Tangerine

by Edward Bloor

Hardcover, 2007

Status

Available

Local notes

Fic Blo

Barcode

45

Collection

Publication

HMH Books for Young Readers (2007), Edition: 1, 320 pages

Description

Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Awards

Nebraska Golden Sower Award (Nominee — 2000)
Young Hoosier Book Award (Nominee — Middle Grade — 2000)
Edgar Award (Nominee — Young Adult Novel — 1998)
Utah Beehive Book Award (Nominee — Young Adult — 2000)
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Grades 6-8 — 2000)
Buckeye Children's & Teen Book Award (Nominee — Grades 6-8 — 2001)
Iowa Teen Award (Nominee — 2001)
Garden State Teen Book Award (Winner — Grades 6-8 — 2000)
Nevada Young Readers' Award (Nominee — Young Adult — 1999)
Thumbs Up! Award (Honor — 1998)
Grand Canyon Reader Award (Nominee — Teen — 1999)
NCSLMA Battle of the Books (Middle School — 2018)
Virginia Readers' Choice (Nominee — Middle School — 2001)
Maud Hart Lovelace Award (Nominee — 2000)
South Carolina Book Awards (Winner — Junior Book Award — 2000)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1998)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1997

Physical description

320 p.; 5.5 inches

User reviews

LibraryThing member Whisper1
This is more than a coming of age story. It is a tale of awakening to the reality that family members can indeed harm, both psychologically and physically.

Thirteen year old Paul Fischer wears super duper coke bottle glasses. His family repeatedly tells the story that unfortunately he looked at a
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solar eclipse too long thus resulting in his impaired vision. Somehow Paul knows this just isn't true.

When his family moves to Tangerine Florida his life changes dramatically. A nerd, a geek and a quiet soul accustomed to watching his parents adore and idolize his older football hero brother, Paul seeks for carve an identify for himself.

When the town of Tangerine crumbles into pockets of sink holes and it is discovered that corrupt officials never followed codes, more than sticky mud invades the consciousness of Paul.

While his Pleasant Valley Sunday mom wears just the right clothes and designs her house way beyond Martha Stewart mode, his father the engineer paves the wave for his older son to become the star, at all expense.

When the middle school of Tangerine collapses, Paul is transported to a new school, one where there is poverty, toughness and more reality of what life is all about.

Joining the soccer team enables Paul for find friends and a sense of belonging. While his brother remains the high school hero back home, all is not well in the town of Tangerine or the home of the Fischers.

When Paul realizes the actual reason he needs to wear thick glasses, he confronts very difficult family dynamics.

I highly recommend this one! 4.5 Stars!
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LibraryThing member michelleknudsen
I was almost shocked by how much I liked this book. A story about a junior high school kid who wears thick glasses and plays soccer? But of course it’s so much more than that. It’s such a big, interwoven story, and both the immediate plot elements and the secret history that Paul is only
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beginning to remember are incredibly strong and interesting and engaging. It’s dark in a lot of ways, too, but there’s enough humor and heartwarming moments to balance out the darker aspects and prevent it from becoming bleak. I’m so glad this novel was brought to my attention through all the positive comments on the student forum; I would probably not have ever picked it up on my own, based on just the cover and jacket copy.
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LibraryThing member kuasso
The way Edward Bloor draws things out in Tangerine has a kind of dark beauty to it. I loved the twists in the storyline, the gradual revelations of aspects of the character's lives and the strange closeness it managed to hit to my heart.

