This book is about soccer, family, racism, and many other topics, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. Paul Fisher's family moves to Tangerine, Florida, where he hopes to play soccer for the middle school team. However, his brother is an outstanding kicker on the high school football team and receives all of the family attention, especially from his father. After a disaster hits his school, Paul ends up transferring to a neighboring school full of minorities where he must learn to adapt. They have an excellent soccer team and compete for the county championship. The team has several female players which makes it unusual as they compete against all-boy teams. Paul's brother gets increasingly out of control, even dangerous. There's also a memory stuck deep in Paul's mind that his brother had something to do with damage done to Paul's eyes. Paul learns that "The truth shall set you free."I found the book interesting, but it was hard to get into. For my taste, there were just too many things going on during the plot. The story centered around Paul and his problems, which was fine. He dealt with the racism between his neighborhood and his new school as well as the conflicts with his brother and family. The plot veered off at times to describe his mother's issues, his father's issues, and the tangerine business. I understand the reasons the author did this, but it disrupted the flow of the plot for me, at times. Overall, it was an interesting book.
Lexile level from lexile.com 680
