Fiction · Novel · Sports · Children's

Tangerine

Edward Bloor

First published 1997

Reading facts

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Reading effort: 27 / 100Light
Length: 320 pagesHarcourt Paperbacks · 2006
Reading time: 6 h 30 minat 50 pages an hour ·
Pace: Brisk
Emotional intensity: 4 / 5

Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.

About the book

Legally blind and accustomed to being overlooked beside his football-star brother Erik, Paul Fisher hopes his family's move to Florida will offer a chance to play soccer on his own terms. In Tangerine County, underground fires burn beneath the suburbs, lightning strikes daily, and a sinkhole swallows part of his school. A new soccer team offers Paul a place to belong beyond a household organized around Erik's future.

Reader notes

The middle-grade novel moves between competitive sports and an atmosphere of suburban menace, with plenty of game action alongside family conflict. Its unsettling setting can feel almost surreal, but abuse and serious violence are central, concrete concerns.

How it reads

Writing style: Conversational · Descriptive · Direct
Tone: Earnest · Hopeful · Suspenseful · Tense
Structure: Linear
Driven by: Character · Plot · Relationships
Point of view: First person
Setting: Tangerine, Florida

Reading complexity

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 3 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Themes

Belonging
Class
Family
Identity
Justice
Nature and environment

Content notes

Violence: Strong
Sexual content: None
Swearing: Mild
Substance use: None
Abuse: Strong
Self-harm or suicide: None

Standing and awards

Edgar Award nominee, 1998

Questions readers ask

Is it hard to read?

No, the conversational, direct prose and linear first-person narrative keep the reading straightforward. The pace is brisk, though the family conflict and serious violence carry emotional weight.

How dark does it get?

Strong abuse and serious violence are central concerns, alongside family conflict. Underground fires, daily lightning and a sinkhole at Paul's school add an unsettling atmosphere of suburban menace.

How much of the story is about sports?

Competitive sports are central, with plenty of game action. Paul's chance to play soccer and belong to a new team sits alongside a family life organized around his football-star brother's future.

Does the setting feel realistic or surreal?

Tangerine County can feel almost surreal: underground fires burn beneath the suburbs, lightning strikes daily, and a sinkhole swallows part of Paul's school. The abuse, violence and family conflict remain concrete concerns.

How long is it?

320 pages in the Harcourt Paperbacks 2006 paperback edition.

Which edition is shown here?

Harcourt Paperbacks · 2006 · Paperback. ISBN 9780152057800.

How long does it take to read Tangerine?

About 6 hours 30 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 320-page Harcourt Paperbacks edition. Dense books can take longer.

About the author

Edward Bloor

Edward Bloor is an American writer of fiction for young readers whose novels place outsiders inside families, schools, and public institutions built on distorted stories. His earlier work teaching middle and high school and editing language-arts textbooks gave him firsthand material for those settings. Bloor grounds his fiction in recognizable places and systems, then bends realism toward satire, suspense, ecological menace, or the supernatural. Tangerine makes Florida sinkholes, underground fires, lightning, and soccer part of one tightening structure, as Paul Fisher’s growing self-trust challenges family denial and the social boundaries around him. Story Time converts standardized testing into a darkly comic school nightmare, using a ghost story to expose the kinds of intelligence a test-driven institution suppresses. London Calling joins an isolated boy’s contemporary family troubles to time travel and Blitz-era London. Its movement between periods preserves Bloor’s usual narrative engine, in which recovering an uncomfortable truth creates pressure for an honest choice.