Tangerine
Edward Bloor (1997)
“A legally blind boy slowly recovers the memory his family buried — that his brother is the one who blinded him.”
At a Glance
Paul Fisher, a legally blind seventh grader, moves with his family to Tangerine County, Florida, where his older brother Erik is the star football kicker. Paul plays soccer at a rough, diverse school called Tangerine Middle and befriends the Cruz family, who run a tangerine grove threatened by suburban development. As Paul gains confidence and clarity, he uncovers the truth his parents have systematically buried: Erik spray-painted Paul's eyes when they were children, causing his visual impairment. When Erik's violence escalates to a murder cover-up, Paul finally speaks out, shattering the family mythology that protected Erik at Paul's expense.
Read full summary →Why This Book Matters
Tangerine became one of the most widely assigned middle-school novels of the late 1990s and 2000s, praised for its unflinching treatment of sibling abuse, parental complicity, and disability — subjects that young adult literature had largely avoided or sentimentalized. The novel demonstrated that YA fiction could address family violence, environmental destruction, and institutional racism with the complexity of literary fiction while remaining accessible to twelve-year-olds.
Diction Profile
Informal journal voice with increasing analytical sophistication — plain middle-school diction that deepens into genuine literary reflection
Low to moderate