Tangerine - Softcover

Bloor, Edward

3.59

31,830 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 059043277X ISBN 13: 9780590432771

Publisher: Apple, 1998

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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.

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Review:

"Breaks the mold."--"Publishers Weekly"

"A richly imagined read about an underdog coming into his own."--Bulletin

* "Smart, adaptable, and anchored by a strong sense of self-worth, Paul makes a memorable protagonist in a cast of vividly drawn characters; multiple yet taut plotlines lead to a series of gripping climaxes and revelations. Readers are going to want more from this author."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Breaks the mold."--Publishers Weekly ABA's Pick of the Lists An ALA Best Book for Young Adults A Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book A Horn Book Fanfare Selection An IRA Young Adults' Choice A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing

-A richly imagined read about an underdog coming into his own.---Bulletin

* -Smart, adaptable, and anchored by a strong sense of self-worth, Paul makes a memorable protagonist in a cast of vividly drawn characters; multiple yet taut plotlines lead to a series of gripping climaxes and revelations. Readers are going to want more from this author.---Kirkus Reviews, starred review

-Breaks the mold.---Publishers Weekly ABA's Pick of the Lists An ALA Best Book for Young Adults A Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book A Horn Book Fanfare Selection An IRA Young Adults' Choice A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing

From the Author:

Starred review in Kirkus Reviews, February 1
"A legally blind seventh-grader with clearer vision than most wins acceptance in a new Florida school as his football-hero older brother self-destructs in this absorbing, multi-stranded debut. Paul's thick lenses don't keep him from being a first-rate soccer goalie, but they do make him, willy-nilly, a "handicapped" student and thus, according to his new coach, ineligible to play. After a giant sinkhole swallows much of the ramshackle school, Paul is able to transfer to another school where, with some parental collusion, he can keep his legal status a secret. It turns out to be a rough place, where "minorities are in the majority," but Paul fits himself in, playing on the superb soccer team (as a substitute for one of the female stars of the group) and pitching in when a freeze threatens the citrus groves. Bloor fills in the setting with authority and broad irony: In Tangerine County, Florida, groves are being replaced by poorly designed housing developments through which drift clouds of mosquitoes and smoke from unquenchable "muck fires." Football is so big that not even the death of a player struck by lightning during practice gets in the way of NFL dreams: no one, including Paul's parents, see how vicious and amoral his brother, Erik, is off the field. Smart, adaptable, and anchored by a strong sense of self-worth, Paul makes a memorable protagonist in a cast of vividly drawn characters; multiple yet taut plotlines lead to a series of gripping climaxes and revelations. Readers are going to want more from this author."

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