The Possibility of Everything (2009)

When this California mom (and author of the 1994 best-seller Motherless Daughters) finds her 3-year-old suddenly in the grip of a very hostile imaginary friend, she's consumed by fear: Is ''Dodo'' a spiritual intruder of some kind? A symptom of schizophrenia? A stirring account of Hope Edelman's subsequent trip to Belize (where she and her husband hope local shamans can heal their daughter), The Possibility of Everything is a well-crafted tale of skepticism versus spirituality, occasionally weighed down by overdescriptive tangents about ancient Mayans. Edelman's writing soars highest when depicting her family's eye-opening encounters in the humid tropical jungle with—just possibly—the supernatural. B+

See all of this week's reviews