How does the setting impact the plot of the story? Could the story take place in a different setting? Why or why not?

The novel's settings are very localized. They include an elementary school, a middle school, the Zinkoff home, the house of their next-door neighbor, a few houses on nearby Willow Street, and a place called Halftank Hill. Some settings are even more localized such as a classroom in school, the cellar of Zinkoff's house, the front yard of a neighbor on Willow Street, or the Pee Wee League baseball field. The state, city, and suburb in which the action takes place are never named. All these settings are iconic, in the sense that every American has seen them.