A Perfect Mistake by Melanie Conklin || Heartwarming Story About Doing What’s Right

A Perfect Mistake

A moving, voice-driven novel about friendship, responsibility, and fighting against unfair expectations, for fans of Rebecca Stead and Erin Entrada Kelly.

Max wishes he could go back in time to before he was diagnosed with ADHD, before he grew to be the tallest kid in his class, and before he and his best friends went into the woods in the middle of the night. Max doesn’t remember what happened after he left his friends Will and Joey and the older kids who took them there. He’s not sure if he wants to remember. Knowing isn’t going to make Joey talk to him again, or bring Will out of his coma.

When the local authorities run out of leads, Max realizes that without his help, they may never know what really happened to Will. Charged by the idea that he may be the key to uncovering the truth. Max pairs up with classmate and aspiring journalist Sam to investigate what really happened that night. But not everyone in the community wants that night to be remembered.

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Content Tags:

Perfect for readers who want:

• Realistic fiction about friendship and family
• A protagonist with ADHD learning coping mechanisms
• Heartwarming discussions about what it really means to be a friend
• Touching family bonds
• Compelling mystery that makes you want to keep reading

Many thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and TBR & Beyond Tours for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I’m always on the lookout for good books featuring characters that have ADHD, so when this one popped up, I knew I had to read it! Not only does Max feel familiar as a character (I was also a too-tall 11-year-old with ADHD), but I was super curious about that mystery!

A Perfect Mistake is a heartwarming story of a too-tall boy with ADHD and a gap in his memory that may hold the key to what happened to his best friend. It’s a tale of mistakes, of healing, and of discovering what it really means to be a friend.

I think the cover and title on this one are a little bit misleading, since they don’t really give a good feel of what the book’s about. Then again, I’m not exactly sure what title and cover would, so maybe it’s just a facet of the book. The mystery itself is interesting and compelling and had me wanting to read more just to see what actually happened. Where the book really shines, though, is with Max as a character and depicting his struggles with his height, with ADHD, and just with growing into the person he wants to be in general.

11-year-old is a very compelling, relatable character. He’s too tall for his age, learning to manage his ADHD, and still trying to figure out what it means to be a good friend.

The ADHD rep in this book is amazing. Max is more than his diagnosis, of course, but having inattentive ADHD still plays a significant role in his life. I mean, how could it not, considering the story is from his perspective? Through the narrative, Max talks about some of the coping mechanisms he’s been taught and some of the ways his ADHD affects his classwork, including mention of having a 504 plan.

What I thought was really interesting is that Max is very tall for his age. Which you may not think is a problem, but of course, because he’s big, people forget that Max is only 11 and expect him to act older than he is. Because he looks older. This is something that so many people struggle with in real life, and I’ve seen it happen too often. Kids look older so they’re expected to be more mature than their smaller peers, despite being the same age. This is something that I don’t see often in fiction, especially not middle grade fiction, so it was great to see that sort of rep!

Overall, though, I just really liked Max. He was honest and earnest. Yes, he makes mistakes, but what 11-year-old doesn’t? Heck, I make at least three every day before I even leave the house. Sometimes while I’m leaving the house, because I’m that talented. Max is definitely a character that middle grade readers will be able to relate to.

Five kids went into the woods, but only four came back . . . and one ended up in a coma. Max was there that night, but he has no idea what happened to his best friend. But he’s determined to find out.

This is an extremely compelling mystery. Mostly because no one knows what happened to Will, except that he was found in the morning in a coma. Well, that’s not quite true, is it? Someone knows what happened. Not Max, though. Not yet.

Since Max doesn’t actually know what what happened, the reader gets to retrace everything that happened that night along with the protagonist, which is a pretty good way to do it. I was absolutely hooked on this mystery and super curious about what had happened! The reveal of what actually happened was just a tad bit underwhelming, but I think it fits with the overall narrative and the age group all the same.

Max doesn’t know much about friendship, but he’s sure he hasn’t been a very good friend. But as he makes new friends, namely with a girl named Sam, he starts to realize some things he thought he already knew.

Sam is basically the antithesis to Max: she has plenty of friends, fits in well, and is fairly self-assured. She knows exactly what she wants in life (namely, to be a journalist) and how she’s going to get there (you know, by doing the hard things and digging to uncover the truth). Max doesn’t necessarily want to be friends with Sam, but when Sam knows what she wants, she goes after it relentlessly. I’m pretty sure that’s just a Sam thing. And I would know, right? 😉

I really appreciated the character growth in this. Friendship is hard, especially when you’re 11 and things don’t go exactly the way you plan. People grow apart and things happen. Max is starting to realize that some of the things he took as a given, like how solid his friendship with Joey and Will was, may not have actually been true. And he’s not exactly innocent in it all, even though he’s also not necessarily to blame. This story takes a deep look at how misunderstandings arise and how friends can drift apart without even realizing it, and stresses the need to understand other people’s perspectives. Which is always a great message for middle grade readers!

There are a lot of BIG conversations in this book around mistakes, forgiveness, and what it means to be really be a friend.

There’s the big, overarching story going on in the town about Will, for starters. Max can’t handle visiting his best friend in the hospital, knowing that he didn’t help him. He harbors a lot of guilt around not being there when Will obviously needed him, and he’s not quite ready to face it yet. Fair enough.

It’s more than just that, though. Max’s estranged uncle shows up out of nowhere, and it’s clear that there’s some tension in the family. Max’s mother isn’t exactly thrilled to see her brother, and there’s a lot of history there that Max doesn’t quite understand. His uncle isn’t the traditional sort, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of things Max can learn from him. If only his mother were willing to give him the chance.

There are some big conversations about family and friendship and second chances that is perfect for middle grade readers. The sort that fits neatly and cleanly into the narrative without the book being about these things.

A lot of emphasis was placed on it being Max’s responsibility to take care of his friends, to the point where people were mad at him for not doing so, but . . . that narrative really doesn’t make all that much sense?

It’s such a small thing to pay attention to, and I doubt middle grade readers would notice, but since it came up multiple times, it really irked me! People were legit mad at Max for not looking after Will. You know, Max, the 11-year-old.

The narrative is meant to be that since he’s big for his age, he’s supposed to have more responsibility and people are treating him as more adult. Which okay, yes, that’s fair. I grew up with a lot of people who looked older than they were, myself included. Even my husband. This narrative would make perfect sense . . . if it weren’t for the small-town setting where everyone had known Max and his friends since they were little and were well aware of how old (or, in this case, young) Max was.

It also makes even less since when it becomes obvious that there actually were older kids (16-year-olds, in fact) with the younger boys. Yet, no one seems to be mad at them for not looking out for the younger kids? I knoooow it’s such a small thing, but every time it came up it bugged me that everyone blames Max for what happens to Will when there’s really not anything at all to support this narrative other than he’s taller than his friends.

About Melanie Conklin

Melanie Conklin grew up in North Carolina and worked as a product designer before she began her writing career. Her debut middle grade novel, Counting Thyme, is a Nerdy Book Award winner, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book, winner of the International Literacy Association Teacher’s Choice Award, and a finalist for the Missouri Mark Twain Book Award, the Iowa Children’s Choice Award, the Illinois Bluestem Award, and the Arkansas Charlie May Simon Award. She is also the author of Every Missing Piece, A Perfect Mistake (2022), and her picture book debut, When You Have to Wait (2023). When she’s not writing, Melanie spends her time doodling and dreaming up new ways to be creative. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

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