Rating: 
Summary: A Slag-Fest of Words
Review: After reading Rowling's Harry Potter and Chabon's Cavalier and Clay, I eagerly awaited Summerland. Boy, was I disappointed. This overlong, show-offy and tension-free barge of a book was just, plain dull. Wanting to write a children's book and actually doing it well are two vastly different things.
This is the literary equivalent of Bill Buckner's play at first base in the sixth game of the '86 World Series. I hope Chabon learns from his error and goes back to writing for adults, which he does fabulously well.
Rating: 
Summary: Good--but a little peculiar
Review: well-written, but too wierd topics and ather stuff like that-- set in WA, though!
Rating: 
Summary: A Better World
Review: Summerland is a fantasy world constructed like a crazy quilt of all our favorite bits and pieces, half forgotten fancies about fairies (only they're ferishers and play baseball), magic more rightfully called grammer, friends who think of themselves as androids, because they don't fit in, only to find out they are really ferishers who don't fit in, and on, and on, joke following insight. It's all tacked and embroidered into a whole cloth of beautiful design. Summerland is the kind of fantasy which explains our world to us better than any ordinary sort of pusillanimous fiction could. As in Narnia, when they were all dead, but everything seemed "more real". Summerland is fantasy at its best, the sort of book you read through with fascination at first, then with speed as the hour goes late, the candle gutters in its bedside stick, your batteries in your flashlight give out, etc., and when you are safely through and can breathe again, you open it up immediately and begin to read again. Because you're not yet ready to leave Summerland. It's a better world.
Rating:
Summary: Rather too many giants
Review: Michael Chabon's tale contains threads that appear in many children's stories. Most notably, the idea of a band of ill-mixed folk embarking on a road trip and having adventures en route before a final countdown, where the baddies get their comeuppance. These elements are seen in the Phantom Tollbooth, Wizard Of Oz, Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings of course, and other reviewers will know more tales. From adult books, the fairies appear most humourously in Jack Vance stories, Giants are spotted in Thomas Covenant and so on. But despite all of the derivative characters and situations the book is enjoyable and, for the intended age group, complex. As with the best fairy tales there are aspects that reflect reality: the parent who overworks, the wisdom of elders, the pain caused by careless destruction of enchanted places. The book will probably never be a great children's tale, the pace of the story is variable, and a fatal flaw could be focusing on baseball, which is by no means a global sport. The descriptions of games may be simple to US kids, but will baffle others. So, mixed messages. The book is enjoyable, but could be more taut. The maps could be of the "Four Worlds" rather than Clam Island (which barely appears in the tale). Ethan and Jennifer T are lovely characters. There are a lot of plot devices to get heroes out of trouble. There are rather too many giants.
Rating:
Summary: What is in to read
Review: One book I suggest you to read is Summerland. You might think it is a little long, but the book is so good you won't even care. You will like Summerland especially if you like fantasy and baseball. You should not try to read this book if you are not in middle school or fifth grade, because you might not understand the book and will not enjoy it. I am not done reading the book yet, but it is great.You will definetly enjoy this book
Rating:
Summary: Good writing - tepid story
Review: I initally picked up Summerland based on its glowing review in Publisher's Weekly. As both an avid fantasy and children's literature fan, it sounded like something I would enjoy. I was disappointed. I actually would rate this more a two-and-a-half star book, but I can't. 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Enchanting
Review: This audio-book is narrated by the author, which makes a world of difference. You truly get his vision for the personalities of the characters. I recommend this book to the young, and the young at heart. The characters are well developed and even the villains are kind of likable. With creatures like Taffy the Sasquatch, Spider-Rose the petulant outcast Ferisher princess, android-boy Thor, stubborn Jennifer T. and sweet Ethan all thrown together on a quest to save the world, this book is an wonderful journey back through all the magical and scary things that made growing up the greatest adventure of all. My only complaint is a drawback of all audio-books: I can't go back and find specific passages that I want to re-read for clarification - and there's a lot going on in this book!
Rating:
Summary: A Must See for Baseball and Fantasy Fans
Review: In this book everything is baseball. You don't have to know alot about baseball, but it takes baseball to win. Fantasy readers will love it. Almost everything is fantasy, if you want to drift off. If your not good at following where everyone is, don't try. Michael Chabon has his characters in 3 different places at one time. Otherwise it's great.
Rating:
Summary: Summerland
Review: Ethan Feld is perhaps the worst baseball player ever. Not a problem if you don't have to play but a big problem when the world depends on you playing it. Ethan has been scouted by Old Ringfinger Brown since he was a boy. Ethan and his crew must save the tree of life before the Coyote can kill it and everthing else in the four worlds. I liked the book but it was a little slow at parts. If you are willing to stick it out you will see how good the book really is.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining fantasy romp
Review: Okay, you won a Pulitzer. Where do you go from there? If Michael Chabon is any indicator, then you venture into the jungle of kids' fantasy. Written because his daughter isn't yet old enough to read his previous works, Chabon's first kids' book is an entertaining blend of fantasy, folklore, and... well, baseball. 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.
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