Summerland

Summerland by Michael Chabon (Hyperion Books for Children, 2002) is a children’s portal fantasy novel combining the American tradition of baseball with the twisting mythology of faeries and elements of magical realism. The book, which won the 2003 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, follows three children on an adventure to save the world from the trickster spirit Coyote through the game of baseball, incorporating themes of The Power of Change, The Role of Competition, and The Two Sides to Every Story.

American author Michael Chabon has penned books for both young and adult readers, as well as short stories and screenplays. He attended University of Pittsburgh for his bachelor’s degree and received an MFA in Creative Writing from University of California, Irvine. His 2000 novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2001, and his alternate history mystery novel The Yiddish Policemen’s Union was the recipient of the Hugo, Nebula, Sidewise, and Ignotus awards.

This guide follows the 2016 First Harper Perennial Edition of Summerland.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of death.

Plot Summary

Summerland is a portal fantasy that brings three children from the real world into the Summerlands of faerie legend to save the Tree of Worlds from the trickster spirit Coyote’s plot to destroy it and end existence. The novel’s protagonist is Ethan Feld, whose relationship with his dad is strained due to the recent death of his mom and their differing opinions about the value of baseball. Ethan dislikes the game but plays because it makes his dad happy. Since they moved to Clam Island, Washington, he has joined a team that plays at Summerland—a point on the island where it has never rained during the three months of summer until this year.

With the help of a “shadowtail”—a creature who can travel across worlds—Ethan learns that the Tree of Worlds connects the four worlds of creation: Middling (Ethan’s world), the Summerlands, the Winterlands, and the locked-away realm of the gods. On Ethan’s first visit to the Summerlands, he learns that he’s been chosen to save the world from Coyote by a giant clam prophet. The shadowtail tells Ethan to learn how to play the position of catcher and then takes Ethan home, where his dad gives him his old catcher’s mitt. The two ride to Ethan’s next baseball game in an airship that Ethan’s dad invented using a special material that can withstand destruction. The game goes poorly, and Ethan escapes back to the Summerlands, finding that Coyote’s minions have destroyed the clam he met before.

When Ethan returns home, his dad is gone. With the help of his teammate and friend Jennifer T., Ethan puts together Coyote’s plot to poison the well at the base of the Tree of Worlds, for which he needs the indestructible material that Ethan’s dad created. Along with Thor Wignutt, another player on the kids’ baseball team, the three venture into the Summerlands, where their journey is a mix of racing across the distance and playing baseball games to decide outcomes. Along the way, they add new members to their group, including a sasquatch who was captured by giants and a fairy princess imprisoned for making a deal with Coyote to introduce the designated-hitter rule to baseball.

When Ethan’s team reaches the well, they learn that the sasquatch made a deal with Coyote: She would help him in exchange for getting her children back, who died while she was imprisoned. Ethan’s team challenges Coyote to a baseball game for the fate of creation. The game is intense and has a close score. When Ethan goes up to bat in the ninth inning, he hits a home run that sails high into the sky and breaks open the realm of the gods. The gods emerge and imprison Coyote, stopping his plot to destroy creation. As a result, a wave of goodness sweeps across the world, and Ethan’s group returns to their homes, secure in the knowledge that the universe is safe.