Clams just sit there, shells tightly shut until a fishing net comes into their world, sweeps them out of their familiar surroundings, and takes them to a strange destination, usually someone's dinner plate. Considering this life of a clam, the name Three Clams suits 16-year-old Flint McCallister and his best friends Rick Beaterson and Dwight Deshutsis perfectly. They make up three-fourths of Three Clams and an Oyster, a competitive four-man flag football team that has been having problems with its fourth member since their original Oyster died in an accident.

Cade Savage just isn't working out for the team. He's been partying too much, not coming to practices and generally being irresponsible. The Three Clams know they need to find a consistent fourth but, as with everything else in their lives, they're reluctant to let go of something with which they've become familiar. None of the options for their Oyster are exactly what they want: There's Thor, who's generally nice but likes marijuana more than football; Tim Goon, who's mostly uncoordinated but has a cabin on the lake; and Rachel Summerfield, the biggest fishing net of them all, who doesn't shave her legs and shocks the Three Clams with the ideas she has to take them to greatness.

Charismatic Flint slowly lets the reader open his clamshell with humor, witty dialogues with Beaterson and Deshutsis, and a growing sense of self-direction. Three boys scared of becoming anything else than what they've always been are forced to unconsciously examine their ideas on gender, friendship, loyalty, and who they are outside of their close-knit group. Seattle provides the perfect backdrop for this sensitive yet realistic coming-of-age story, another gem from Randy Powell.