Line #57 Literature/Summerland


1	[[quoteright:185:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/summerlandcovverbook_4607.JPG]]
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3	''Summerland'' is a 2002 juvenile/young adult novel by Creator/MichaelChabon about a group of young children who seek to save the world by playing [[SeriousBusiness baseball]]. It interweaves elements of a parallel-universe road trip, TheQuest and a World Series. It was a popular children's book.
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5	Its less basic premise is this: Summerland is a magical place where the local Little League gathers to play baseball on a perfectly manicured lawn, and the sun is always shining in a flawless blue sky. However, the small beings known as [[LittlePeople ferishers]], who ensure this perfect weather, are threatened by an ancient enemy and need a hero—a baseball star, in fact—to vanquish their foe.
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7	The ferishers recruit [[KidHero Ethan Feld]], possibly the worst ballplayer in the history of the league, as their leader. No one is more surprised than Ethan at their choice, but their faith spurs him on. Also, the [[ProphecyTwist prophecy]] of an oracular clam.
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9	Accompanied by his friends [[{{Tomboy}} Jennifer T. Rideout]], a boy named Thor Wignutt who thinks he's an android named [=TW03=], and a motley crew of creatures that includes a Sasquatch and a werefox, Ethan struggles to defeat giants, bat-winged goblins, and one of the toughest ball clubs in the realms of magic to save the Summerlands, and, ultimately, the world.
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11	Not to be confused with the 2004-2005 CW show of the same name, [[TabletopGame/{{Summerland}} the 2009 tabletop game]], the 2012 book by Elin Hildebrand, the 2018 book by Hannu Rajaniemi, or [[Film/Summerland2020 the 2020 film by Jessica Swale]], all of which share the same name.
12	----
13	!! This novel provides examples of:
14	%%* AffablyEvil:
15	* AppliedPhlebotinum: Picofibers, the material that Ethan's dad uses to make his airship, [[spoiler: and that Coyote plans to use to destroy the Lodgepole]].
16	* ArtificialHuman: Thor Wignutt is convinced that he's one. [[spoiler: He's actually a Changeling.]]
17	* AwesomeButImpractical: What the general public thinks about Mr. Feld's family airships. As Ethan and his friends find out, they're actually very practical if you need to traverse miles and miles of mountainous terrain, but they seem pointless to the average American family.
18	* BecauseDestinySaysSo: The reason Ethan was brought to the Oracular Clam in the first place.
19	* BigScrewedUpFamily: Jennifer T. comes from one.
20	* BilingualBonus: On the team listings near the end, we learn that Cutbelly the werefox's last name is "Reynard."
21	* BumblingDad: Mr. Feld is introduced as this.
22	* BunglingInventor: Subverted with Ethan's dad. He's actually a very competent inventor...he just can't find a market for his big project (affordable family [[CoolAirship airships]]) because nobody sees the point of it.
23	* ChangelingTale: [[spoiler: Thor]] is a changeling.
24	* ChekhovsBoomerang: [[spoiler: Splinter]] comes in use several times throughout, and to an extent the [[spoiler: Knott and the pain it causes]], too.
25	* ChekhovsGunman: Early on, Ethan mentions that his Dad owns a baseball card of the famed ballplayer Rodrigo Buendia. Later in the book, Chiron Brown ends up recruiting Buendia (who turns out to be a cynical burn-out) to help the kids out in their quest.
26	* ChekhovsHobby: Baseball, considering how you know, the whole fate of the universe rests on it.
27	* CoolAirship: Ethan and his friends carry out their travels in one.
28	%%* CoolOldGuy: Chiron "Ringfinger" Brown.
29	* DoNotCallMePaul: Jennifer T. gets irked when people just call her "Jennifer" or "Jenny."
30	%%* EccentricMentor: Chiron "Ringfinger" Brown.
31	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: What Coyote is setting out to achieve.
32	%%* EvilRedhead: Coyote.
33	* FantasyKitchenSink: The Summerlands and nearby realms are based on a weird mishmash of Native American and Norse mythology and American tall tales. With wormholes, ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld, and universe-destroying AppliedPhlebotinum thrown in for good measure.
34	* FluffyTheTerrible: One of Ethan's companions is a hulking, monstrous Sasquatch named..."Taffy."
