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
I read the book, but didn't catch any racism. When did this happen?
ReplyDeletePaul's new school houses lower income families. His old friends make negative comments about his new classmates. His new classmates are skeptical of Paul because of the neighborhood he came from. Paul's brother harasses the orchard workers and attacks the orchard owner.
ReplyDeleteI had to read this book in my language arts class. It was a very good book.
ReplyDeleteI didn't find the plot to be over-the-top. The book attracted me from the beginning, and I had a hard time taking breaks. In my opinion it was miles fresher then a lot of modern youth books. I was pleasantly impressed
ReplyDeletethis is a outstanding book but there is somme flaws that upset me it is just about the racism they shouldve but a little bit more....
ReplyDeleteWhere can you purchase the book
ReplyDeleteI grew up in northern Illinois and read this book as a part of some middle school curriculum. In high school my family relocated to central Florida. There really are ridiculous sink holes, underground fires that stink something fierce, citrus, citrus, citrus, and a major social and cultural clash in the face of ethnicity and skin color. As an adult it's entertaining to look back at reading this book and the character's take on this foreign, bizarre land and then living that transformation myself.
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