The Astonishing Maybe

Shaunta Grimes's middle-grade debut handles something genuinely difficult — a child's experience of a parent's clinical depression — with care and honesty that feels true rather than didactic. The Children's Book Review praise for the sensitive portrayal of friendship and family is well-founded based on the dossier, and the accessible prose that balances lightness with emotional depth is exactly what the audience needs. The understated magical realism may leave some readers unsure of the genre, and the father-search resolution apparently leaves loose ends, but neither flaw undercuts the emotional authenticity at the book's core.