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Tangerine is a novel by Edward Bloor, published in 1997.

Plot summary

The story is about a 12 year old boy named ,Paul, who hates his brother and is dealing with the new environment after moving to Tangerine, Florida. Throughout the story, it is mentioned that he suffers of legal blindness. He tries out for soccer his first day at Lake Windsor, the neighboring school, but they won't let him because he has an IEP. His older brother, Erik, is the star in the family and is supported by his father and their wishes for the "Erik Fisher Football Dream" to develop further. Throughout this novel, Paul deals with living in a new state, new schools, and ultimately learns secrets about his family. In addition, he learns that people are different on the outside than they are on the inside.

The story begins with Paul's family on move-in day. When the family arrives in Tangerine, they realize that the location of the house is a drawback due to the constant thunderstorms, termite infested base, and Muck Fires. After they unpack, Paul goes for a tour of his school, Lake Windsor Middle. Paul and his mother are greatly distressed at the school's appearance, because 7th and 8th graders have classes in small wooden portables connected by wooden walkways. Paul does not mind; he is annoyed with his mother for filing an IEP. Later on, Mike Costello, another less snobbish football star, is introduced, along with Joey Costello, his younger brother.

After the first day of school, Paul goes to practice with Lake Windsor's soccer team, the Seagulls. However, the coach kicks Paul off the team because of the IEP form in his files which would prevent him from receiving insurance.

The next day, Erik tells his family that Mike Costello was struck by lightning at practice when he was leaning on the football field's goalpost. Erik and his friend Arthur are happy of the incidence, and laugh and make fun of Mike, stating ´he got mohawked´. Only Paul knows how Erik and Arthur really feel about Mike Costello, whilst his mother and father stay oblivious as usual.

While Paul is at his school, a sinkhole opens, swallowing up the entire middle school campus, and condemning everything within a 100 ft radius. The emergency relocation plan that Paul takes part in sends him to Tangerine Middle school (fortunately, without the IEP). Now, Paul can finally play soccer again.

At Tangerine Middle School, Paul meets fellow students Theresa, Victor, Tino, and Henry D. They are all the school's soccer players except Theresa. Paul also convinces Joey to transfer to his school with him. Joey eventually gets sick of the new school, because he thinks none of Paul's new friends likes him, and he thinks that Paul is "kissing up" to Victor and their other classmates. Joey finally goes back to Lake Windsor Middle School and drops out of the Tangerine soccer team.

Robberies begin to take place around the neighborhood during the "tenting" process of the houses (covering the house with a tent and using poison gas to fill the house to kill the termites). The robbers break in through the windows. Paul then meets Luis, the brother of Theresa and Tino. Luis works in his farm field. He has developed a new kind of tangerine called the Golden Dawn. Later, Paul and his friends from Tangerine Middle School are playing soccer in front of their house, when Erik comes over and starts mouthing off at Tino, who mentions the time Erik flipped on his back when Antoine Thomas made a fake field goal. Later, Luis goes up to Erik to defend his brother, Tino, and says, "Do you want to smack me like you smacked Tino?", and Erik instructs his friend Arthur as a result to smack him with his blackjack. Luis is fine after the smack, but a bruise is left on his head. A few days later, Luis is found dead from an aneurysm and Paul suspects Erik's involvement.

At the senior awards night, when Erik is getting his award, Tino and Victor show up and beat up Erik and Arthur for killing Luis Cruz. This causes the audience to go into an uproar, with the rest of the football players tried to keep control. Paul himself also jumps on one of the coaches to save Tino from the coach's grab. The two of them escape, and Paul runs back to his house. Erik confronts him with Arthur. He finally has the courage to speak up to Erik and states that he knew that Erik was responsible for Luis Cruz' death. Erik then gets angry and denies it himself, swinging the bat he brought with him into Arthur's truck. Arthur then tries to calm Erik down, but Erik shouts "Shut up, Castor!" before leaving in their truck. The word "Castor" triggers Paul's memories, and he has a flashback from his childhood to the day his vision got damaged. He realizes it was his brother did it by spraying paint in Paul's eyes with his old friend, Castor, because Erik thought that Paul had gotten Castor in trouble. Paul also realizes his parents have been hiding the truth from him (they told him he stared at an eclipse until he was half blind).

After that, mysteries start to unravel: Paul's mom finds a gym bag, and in it are all the stolen items from the neighborhood and a gas mask. Erik confesses to robbery, along with Arthur. Police also arrest Arthur for the murder of Luis. Paul is also expelled from school because he jumped on the coach during the awards ceremony, and his mother decides to take him to a Catholic school, St. Anthony's. After