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Tangerine

by

Edward Bloor
1997
     
    MonkeyNotes Study Guide by Jane Johnson

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Reprinted with permission from TheBestNotes.com Copyright  2007, All Rights Reserved 
Distribution without the written consent of TheBestNotes.com is strictly prohibited.

KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS
SETTING
Tangerine is set in fictional Tangerine County, Florida.  The time is around 1997, when the book was written.

CHARACTER LIST
Major Characters
Paul Fisher - The protagonist, is twelve years old and in seventh grade.  He is considered to be legally blind.  He plays soccer, mostly as goalie.

Erik Fisher - The antagonist, is Paul’s older brother. He is cruel.  He is the focus of what Paul calls the Erik Fisher Football Dream. 

Mom (Mrs. Fisher) - Paul and Erik’s mother.  She grew up in a military family.  She drives a Volvo wagon.

Dad (Mr. Fisher) - Paul and Erik’s father. He drives a Range Rover.  He is the Deputy Director of the Civil Engineering Department of Tangerine County.  During the story, he becomes its Director.  

Minor Characters
Joey Costello - Mike’s brother and Paul’s friend.

Mike Costello - He was chosen by Coach Warner to be backup quarterback.  He is….. 

Many additional characters are outlined in the complete study guide.

CONFLICT
Protagonist - Paul Fisher is the protagonist.  He is the person whose journal is this book.

Antagonist - Paul’s brother, Erik, is the main antagonist.  Arthur, Erik’s friend, is another antagonist. An additional minor antagonist is the sinkhole.

Climax - The climax is when Arthur hits Luis with the blackjack.

Outcome - The main outcome is when Paul is able to remember what injured his eyes.  Another…. 

SHORT PLOT/CHAPTER SUMMARY (Synopsis)
The Fisher family moves to Tangerine, Florida, because the father has a new job there as the Deputy Director of Civil Engineering.  They live in a new house in a new development called Lake Windsor Downs.  The combination high school and middle school that they will be attending is also named Lake Windsor.

Paul soon learns about some unusual occurrences in Tangerine, like muck fires.

Paul is unhappy because his mother tells the school that he cannot see.  Paul believes that he can see.  He can see even better than his parents at times, like when they are looking at his brother, Erik.  Paul thinks his parents cannot see what Erik is really like.

Paul has been told that he has to wear thick glasses because years ago he supposedly looked at an eclipse too long.  Paul suspects that there is a connection between the thick glasses and the eclipse story and his brother, Erik.  But, Paul’s mind has blocked out any specifics.

Paul’s mother is not happy with the school, but. Paul is okay with it because they have a soccer team on which he wants to play.  Paul tries out for the soccer team.  However, because his IEP says that he is visually impaired, he cannot play.  It has something to do with the school’s insurance.

The Fishers are caught up in what is referred to as the Erik Fisher Football Dream.  Erik specializes in….. 

THEMES
Honesty
Sports and privileged behavior
Perseverance
Family issues
Overcoming social/class distinctions
The need to be accepted
Facing fear and overcoming it
Honesty in relationships

Analysis of the themes can be found in the Overall Analyses Section of the Study Guide.

MOOD
Tangerine is written in a positive mood.  It is the journal of a young man who is ready for what life has to offer.  He is good at “rolling with the punches.”  

BACKGROUND INFORMATION-BIOGRAPHY
Perhaps you have heard someone tell a beginning writer to write about what they know.  That is a good suggestion.  It is what Edward Bloor did when he wrote Tangerine, his first novel.  Mr. Bloor, like Paul, his protagonist in Tangerine, played soccer as a child and in high school and college.  He lived in the real area where he located his fictional setting, Tangerine.  He observed firsthand the changes that were occurring as the citrus groves were replaced by housing developments as happened in his novel.  While some readers may think that the muck fires that burn for months, the sinkholes and the deadly lightning are just products of this writer’s fertile imagination, in fact they are common occurrences in the area and frequent topics on the nightly news.  

Edward Bloor has written three more books since he wrote Tangerine.  They are:
Crusader
Story Time
London Calling

Like Tangerine, Crusader is set in Florida.  The title refers to a game in the arcade where……. 

CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES
INTRODUCTION
Summary
This short introduction tells us about Paul’s departure from Texas with his mother.  His father and his brother, Erik, have already been at their new home in Florida for a week.  As he waits for his mother to make one final sweep of the house, Paul’s thoughts go to the time when he barely avoided being hit with a bat by someone that appeared to him to be his brother, Erik.

As his mother locks the keys inside the house, Paul knows that the zombie is locked out.

Notes
Each of the three parts of this book is divided into chapters identified by dates rather than by numbers as most books are.  The author’s book titled Crusader is divided in a similar manner.

PART 1
Friday, August 18
Summary
Paul’s first introduction to Florida, from the windows of his mother’s Volvo wagon, surprises him.  He was expecting beaches with high-rise condos, not farmland.  Soon the farmland turns to housing developments.  The development where their new home is located is called Lake Windsor Downs.  It is almost finished.  When they reach their new home they are just in time for the pizza dinner that Paul’s father ordered.  

After he goes to sleep, Paul is wakened by the sounds of his brother running down the hallway and a car pulling away from the house.  When he can’t go back to sleep, he starts thinking about a zombie stalking along Interstate 10.

Notes
The zombie represents all the bad vibes in the family home in Houston.  When they left Houston, they left the zombie.  But, because it is a part of the family, it is following them to Tangerine.

Saturday, August 19
Summary
During the night, Paul hears thunder and sees lightning.  The next morning he and his mother smell smoke.  His mother calls the local fire department.  Wayne, of the Tangerine Volunteer Fire Department, responds.  He explains that the smoke smell is coming from the muck fire that the lightning stirred up.  There is lignite in the ground.  The fire in the lignite cannot be put out.  Paul’s mother makes a plan to report the situation to their homeowners’ association.  

Notes
Muck fires are real.  They somehow seem to be something unreal, but, like other strange occurrences in this book, they actually happen.  

Saturday, August 19, later
Summary
During the day a thunderstorm causes a short power failure.  All the clocks on the electronic equipment in the house need to be reset. 

Late in the day, Paul takes his bike out of the garage and notices that there is no smoke smell.  Paul can see the wind that blows through the development because it is full of construction sand that Paul refers to as “white sugar sand.”  On his bicycle, Paul stops at the model homes area of the development.  Each of the home styles is named after a British royal family.  Paul tells us that his mother likes that.  Paul watches workmen lay squares of sod over white sugar sand until a new home has a lawn.  As Paul continues to pedal around the development, he sees the guardhouse by the entrance gate.  Nearby is a big pond.  Paul guesses that it is “Lake Windsor.”   

When he returns home, Paul sees Mom talking to a man whom she introduces to him.  He is Mr. Costello, the president of the Homeowners’ Association.  He and Mom had been discussing the muck fire.  When Paul tells him that he was at the pond, Mr. Costello tells him that each development is required to have a retention pond for storm runoff.  He asks Paul if he saw any koi in the pond.  He says that the pond/lake has been stocked full of them.  And, they are expensive.

Dad and Erik arrive.  Mr. Costello goes home to get his son, who, like Erik, is into football.  When he returns with his son, Mike, they gather in the Fisher’s great room to discuss high school football.  The Costellos tell the Fishers that the Lake Windsor High team, the Seagulls, now dominates high school football in the area.  Mike says that in the coming season he will be the number two quarterback.  The Fishers know that means that Mike will be holding the football as Erik kicks it.  

While the Costellos are definitely interested in football, they do not seem as intense about it as Erik and his father are.  Mike’s future is not dependent on doing well in football.  He has already been accepted into the FSU School of Engineering.

Notes
Koi are a colorful type of the carp fish family.  They are prized for their vivid colors.  They resemble goldfish, only they are larger.  

In Japan, carp are a part of the holiday called Boys’ Festival.  Boys’ Festival is a celebration of the country’s boys.  It is on May 5th.  (Japan has another festival, called the Doll Festival, for girls.  It is on March 3rd.)  Families in Japan fly carp streamers made of cloth or paper above their homes.  Carp symbolize the power and energy that the families see in their boys.  The strength and determination of the carp help them overcome difficulties in a way that the families want their sons to emulate.  

Monday, August 21
Summary
Dad says that he would fire Wayne if he worked for him.  Paul does not agree.  Wayne just told the truth.  And, Dad should have known about the muck fires before he purchased their new house.  

