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Overview

Though legally blind, Paul Fisher can see what others cannot. He can see that his parents' constant praise of his brother, Erik, the football star, is to cover up something that is terribly wrong. But no one listens to Paul--until his family moves to Tangerine. In this Florida town, weird is normal: Lightning strikes at the same time every day, a sinkhole swallows a local school, and Paul the geek finds himself adopted into the toughest group around: the soccer team at his middle school.    Maybe this new start in Tangerine will help Paul finally see the truth about his past--and will give him the courage to face up to his terrifying older brother.    Includes a reader's
... See more details below

More About This Book

Overview

Though legally blind, Paul Fisher can see what others cannot. He can see that his parents' constant praise of his brother, Erik, the football star, is to cover up something that is terribly wrong. But no one listens to Paul--until his family moves to Tangerine. In this Florida town, weird is normal: Lightning strikes at the same time every day, a sinkhole swallows a local school, and Paul the geek finds himself adopted into the toughest group around: the soccer team at his middle school.    Maybe this new start in Tangerine will help Paul finally see the truth about his past--and will give him the courage to face up to his terrifying older brother.    Includes a reader's guide and an afterword by the author.


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.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
When he was little, Paul stared at an eclipse too long. Or so his parents tell him. Now 12, he is legally blind. When his family moves to Florida's Tangerine County, where lightning strikes every day and toxic smoke billows through the air, Paul begins to remember something else. As buried memories surface, he uncovers the ugly truth of what his football hero brother did to him years ago. The element of suburban ecological horror here is both frightening and surreal, but it gives way in the second half of the novel to an onslaught of soccer and football games. The playing fields are symbolic arenas in which Paul's anger at his brother and his tentative friendships with a group of poor minority kids get worked out. The horrific elements, however, remain largely unresolved. The zombie Paul mentions never appears. Lightning continues to strike. A swarm of mosquitoes hovers over the housing development. Problems crop up, too, in this book's pacing, but first-novelist Bloor pulls it off, wedding athletic heroics to American gothic with a fluid touch and flair for dialogue. A sports novel that breaks the mold.
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
From The Critics
Living in surreal Tangerine County, Fla., a legally blind boy begins to uncover the ugly truth about his football-hero brother. PW praised Bloor for "wedding athletic heroics to American gothic with a fluid touch and flair for dialogue." Ages 11-up. (Sept.)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780547417158
  • Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Publication date: 9/1/2006
  • Sold by: Barnes & Noble
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 304
  • Sales rank: 8,264
  • Age range: 9 - 13 Years
  • File size: 191 KB
  • Items ship to U.S, APO/FPO and U.S. Protectorate addresses.

Meet the Author

EDWARD BLOOR is the author of four acclaimed novels. A former high school teacher, he lives near Orlando, Florida.