35	* {{Flying Car}}s: The Ferishers regularly get around in flying buses.
36	* GenreShift: Starts out as MagicRealism, but becomes HighFantasy once the SaveTheWorld plot begins.
37	%%* HijackedByJesus
38	* InvisibleToNormals: The Ferishers are able to get around pretty easily because they're invisible to anyone who doesn't believe in fairies.
39	* IronicNickname: Chiron Brown is nicknamed "Ringfinger" because his ring finger is missing.
40	* KidHero: Ethan, Thor and Jennifer T. are these; subverted slightly in that two of them do drive during the course of the story.
41	* KryptoniteFactor: All Ferishers can be poisoned by the touch of iron.
42	%%* MagicalNegro: Chiron "Ringfinger" Brown.
43	* MagicalRealism: The book starts out as this before shifting into full-on HighFantasy.
44	%%* MissingMom: Ethan's and Jennifer T.'s moms.
45	* MonsterModesty: Averted with Cutbelly the werefox, who prefers to go around naked. Ethan understands that werefoxes aren't obligated to wear clothes, but [[LampshadeHanging he finds himself wishing that Cutbelly would at least put on some pants]].
46	%%* MrExposition: Cutbelly the werefox.
47	* {{Muggles}}: To Ferishers and other creatures from the Summerlands, humans from The Middling (our world) are called "Reubens."
48	* TheOmniscient: The Oracular Clam. Pity he has to spit out all his prophecies.
49	* OurFairiesAreDifferent: The Ferishers. They're just miniature-sized humans who dress like Native Americans, play baseball obsessively, and have limited access to magic. And they get around using flying buses.
50	* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: Technically.
51	* ProphecyTwist: The Oracular Clam's prophecy is not about Ethan after all; it's about [[spoiler:his father]].
52	* PunnyName: Ethan's nickname on his baseball team is "the Dog," because he's always hoping for a "walk" when he goes up to bat.
53	* TheQuest: If you strip the book down to its bare bones, this is essentially the plot.
54	* Really700YearsOld: Chiron "Ringfinger" Brown is 109 years old, but hasn't aged in decades.
55	* {{Reconstruction}}: Reconstructs adolescent HighFantasy like ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' by giving it a fresh setting -- in this case, a fantasy-world based on American culture and folklore.
56	* SadlyMythtaken: (taken from the page) ''Summerland'' takes place in a world that cheerily mashes together Native American and Norse mythology. This leads to the reveal, utterly brain-breaking if you know your mythology, that [[spoiler:Coyote Changer]] is also [[spoiler:Loki and the Devil]]. Seriously. (And for its next trick, the rules of the Universe are based on those of baseball.)
57	* SeriousBusiness: Baseball is the way to save the universe, and its laws are based on those of the universe.
58	* ShoutOut:
59	** Spider Rose is named after Chabon's daughter, Ida-Rose Chabon.
60	** One scene mentions that Ethan sleeps wearing an extra-large ComicBook/{{Hellboy}} t-shirt. This is likely a ShoutOut to Creator/DarkHorseComics, who published a comic book spin-off of Chabon's previous novel ''Literature/TheAmazingAdventuresOfKavalierAndClay''.
61	** Considering the book's use of MagicalRealism and its QuirkyTown setting, the burned-out baseball player Rodrigo Buendía may be named after the Buendía family of Creator/GabrielGarciaMarquez's ''Literature/OneHundredYearsOfSolitude''.
62	* ThinkingUpPortals: There is a whole subclass of people, called "Shadowtails," who can do this either to teleport from place to place (called "scampering") or to teleport to different worlds on the Lodgepole (called "leaping"). Thor Wignutt turns out to be one, and he uses his power to take himself and his companions to the Summerlands.
63	%%* {{Tomboy}}: Jennifer T., and how.
64	%%* TookALevelInBadass: Thor.
65	* ViewersAreGeniuses: Most of the references to Norse mythology likely went right over the head of the target audience.
66	%%* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Coyote and Padfoot.
67	* WorldTree: The Lodgepole. Ethan and his friends are trying to fix it (by playing baseball).
68	* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: Ethan's dad has developed a new type of zeppelin that the average American family can use for transportation in lieu of a car. This is our first hint that not everything in Ethan's life is quite normal.

Context Literature / Summerland