white and nonbinary, and poetic, pansexual Oscar, who has brown skin. The three share a love of art and struggle with self-esteem, and they find an outlet by creating a zine, Gutterglimmers, which evolves over the course of the story, conveyed in full issues accompanied by zine-making instructions. With help from her empathic mom, meds, and a guidance counselor, Win eventually takes self-expression from the pages of her zine to real life, and finally reciprocates the overtures of a welcoming friend. Spare illustrations with a limited palette add to a visually and emotionally satisfying read about escaping depression and loneliness through art-making. Ages 14–up.