Read an Excerpt


Friday, August 18
 For Mom the move from Texas to Florida was a military operation, like the many moves she had made as a child. We had our orders. We had our supplies. We had a timetable. If it had been necessary to do so, we would have driven the eight hundred miles from our old house to our new house straight through, without stopping at all. We would have refueled the Volvo while hurtling along at seventy-five miles per hour next to a moving convoy-refueling truck.
 Fortunately this wasn’t necessary. Mom had calculated that we could leave at 6:00 A.M. central daylight time, stop three times at twenty minutes per stop, and still arrive at our destination at 9:00 P.M. eastern daylight time.
 I guess that’s challenging if you’re the driver. It’s pretty boring if you’re just sitting there, so I slept on and off until, in the early evening, we turned off Interstate 10 somewhere in western Florida.
 This scenery was not what I had expected at all, and I stared out the window, fascinated by it. We passed mile after mile of green fields overflowing with tomatoes and onions and watermelons. I suddenly had this crazy feeling like I wanted to bolt from the car and run through the fields until I couldn’t run anymore. I said to Mom, “This is Florida? This is what it looks like?”
 Mom laughed. “Yeah. What did you think it looked like?”
 “I don’t know. A beach with a fifty-story condo on it.”
 “Well, it looks like that, too. Florida’s a huge place. We’ll be living in an area that’s more like this one. There are still a lot of farms around.”
 “What do they grow? I bet they grow tangerines.”
 “No. Not too many. Not anymore. This is too far north for citrus trees. Every few years they get a deep freeze that wipes them all out. Most of the citrus growers here have sold off their land to developers.”
 “Yeah? And what do the developers do with it?”
 “Well . . . they develop it. They plan communities with nice houses, and schools, and industrial parks. They create jobs— construction jobs, teaching jobs, civil engineering jobs— like your father’s.”
 But once we got farther south and crossed into Tangerine County, we did start to see groves of citrus trees, and they were an amazing sight. They were perfect. Thousands upon thousands of trees in the red glow of sundown, perfectly shaped and perfectly aligned, vertically and horizontally, like squares in a million-square grid.
 Mom pointed. “Look. Here comes the first industrial park.”
 I looked up ahead and saw the highway curve off, left and right, into spiral exit ramps, like rams’ horns. Low white buildings with black windows stretched out in both directions. They were all identical.
 Mom said, “There’s our exit. Right up there.”
 I looked ahead another quarter mile and saw another pair of spiral ramps, but I couldn’t see much else. A fine brown dust was now blowing across the highway, drifting like snow against the shoulders and swirling up into the air.
 We turned off Route 27, spiraled around the rams’ horns, and headed east. Suddenly the fine brown dirt became mixed with thick black smoke.
 Mom said, “Good heavens! Look at that.”
 I looked to where she was pointing, up to the left, out in a field, and my heart sank. The black smoke was pouring from a huge bonfire of trees. Citrus trees.
 I said, “Why are they doing that? Why are they just burning them up?”
 “To clear the land.”
 “Well, why don’t they build houses out of them? Or homeless shelters? Or something?”
 Mom shook her head. “I don’t think they can build with them. I don’t think those trees have any use other than for fruit.” She smiled. “You never hear people bragging that their dining-room set is solid grapefruit, do you?”
 I didn’t smile back.
 Mom pointed to the right and said, “There’s another one.”
 Sure enough. Same size; same flames licking up the sides; same smoke billowing out. It was like a Texas football bonfire, but nobody was dancing around it, and nobody was celebrating anything.
 Then, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, we crossed over from this wasteland into a place carpeted with green grass, with trees along both sides of the road and flower beds running down the middle of a median strip. We could see the roofs of big, expensive houses peeking up over the landscaping.
 Mom said, “This is where the developments begin. This one is called the Manors of Coventry. Aren’t they beautiful? Ours is a little farther in.”
 We went past the Villas at Versailles, which, if anything, looked even more expensive. Then we saw a high gray wall and a series of wrought-iron letters that spelled out LAKE WINDSOR DOWNS. We passed iron gates and a pond of some kind. Then we made a couple of turns and pulled into a wide driveway.
 Mom announced, “This is it. This is our house.”
 It was big— two stories high— and very white, with aqua trim, like a Miami Dolphins football helmet. A new wooden fence ran around both sides to the back, where it met up with that high gray wall. The wall, apparently, surrounded the entire development.
 The garage door opened up with a smooth mechanical hum. Dad was standing in there with his arms open. He called out, “Perfect timing, you two. The pizzas got here five minutes ago.”
 Mom and I climbed out of the car, stiff and hungry. Dad came outside, clicking the garage door closed. He put an arm around each of us and guided us toward the front, saying, “Let’s do this the right way. Huh? Let’s go in the visitors’ door.”
 Dad led us through the front door into a tiled foyer two stories high. We turned to the left and passed through an enormous great room with furniture and boxes piled all around it. We ended up in an area off the kitchen that had a small, round table and four chairs. Erik was sitting in one of the chairs. He waved casually to Mom. He ignored me.
 Mom waved back at him, but she was looking at the boxes stacked in the kitchen. She said to Dad, “These boxes are marked DINING ROOM.”
 Dad said, “Uh-huh.”
 “Uh-huh. Well, I marked DINING ROOM on them so the movers would put them in the dining room.”
 “OK. Erik’ll put them over there.” He looked at me and added, “Erik and Paul.”
 Mom asked, “Did the movers break anything?”
 “No. They didn’t break a thing. They were real pros. Nice guys, too.”
 Mom and I each grabbed a chair. Erik opened a pizza box, pulled out a slice, and started stuffing it into his mouth. Mom said, “How about waiting for the rest of us, Erik?”
 He gave her a tomatoey grin. Dad passed out paper plates, napkins, and cans of soda. Once Dad sat down, the rest of us started to eat.
Copyright © 1997 by Edward Bloor
Reader’s Guide copyright © 2006 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work
should be submitted online at harcourt.com/ contact or mailed
to the following address: Permissions Department, Harcourt, Inc.,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating 4.5
( 445 )

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 6, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    One of the best books I ever read.

    Tangerine is a very good book for kids around my age (age 11). The storyline kept me guessing and reading until the very end. As the story progresses, the secrets of the young boy are revealed more and more, making me want to keep reading. Despite its title, the subject is a very good one.

    7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 12, 2009

    its okay

    this book was a story about a boy struggling to fit in with his family life. His older brother is a star and he always feels like the "geek" Its a good book but sad.I recomend it to teen readers but also to aldult who are interested in the struggle.
    Best luck reading

    3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 19, 2007

    ...horrible ending.

    the mystery of how paul was blinded happened to be the only thing interesting for me. the rest is merely a series of strange events happening at the school, and soccer drama. the ending completely ruined the intrest i had in the rest of the book.

    3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 31, 2006

    tangerine -- so far

    honestly, it's hard to focus. this was assigned to me, and so i can only really pay attention when i try hard. once you get into it and read a few chapters, it's really well-written. it's a page-turner. i like to keep reading it, nonstop for every 3 or so chapters. i'm reading a few other books at the moment, and this is byfar my second favorite. i'm currently enjoying it.