As with the few Edward Bloor books I've read so far, the nice
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difference is that the book doesn't have the typical boy-girl relationship. Once in a while, works like this are good for clearing your mind of all that sappy clutter.
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LibraryThing member lcherylc
Paul Fisher, a legally blind soccer goalie, moves to Tangerine, Florida. His brother, Erik, is the all-star football kicker, who is adored by his father. Paul struggles to gain acceptance from his family (his Dad) and friends. He discovers that there are hidden secrets regarding him and his family.
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This is my favorite book to recommend to 5th graders who love suspenseful endings.
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LibraryThing member CeridwynR
For a book about a teenage boy who is totally into soccer and living in Florida I really enjoyed this. I've been trying to figure out why. The characters are likeable, but not particularly special, the mystery isn't particularly mysterious and the character dynamics leave most of the characters
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two-dimensional. Yet I read it in two sittings.The short diary entry style really worked and the language was punchy and taut in a way that felt very modern without using lots of 'kid vocab' and contemporary slang. It was a very basic story executed well.
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LibraryThing member beserene
I picked this up at a library sale, for something like 30 cents, because Edward Bloor was a name I had seen on bookstore shelves and recommended lists recently. This, his first novel, was intriguing--Bloor's picture of Florida's citizenry paints them as just as odd and fixated on football as one
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expects. The book, though for young readers, deals with some serious subjects, including violence among teens and death. Though not the best I've read, this one is made particularly compelling by the young hero, who finds his strength and his voice after years of bullying. Could be inspiring for the right age group.
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LibraryThing member joeydag
Wow, what a dark novel for young adults. But I think the darkness was handled well. There's death and sociopathic personalities as a background to teamwork and growth. I'd like to see what else Edward Bloor has written.
LibraryThing member gbjefferso
Paul, a middle school student, who recently moves to Tangerine, Florida is facing complex issues: sibling rivalry, new school, visual handicapped, and fear. From the beginning, the reader is able to feel Paul's emotional pain and grow with him throughout the story to his discovery of the family
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mystery that connects to his handicap and his triumph over his fear and submission to his older brother. This is a a story of the underdog rising to the top. The book is not fast paced due to a lot of descriptive detail. An important read for students trying to discover their independence, learning to overcome obstacles and understanding cultural differences.
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LibraryThing member gbartlett
Paul Fisher has an eye injury that makes him legally blind. He wears thick glasses and is considered a nerd. hHe and his family move to Tangerine, Florida where they find a beautiful house. Everything seems great until problems start to surface - at home, at school, with his family. Paul plays
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soccer; his brother is a star kicker for the football team. Paul starts at Lake Windsor Middle School where all the rich kids go, but when the school falls into a sinkhole, he transfers to Tangerine Middle School, where the citrus farmer's kids go. There he makes friends and helps save a citrus grove from freezing. His brother who has always been the favorite, gets into major trouble. He is torn between supporting his brother or his new friends. Paul learns the meaning of courage and growing up in this story. It is written in first person as a diary written from Paul's viewpoint. Paul also learns what caused him to lose his eye sight - brother Erik. More sports than mystery.
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LibraryThing member docpangloss
Although I grew up in a slightly earlier Florida many of the sights, scenes, and characters were the same in the 70's. Football and sports obsessions ran high, development, development, development was the name of the game with orange groves being ripped out as fast as the bulldozers would ride,
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and family secrets were kept very, very well.

Aside from the realisitic setting, this book offers an interesting insight into the kind of senseless family cruelty that feels so very, very real.
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LibraryThing member Bellarock
Tangerine is a great book that has secrets and will not revel to much at once. Truth and lies mixed together to make a secret so huge no one can understand it but Erik the mystery.
LibraryThing member softball35
This book is very interesting and is a great mystery
LibraryThing member Muv1
This is an interesting book to read and really cool. A fast read and very mysterious.
LibraryThing member nboria05
This book is about a boy, Paul, who struggles a lot with his family but especially his older brother. As we journey with him through dealing with his "disability," we get to see him transformed as a character as he learns to stand up for himself and he remembers just what happened with his vision.
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A great book to use with students struggling with sibling issues, but also just to see that standing up for what's right is what's important.
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LibraryThing member parkridgeya
Twelve year old Paul fights for the right to play soccer in spite of a visual impairment. He makes strides in fitting into his new school and stays out of the way of his older brother who has always been mean but now Paul begins to suspect him of stealing. He also begins to remember the incident
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that damaged his eyesight. Paul is a likable and strong character and despite the darkness of the theme the story also has lots of humor.
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LibraryThing member samr4
I love this book i have read it at least 10 times. it is a good book not to long but easy to read.
LibraryThing member LauraT3
This book was very interesting. Although it wasnt my favorite book, I always wanted to keep reading. Paul is a strong kid and he never gave up, no matter what.
LibraryThing member tichopx2014
Its a soccer book that has tragety on every page. They win they win again, till the finals they tie and take the championship. its great, soccer is in it and so is an actual story, read it for fun not for work.
LibraryThing member craigwsmithtoo
I picked up this book because it was being read by most of the eighth grade, and I hadn't read it. It turned out to be one of the best books I read that year. It has suspense, fear, honor, injustice, and a rotten brother. What more could you ask for?
LibraryThing member librarymeg
Paul Fisher is legally blind, wears thick glasses, and is overshadowed by his brother's football aspirations, also known as the "Erik Fisher Football Dream." Paul, who's also known as Eclipse Boy, has grown up with the story that he damaged his vision by staring at a solar eclipse when he was five.
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He knows that he never wore glasses before that summer, but he can't remember staring at the eclipse. He struggles with this gap in his memory, trying to reconcile the story he's always been told with his own understanding of the past.