Paul and Mom unpack.  As they do, Mom complains about the lack of storage space in Florida homes.  As usual, Mom had solved the potential problem before it became a problem.  When they had packed to move from Houston, she had packed and shipped approximately half of their things to a storage place on Route 22.

Paul and his mother then go to Lake Windsor Middle School.  Mom wants to give him an opportunity to become acquainted with the layout of the campus before school actually starts.  Mom is unhappy to find out that the classrooms for Paul’s class, the seventh grade, are temporary, portable rooms connected by board walkways.  

Paul and Mom find out that Lake Windsor Middle School uses their cafeteria as their auditorium.  And they find out that the school uses the gymnasium in the high school because they do not have one of their own.  

Mrs. Gates, the school principal, who has been showing them around the school, asks Mom to complete an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for Paul because of his vision problem.  Paul does not want anything to do with this.  

On the way home Paul says that he will overlook the outdoor classrooms and lack of a gym because the soccer team seems to be okay.  But, to himself, he wonders what else Dad overlooked in Tangerine.  

Wednesday, August 23
Summary
Today there are tryouts for the football team at Lake Windsor High School.  Because of them, the whole Fisher family is at the school.  But, Erik, who this year is a senior, is not really there to try out.  Coach Warner already met him and accepted him onto the team earlier.  Dad saw to that.  

While a seemingly invisible Paul watches a circling osprey, Coach Warner tells Dad about Antoine Thomas.  He was the team’s only star player last year.  Dad, not unexpectedly, brags about Erik.  

Paul remembers the past, when they lived in Huntsville.  Back then, Erik played soccer.  He practiced making goals.  When the family moved to Houston, Erik decided to switch to football.  He switched to kicking a football.  

After the afternoon rainstorm, Paul joins some soccer players on the soccer field.  After stopping all their goal shots, Paul decides that they are not very good players.  He decides that he won’t have any…….

OVERALL ANALYSES
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Paul Fisher - The protagonist, is twelve years old and in seventh grade.  He is considered to be legally blind.  But, he does not consider himself to be.  He plays soccer, mostly as goalie.  The novel, Tangerine, is written as though it is his journal.  He has problems with his family.  His brother is cruel to…… 

Erik Fisher - The antagonist, is Paul’s older brother. He is cruel.  He is the focus of what Paul calls the Erik Fisher Football Dream. The dream is about getting Erik into college on a football……
 
Mom (Mrs. Fisher) - Paul and Erik’s mother.  She grew up in a military family.  She drives a Volvo wagon.  She does what needs to be done in an efficient….. 

Dad (Mr. Fisher) - Paul and Erik’s father. He drives a Range Rover.  He is the Deputy Director of the Civil Engineering Department of Tangerine County.  During the story, he…….

PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS
Tangerine is written in the form of a journal.  Each chapter title is the date of the action in that chapter.  In a few cases, the date is the date after the day of the action.  In those chapters, this difference is clarified.  Every day is not entered. And, some days have two chapters with the second of the chapter titles ending with the word “later” in italics.

The book is divided into three parts close to equal in length.  There is also a short, untitled introduction before part 1.  In this, we meet Paul, the protagonist, and his mother as they leave Houston and…… 

THEMES - THEME ANALYSIS
Honesty - Antoine Thomas suffers because he hides the fact that he does not live in the school district in which he attends school and plays football.  His sister, Shandra, also suffers because….. 

Sports and privileged behavior - Erik gets privileged treatment because he has the ability to kick a football accurately and far.  The fact that his ability could possibly lead to financial gain….. 

Perseverance - Paul preserves as he attempts to discover the truth about his eyes.  Eventually, he succeeds.  

Family issues - The author shows us that parents can make bad choices when deciding how to handle difficult situations.  Paul’s parents have what sounds like a good reason to do what they did when…..

Overcoming social/class distinctions - As Paul Fisher becomes aware of the two social classes in the area to which he has moved, he easily adjusts to the class to which he doesn’t seem……

Additional themes are analyzed in the complete study guide.
AUTHOR'S STYLE
Edward Bloor has a writing style that is very easy to read.  The words flow smoothly.  It is….. 

RISING ACTION
The rising action is after the exposition and before the climax.  During this time a sinkhole develops….. 

