Ethan Feld doesn't like baseball, and he's about the only person in the idyllic Clam Island who doesn't. So he's more than slightly confused with a bushbaby-like werefox called Cutbelly takes him through the Tree that connects all the worlds, to the Summerland. There, a race of American-Indian-like "ferishers" are being threatened by the villainous Coyote, who is trying to destroy the Tree -- and everyone on it. And a giant clam (yes, you read correctly) has predicted that Ethan will be the one to help the ferishers. (And somehow it involves baseball)

Then the hideous graylings massacre the ferishers, leaving only the chieftain Cinquefoil behind. And Ethan's father is kidnapped by Coyote, who wants Mr. Feld's airship secrets to help him, well, destroy the world. With the help of his best friend Jennifer T., Cinquefoil, a pleasant Sasquatch and others, he sets out to be the baseball-playing hero they all need.

Chabon manages to create a book with a warm edge, despite the poignant spots and grim storyline. Very, very weird material such as the ferishers, the giants, werefoxes, baseball saving the world, and the giant prophetic oyster is somehow made quite normal and believable. But tossing fantasy elements at the readers isn't why the book is appealing; rather, it is Chabon's ability to make us laugh, cry or shiver. Between the more comical moments are things such as a ferisher mourning her beloved baby brother, who became a faceless rag doll, or the introduction of the hideous, head-pitching graylings (which, as disfigured ferishers, show anunderstanding of what made J.R.R. Tolkien's Ringwraiths so hideous -- ordinary creatures transformed into something intensely evil and hideous).

Ethan is the oddball kid, the quiet one who doesn't want to doggedly pursue something he isn't good at, and can't possibly imagine himself a hero. Jennifer T. is a tough girl, but her own vulnerabilities are shown in her dislike of failure, even if it wasn't the other person's fault. And Coyote rises above most fantasy villains as he is presented as evil, but we get some insights into his hideously twisted thought processes. Some of the characters, such as Taffy the Sasquatch, are a little harder to swallow, but Cinquefoil is a very human, very likeable guy. While this book is fairly wordy, it's a deft wordiness that fans of "Hobbit" will probably enjoy. Chabon's dialogue is realistic, and his descriptions are detailed but not overly so.

Because of Chabon's Pulitzer win, some readers may be expecting an incredibly in-depth classic for the ages. That will only yield disappointment. It's merely a good book, with all the elements of a good book that kids, and most probably adults as well, will enjoy. Not to mention die-hard baseball fans.

I found this book to be mediocre. The writing itself was beautiful at times. Chabon's knowledge of various folklore and legend was impressive, although I found his mix of them sometimes confusing. The four worlds was an interesting element, particularly given how Chabon used them to explain phenomena in our own. And of course, Chabon's love of baseball shone through brightly. Not being a baseball fan myself, I didn't find those parts particularly compelling, but the passion in them was undeniable.

The story, however, is why I hesitate rating this book higher. Many of the characters were fun and memorable - Ethan, Jennifer T., Cutbelly - but the "bad guys" were rather one-dimensional. I expected much more out of Coyote given the vibrant set of legends surrounding him. Many of his minions, too, were much too black-and-white for my tastes. The progression of the story chiefly annoyed me. The characters often seemed to advance more thanks to a series of fortunate circumstances than through any action of their own (Thor just happens to be a shadowtail, Pettipaw conveniently shows up at the right moment, the stick Ethan finds happens to be magical). It seemed heavy-handed.

All in all, I'd say that this book is probably pure magic to a baseball fan, but in terms of fantasy, it's nothing to write home about.