The best I can describe this is Narnia meets "Field of Dreams." Except that where Narnia has that ineffable air of England, this is pure Americana - cowboys and Indians, tall takes, the Wild West, and of course, baseball. Really it feels like parts of it should be narrated by James Earl Jones, the way he did the paean to the sport in the Field of Dreams.

Ethan Feld lives on Clam Island in Puget Sound, and hates baseball. He's the worst player on his team, though his teammates don't hate him for it, including his pal Jennifer T. Rideout, a budding pitcher. While most of their island is the typically rainy northwest, the ballfield lies in the mythical Summerland, favored by a quirk of weather to be enternally sunny and pleasant. But when things turn dark even there, Ethan is scouted by Ringfinger Brown to be a hero, working for the ferishers, or faeries. Ethan, along with his father and Jennifer, are taken to their mythical world to help fight Coyote, who is trying to end the connections between worlds, poison the great tree that supports the world, and end the Universe. It's the bottom of the ninth, last out, and Ethan and his rag-tag gang must play a host of teams on their travels to save the day.

The book features a plethora of American myths and stories - including Native American lore, the tall tales of Paul Bunyan, and Sasquatch. History factors in too, but mostly as it ties to baseball, with stories of the Negro Leagues, and depictions of sport as the popular pastime of the working-class.

The language can be difficult at times. Chabon has many of his characters speak a sort of faux-wild west patois that takes some getting used to. And the story can be a bit slow-moving - like baseball. But while the language can be complex, the basic story is a bit young, your basic hero's quest, through faraway lands and with faithful friends and amusing sidekicks. There are a few more complex issues dealt with: Ethan's mother died years ago, and his father never really recovered. More complex is Jennifer's story - a ne'er-do-well father and absent mother, along with racial issues (she's part Native American). Chabon touches on this all very lightly, but that might be a good way to approach the issues with younger children.

The book is so closely tied to baseball that I doubt very much that a child who is not a fan of the game would enjoy it at all. I'm not sure what to do for a what to read next: Harry Potter if they haven't already read it, and fantasy fans can move on to Terry Pratchett maybe. Baseball kids could try Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe" or maybe some of Mike Lupica's work (no fantasy but plenty of sports).