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 28, 2011

    Anonymous

    I liked the suspense of this book and it had just the right amount of every emotion in it. My only complaint: after all the building mystery around the question 'what really happened to his eyes that caused his vision problem and why cant he remember' the awnser (his bro sprayed the spray paint in them) is just not exciting. I really was hoping for something bigger and quite frankly badder. Because of that it was one star shy of perfection in my rating.): its a good book for 12 year olds like myself.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted May 24, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Ewwwwwwwwww!

    I had to read this book for a class book report. i really didnt enjoy it. Toward the end, it became a little intresting, but the story line is kinda stupid. Where these crtics get this coming of agness from it, i dont understand. Storyline sucked, but it did have its moments. You really did feel bad for Paul when he remembered why he is wearing those bottle cap glasses. But overall i wouldnt reccomend it to many. Little to boring.

    2 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 10, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    The greatest book i've read.!!!!!!!

    Tangerine is about a boy that suposably got blind by an eclipse but really what happened is
    that his older brother Erick and his friend put spray paint in his eyes.
    When Paul and his family moved to Tangerine, Florida. Paul starts up at Lake Windsor Downs.

    2 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 3, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    Awesome

    This is one of the most thrilling books I have ever read. It is a great mixture of hysteria, mystery, realistic fiction and tradegy. At the end I almost cried! All in all, though, this is a great must-read no matter if you like soccer or not!

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted September 21, 2010

    tangerine

    omgee this effinq book was so effinq borinq who ever wrote thisx book needsx twe be shot thisx isx not even funny how lame and borinq this book was wow

    1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 7, 2010

    Terrible Book

    We had to read this book in class and everyone including myself hated it. It was so boring and there was no interesting parts at all.

    1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 13, 2009

    GREAT BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    This is a really good. It¿s about a boy named Paul who is almost blind. He was blinded by his brother Eric. Paul moves to Tangerine county Florida.
    He has problems going to a new school, and getting settled in his new home. When he finally makes friends his brother gets into a fight with one of Paul¿s new friend`s brother. The unthinkable happens; Eric kills Paul¿s new friend¿s brother Luis.
    I thought that this book was really good and very interesting Paul finally got his parents to listen to what he has to say. His brother finally gets what he deserves I would recommend this book to anyone.

    1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 13, 2009

    The Cat In The Hat

    That the children heard something upstairs and they went to go check it out. So they were scared at first so the boy had to go first. Then they went into there moms room and looked underneath there moms bed and jump up and saw a BIG CAT. They were scared so they ran downstairs and said who are u and the cat said ¿I AM THE CAT IN THE HAT¿

    Well the boy opened this red box witch the cat said don¿t open this box or something bad will happen to your house so he opened it anyways and all bad stuff happened like a big volcano came and took him up in the volcano and the girl had to hold on to his pants.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 22, 2008

    BORING!!!!!!!!!!

    I thought that Tangerine was a pointless boring book with absolutely no meaning to it what so ever. I usually like these sort of books, but Tangerine put me to sleep. I had to read a Coming-of-Age novel for a book report so I read Tangerine, but after reading it I wish I never would have.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 9, 2007

    no wow

    the begining was ok but the more i got into the book it started to not make any sense. I mean there was no WOW in it. the book didnt capture me into another world like most books do.I DO NOT RECOMEND THIS BOOK TO OTHER PEEPS. BYE!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 29, 2007

    Eric C. Sixth Grader

    This book is a very dissapointing book, Paul keeps on babbling on and on about his brother, yet about 1/4 of the book focuses on him. And the kids at his talk with a street accent.... who talks like that for one thing. And nobody says 'gangstas' anymore... This book only exciting part was at it's end, other than that, the plot was terrible, lousy characters, and annoying language speaking.... Mr.Bloor, you need to reformat this book heavily

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 25, 2006

    Tangerine

    I read Tangerine for a project, but was very dissapointed. The plot was confusing, the characters odd, and the book was cloudy. the writing is fair, and the incidents in the story memorable, the book was dull to me. Good books should provide an escape from our troubled world. This book doesn't, making it entirely worthless. This book definitely does not deserve any awards.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 19, 2006

    Good, but disapointing

    The books premise was interesting, but as the book went on, and more was revealed, it was less interestilng. At times,it was a good book, even great , but the ending was disapointing. Good, but nothing great.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 25, 2006

    Tangerine

    this book was confusing and not fantastic like sum people thought. when i read books i want an escape from the real world into anothor experience. if u like sports, mysteries and an ending that leaves u hanging....this book is 4 u!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 20, 2006

    Tangerine

    I thought that the book Tangerine was okay. I went throught the book and I was expecting a very big ending like every thing would be okay. The ending left me with questions, and i dont like books that leave me questions. I would like if Edward Bloor would write another that adds on to Tangerine. I would not read this book again if it was my choice because it just left me hanging with questions.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 8, 2012

    Great book.

    Very, very enriching book.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
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