Over the course of the book, Paul faces several changes in his new home in Tangerine, Florida. There is an underground fire that never goes out, swarms of swamp mosquitoes, mysterious robberies, sinkholes, and the search for friends. Through it all, he pursues his own dreams of playing on the middle school soccer team, in spite of his poor vision. This is a book that will keep you guessing until the very end, with a satisfying and believable conclusion. Paul Fisher is easy to relate to, and closing the book feels like saying goodbye to a friend. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story, well-written, about sports, family, and the trials of middle school in America.
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LibraryThing member reneecomer
This is a real life look at topics relevant to middle school and teenage students: team work, social classes, prejudice, bravery, and honesty. Written in a sort of diary form, the narrator, Paul Fisher, a middle school student, is able to "tell it like it is," and his perspectives of the situations
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he observes are briliiant and thought provoking. The heoric end is a lesson well learned for young adult readers.
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LibraryThing member KourtneeAllen
Kourtnee Allen 11/10/11
7 critical review

Edward Bloor has many other books. Taken is a book about a girl named Charity Meyers who woke up on New Year’s morning all alone strapped to a stretcher in an ambulance that was not moving. She know this was not like ordinary kidnapping. She is not
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prepared for what her kidnappers want. I think he is more a non-fiction writer than a fiction writer.

Paul is a soccer player who moved to Florida because of his brother Erik. They moved because of Erik’s football dream. His dad is all about Erik’s football, but Paul is not a big fan of his brothers football. Paul’s parents don’t pay much attention to Paul. When Erik’s football dream go’s down the drain, Paul gets a little too much attention. This book reminds me of the book The Secret Garden. They have very similar plot to Tangerine.

Tangerine was very good I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. The story would be better for elementary and middle school level kids because they can relate and make connections to the story better than older kids. I give this book six out of ten stars. In Tangerine there were interesting parts and dry parts but overall it was a good book.
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LibraryThing member ZacharyMcClaskey
Zachary McClaskey 11/10/11
The novel “Tangerine” was written by Edward Bloor. He was born in 1950 in New Jersey. He was an English teacher in Florida. He wrote these: Tangerine 1997 Crusader 1999 Story Time 2004 London , Calling 2006 Taken 2007. I think the story is a little weird because of
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the way the story is told.
In Tangerine, Paul had to move from Texas to Florida. He did not want to move there, but his father made them so his brother, Erik could play football and get into a well-known college. Paul went to a new school and wanted to play soccer there. The school wouldn’t let him play because of his eyesight. He went to another school where he could play soccer. He made new friends there. He helped his friend Tino and his family save their tangerine crop. There is a lot more to learn about Paul’s brother and his friends and how they have no concern about anyone but themselves.
I think this book is a little tricky. I feel this because it is a little lame. It is really not my type of book. I think my Mom and my brother would enjoy this book. I would give this book a 3 out 5. There are many kids that might like this type of writing.
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LibraryThing member readingrat
Almost didn't read this one. Going into it I thought it was going to be some sort of paranormal soccer story - based on the cover art and the back cover blurb. However, I am so glad I gave this one a try. iit is so much more than a soccer story; it's a story of triumph over adversity on multiple
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levels.
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LibraryThing member wuba
this book extremily sad of one big death adn

Pages

320

Rating

½ (582 ratings; 3.7)
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