Michael Chabon
Interviewed by Gavin J. Grant

Michael Chabon's funny, rich, and fantastic first young adult novel, Summerland -- a novel of fairies, baseball, and the end of the world! -- just came out. The good news for readers is that more will follow! Chabon's previous books include The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Wonder Boys, and Werewolves in Their Youths. He lives with his wife, novelist Ayelet Waldman, and their children, in Berkeley, CA.

BookSense.com: What kind of books did you like as a child? Did anyone read to you?

Michael Chabon: I learned to read from an early age -- around four. Thereafter I don't have any memories of being read to. I started as a reader of nonfiction -- books about how things worked, biographies, histories. It wasn't until the fourth grade that I got heavily into fiction, at which point my favorite genres were sentient mice (Miss Bianca [from The Rescuers], Ben and Me); contemporary children's lives (Harriet the Spy, Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler); and fantasy (C.S. Lewis, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander). Except for the mice, Summerland reflects my early taste in fiction...but I plan to have talking mice in the next book!

Do you read to your children? Do you and your wife take turns? Do you read the books first, before reading to them?

Yes, I read to my son and daughter every night. Bedtime is my job because I sleep late in the mornings after staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning to write. My wife does mornings. Usually, though not by any means always, I read my kids the books that I remember loving myself. Right now I'm reading Sophie Zilphah Keatley Snyder's The Headless Cupid, which I didn't read as a kid but have since. And I'm reading Zeke Parzival by Katherine Paterson -- the author of Bridge to Terebinthia. Often the kids share stories, but not always -- they have very different tastes and Zeke, who's five, still needs for there to be a certain amount of illustrations.

While writing Summerland, did you read it to your children?

No. I didn't read it to them until it was finished; I admit to having considerable trepidation about that. I sort of assumed that it probably wasn't going to fly too well with Zeke -- no pictures at all. I was right about that! With Sophie, I was of course hoping that she would love it. And yet I know exactly how she looks and acts when she's bored by something, so there was going to be no way for me to hide from the knowledge I was putting my daughter to sleep! Thank God, she seemed to enjoy it -- especially the character of Jennifer T., which was wonderful because I had created that character essentially to please her.

Were you consciously trying to write a very American fantasy?

Yes. This is actually the oldest layer of Summerland: the ambition to write a fantasy novel using American myth and folklore, in the way that the works of Lewis and Tolkien, and Susan Cooper and Lloyd Alexander and Alan Garner use British and Celtic folklore, dates directly from the time when I was reading those writers -- around the time I was 10 and 11.

Summerland reminded me in tone of some of Mark Twain's books. Was he an influence when you were writing it?

Yes! I love Life on the Mississippi; that book had a big effect on my idea of the American past and on the way the Liars of Old Cat Landing and their world are portrayed. Plus it was part of my idea for Grim the Giant that he would have a certain Huck Finn quality...

Was writing Summerland easier -- or maybe more fun -- than writing your books for adults? When did you begin writing Summerland?

It was easier, I think, because it was more fun -- way more fun. I craved the book when I was away from it. This book had been gestating for something like 28 years; I had an incredible sense of certainty, utter conviction, while writing it. Not an iota of the usual doubt. And a sense of immense relief, too.

Will you be writing more about Ethan, Jennifer T., et al?

I am going to write a trilogy set in this World-Tree universe. At this point, though, I have no idea which characters are going to be coming back -- except, of course, for those ice mice of the Winterlands.

Are you a big baseball fan? Do you have a local team?

I am a huge baseball fan, and have been since I was a kid. I'm a lifelong Pirates fan; it's a connection to that fine city that long predates my actual sojourn there. Locally I have adopted the Giants, and in particular I am a passionate admirer of their manager, Dusty Baker.

What are you reading?

I tend to be a very promiscuous reader. Right now I am reading, simultaneously, Austerlitz, Mrs. Dalloway, Coraline, a compendium of Holmesiana called The Game Is Afoot, and my wife's (Ayelet Waldman’s) first non-mystery, literary novel, Nobody's Mother [due out next year from Sourcebooks].

Do you have a favorite bookshop?

I’m mostly into used books, I’m afraid. I love the Strand[1] in New York; Powell's[2] (new and used, of course) in Portland; and here in Berkeley (where we have an embarrassment of bookstore riches), Serendipity[3] and Turtle Island[4]. Dark Carnival[5] is my neighborhood shop.

Then there’s this great little used bookstore up in Point Reyes Station, on the coast, called Brown Study[6]. It’s tiny, but I always seem to walk out of there with 10 surprising books under my arm.

If you worked at that bookstore, what books would be on your staff picks shelf?

Sebald's The Emigrants, Casting the Runes and Other Stories by M. R. James, and Oakley Hall's Warlock. For starters.

Author photo by Patty Williams.

[1] The Strand, 828 Broadway (at 12th street) NY, NY, 10003; (212) 473-1452; http://www.strandbooks.com

[2] Powells, 1005 W Burnside Portland, OR, 97209; (866) 201-7601; http:www.powells.com
[3] Serendipity Books 1201 University Avenue Berkeley, CA 94702; (510) 841-7455; Fax: (510) 841-1920; pbhoward@serendipitybooks.com
[4] Turtle Island Booksellers, 3042 Claremont Blvd., Berkeley, CA 94705; (510) 655-3413; fax: 655-4238
[5] Dark Carnival, 3086 Claremont Ave., Berkeley CA, 94706; (510) 654-7323; http://www.darkcarnival.com/
[6] Brown Study Bookshop, 11315 State Route 1, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956; 415-663-1633