Tangerine,+by+Edward+Bloor

Bloor, E. (1997). //Tangerine//. San Diego, California: Harourt and Brace.

//Tangerine// is an award winning novel for young adolescents by Edward Bloor. It follows a seventh grade middle school boy on a journey of mystery and self-acceptance. First published by Harcourt Brace in 1997, **Tangerine** is Bloor’s first novel.

Plot Summary
He has a memory that eludes him. It’s a dark memory that lurks just beyond his recollection. He thinks it has something to do with his eyes which he’s told were damaged when he looked directly at a solar eclipse, but he doesn’t remember. He does know from pictures he started that summer of the eclips without glasses, but started the following school year with them. It takes the move to Tangerine County, Florida, to begin to piece that memory together. Along the way, Paul learns about acceptance – being accepted, accepting others and accepting yourself.

Paul’s Mother filled out an Individualized Education Program (IEP) form on his first day of school at Lake Windsor Middle School  not thinking how it would label Paul as handicapped. As a result, Paul is cut from the school’s soccer team since having a handicapped player on the team is an insurance liability the school could not afford. So, when most of his school is swallowed by a sinkhole, Paul sees the opportunity to start over at Tangerine Middle School, in town, without an IEP.

At Tangerine Middle School, soccer is not a game; soccer is life and war. His new teammates take it very seriously and their passion infects Paul. In spite of their differences, Paul grows close to his new teammates and together the TMS War Eagles cut an undefeated path across the county in the hope of winning the championship that eluded them a year earlier. In spite of his team’s victories, Paul’s notices parents are too caught up in the “Erik Fisher football dream” to come to any of his games.

At school Paul sees how his friend from Lake Windsor Middle School, Joey, looks down on his new friends at Tangerine. This conflict aids Paul in finding his identity as one who can see the wrongs of prejudice. The result is that Paul will not forsake his new friends in order to be accepted by “the right crowd” and Paul joins his teammate Tino and Tino’s sister Theresa in a group project on The Golden Dawn tangerine, a new varietal developed by their brother Luis.

When a hard frost threatens the orchard of Tino’s family, Paul lies to his parents so he can go to the farm and help. He spends most of the long cold night hauling wood and old tires for fires, and fuel for rocket stoves in the attempt to limit the frost damage to the tangerine trees. Even though his mother tells him of the hot cocoa and coziness of home, Paul knows where he really wants to be. The orchard business barely survives and with all of the Golden Dawn saplings intact.

When Luis is found dead from a burst aneurism, Paul suspicions drift toward his brother Erik and Erik’s flunky/enforcer Arthur. Things come to a head when evidence surfaces linking Erik and Arthur to a series of break-ins in the neighborhood. Paul finds the courage to see everything for what it truely is, find his own identity and stand up to his brother as the “Erik Fisher football dream unravels.

Critique
Several things make //Tangerine// well suited for the enjoyment of middle schoolers. The way Mr. Bloor unveils the mystery of Paul’s hidden memories pulls the reader through the story and the themes of finding identity and feeling like an outcast will resonate with young adolescents. The tone of the book and the manner it is written are at once accessible for middle schoolers without talking down to them. Mr. Bloor uses his experience as a teacher, reviewer of young adolescent literature and skills as a storyteller to make Tangerine an engaging and engrossing read.

There are items in //Tangerine// that may baffle some students. Published in 1997, Paul uses his dad’s “IBM clone”, makes reference to the “car phone” and uses a floppy-disc. Technology has progressed so fast that these are outdated technology of which today’s young adolescent reader may never have heard. Students may wonder, if Paul comes from a well-off family, why he doesn’t have a cell phone or use one to text his parents or friends.

Students will identify, however, when the characters must collaborate on cross curricular projects and the book itself can inspire some cross curricular projects of its own. The muck fire, a subterranean fire that cannot be put out, could be explored in a science class and connections made to places where similar fires burn in the world today. The same holds true for lightning, which plays such an important role in the book as to almost be a recurring character. The book also touches on issues of class and race, which could provide an opportunity for a discussion is a social studies or history class.

The book’s namesake could spark several science projects, tangerine and citrus cultivation being one of them. A student doing a project on grafting and horticulture could easily find examples at the nearest landscape nursery. The book touches on environmental, housing and suburban development issues as well, all of which could be integrated into cross curricular units.

This is all in addition to the teaching resources related to //Tangerine// already available online, both from the author and those developed by teachers. Some can be found at: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Awards
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Edward Bloor has receive dseveral awards for Tangerine
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">American Library Association Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, 1998
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination for Best Young Adult Novel, 1998
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">American Booksellers Association Pick of the List, 1997
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, 1997