The protagonist of Summerland is Ethan Feld. At the outset of the book, Ethan struggles to reconcile the person he feels he is with the person he feels his dad wants him to be, specifically in light of his father’s love for baseball. In appearance, Ethan is short, stocky, and otherwise unremarkable, and “nothing made Ethan Feld happier than the knowledge that nobody was looking at him” (16-17). These qualities make Ethan both the perfect hero and the most unlikely hero. Chosen as a champion because time is running out and he’s the best option, Ethan enters his quest hoping but not fully believing that he has what it takes to accomplish the monumental task before him.

Low self-esteem plagues Ethan, most prominently during his first baseball game with the faeries. However, his ability to play baseball tests his negative self-image increasingly throughout the novel. The bat made from the wood of the Tree of Worlds becomes a symbol of hope for Ethan and represents how he doesn’t have to be perfect to be a hero. The knot on the bat’s handle makes the bat imperfect, and only when Ethan realizes that this imperfection is a feature, not a defect, can he hit his first home run and become a hero both of his quest and of baseball.