Summerland takes place on Clam Island in Washington state, which is reachable only by boat since the only bridge collapsed. The locals never saw fit to rebuild it because they never wanted a bridge: “[I]slands have always been strange and magical places; crossing the water to reach them ought to be, even in a small way, an adventure” (14). The island gets 20 minutes of rain every day, except on its western tip in the summer. For this reason, the tip has come to be known as Summerland.

Ethan Feld recently moved to Clam Island and plays baseball on one of the local teams to please his father, even though he hates the game because it keeps track of all his mistakes. On their way to a game, Ethan and his dad pick up Jennifer T., one of Ethan’s teammates, and almost run over a foxlike animal that seems to look right at Ethan before the car stops. Before the game, Ethan’s coach gives the team a pep talk, telling them not to let the stats from the last game influence how they view themselves or the team. The largest kid on the team,

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