FALLING ACTION
The falling action is after the climax and before the denouement.  During this time Luis is found dead, Paul concludes that Arthur killed him, Mom discovers that Erik and Arthur are…….

POINT OF VIEW
The point of view of Tangerine is first person, as one would expect in a book written as…… 

GENRE
The genre of Tangerine is young adult fiction.

IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS - QUOTES AND ANALYSIS
The page references below refer to Tangerine by Edward Bloor, published by Scholastic Signature, first Scholastic paperback reissue, June 2001

1. ) But I can see.  I can see everything.  I can see things that Mom and Dad can’t.  Or won’t.  p. 4

I followed slowly, angry at Mom for calling attention to my eyesight.  She wanted a tour of the place because she’s nosy and wants to see everything for herself.  It wasn’t because I can’t see, because I can.  I can see just fine.  p. 24

But it wasn’t a hawk.  I knew that.  It was an osprey.  (I know the difference because of a science project I did last year.  Could a vision-impaired person tell the difference?)  p. 27

Paul is confident that he can see.  He emphasizes that fact every time he has an opportunity.

2.)  “Why can’t they practice in the morning, when it doesn’t rain?  This is ridiculous.  When you know that it’s definitely going to rain at exactly the same time every day, you can’t really call it getting caught in the rain, can you?”  Mom talking to Paul on p. 29-30

“This isn’t Texas.  They have their own weather in Florida, and we all need to change our attitudes about it.  People shouldn’t stand outside in this kind of rain.  Just listen to that!”  Mom talking to Paul on p. 30

Texas weather is unusual.  The author gives us a taste of it in this scene.

This is a good example of Mom’s attitude.  She is matter-of-fact.  She knows what makes sense and…… 

18.) Antoine studied my face.  He said, “You’re Erik Fisher’s little brother?”

I tightened up at the sound of Erik’s name.  I mumbled, “Yes.”

Antoine said quietly, “It’s time to start telling the truth, little brother.  Do you understand what I’m saying?”  

I nodded like I understood.  But, I didn’t.  Not really.  Not until he added, “Don’t spend your life under the bleachers, little brother.  The truth shall set you free.”

I nodded with real conviction now.  I said, “Yes! Yes!”  p. 260-1

This quote is significant because it relates to the story’s honesty theme.

SYMBOLISM / MOTIFS / IMAGERY / SYMBOLS
On Monday, December 4, Paul replaces all his old clothes with the new ones that he and Mom got at the mall.  This symbolizes the new Paul.   He is new because he has his long-sought memory of the event in the past that caused his eye injury.  And, he has a new attitude since he observed Luis’ bravery the day that he was hit with the blackjack.

On Wednesday, September 20, Paul and Joey compare their soccer uniforms.  The appearance of…… 

IMPORTANT/ KEY FACTS SUMARY
Title:  Tangerine
Author:  Edward Bloor
Date Published:  1997
Meaning of the Title:  Tangerine refers to the town in Florida that is the setting for the story.  The town seems to have received its name from the fact that citrus fruit, including tangerines, were….. 

STUDY QUESTIONS - MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ
1.  What city did the Fishers live in immediately before they moved to Tangerine, Florida?
a) Phoenix 
b) Austin
c) Houston
d) Miami
e) Cleveland

2.  What disappear from the pond near the entrance to the development in Florida into which the Fishers move?
a) Ducks
b) Goldfish
c) Statues 
d) Koi
e) Geese……

ANSWER KEY
1.)	  c	6.) a	11.)  a
2.)	  d	7.) c	12.)  e
3.)	  b	8.) d	13.)  d
4.)	  e	9.) b	14.)  a
5.)	  e	10.) c	15.)  b

ESSAY TOPIC IDEAS - BOOK REPORT TOPICS
1.  What is a Quonset hut?  To what does the word “Quonset” refer?  
2.  Some readers think that muck fires, and sinkholes are strange.  Are there any places near you that people from other areas think are strange?  If you are from an area where muck fires and sinkholes are not unusual, describe something in another area that you have seen or heard about that you would describe as strange or unusual.
3   Describe osprey, including their habits……. 

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Reprinted with permission of TheBestNotes.com. All Rights Reserved. 
Distribution without the written consent of TheBestNotes.com is strictly prohibited.