This is a pretty neat book for a kid's book. It draws on mythology from the Norse, Native Americans, East Asians and the Greeks. It tells us how one little league player in Washington State (along with a few friends) can use baseball to prevent Ragged Rock (The End of the Universe as we know it--HA!)
I must say that the middle of the book was a bit slow moving but those familiar with Chabon's other works would expect that. I don't know how well young readers would take to that though. Another downside to this book is the ending. It's just a bit too saccharine. Everything ends up far too neat and happy in the end.
On the other hand the book has a lot of good qualities too. The story shows how a widower tries to pick up the pieces of his family after the death of his wife. How he tries to use baseball as a means to reach out to his only son. It's also amazing what this man is willing to do to save his son's life. The book also makes many nods to Negro League Baseball and the Homestead Grays in particular. Which I thought was very cool. That's not a very surprising fact though since many of Chabon's books have Pittsburgh area references.
All in all, I recommend this book. I'm not sure what children think of it. Especially since the story moves so slowly in the middle and at 500 pages it's not something that the average third grader is going to whip out in a single evening. If you are a Chabon fan this book is no Mysteries of Pittsburgh or Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay. Those books are hard to beat but this book is definitely better than most of the kids books out there.
My Rating: 3/5