Here is a summary. This is long so just try to make it into 5 paragraphs.
Paul Fisher, an eighth-grader with bad eyes, is afraid of his older brother, Erik. As Paul packs up his house in Houston, he has a terrifying vision of Erik leaning out the window of a car, wearing a ski mask, swinging a baseball bat at Paul’s head. He writes about the strange vision in his journal; this mysterious journal entry is how the diary-novel of Tangerine begins.
Explanation: Paul and his family are moving from Houston to Tangerine County, Florida—a region known for its tangerine groves. When they arrive, Paul sees piles of tangerine trees smoldering in great heaps. Many of the groves, it turns out, are being slashed and burned to make way for new housing developments like the one that the Fisher family moves into Lake Windsor Downs, a sterile, wealthy development where all the houses look the same.
When they settle in, Mrs. Fisher joins the Lake Windsor Housing Association and becomes the head of the architectural committee. Mr. Fisher will be the new director of civil engineering for Tangerine County. Erik will be the kicker for the Lake Windsor High football team.
Paul’s parents are obsessed with Erik’s football career—so much so that they don’t seem to notice the sinister things about Erik that Paul notices. They also don’t seem to pay any attention to Paul. Paul loves to play soccer; he’s the goalie. Because of his bad eyes, he has special goggles that he wears when he plays. But when Paul signs up for Lake Windsor Middle School, his mother tells the principal that Paul needs help because he is legally blind. Because of this, Paul ends up with an IEP (an individualized education program) and he’s not allowed to play on the soccer team. Paul makes friends with Joey Costello, but he’s still incredibly depressed by not being able to play soccer. His parents, though, are more concerned with Erik’s life.
Erik makes friends with Arthur Bauer; as soon as Paul sees them together, he knows that Arthur is going to play a bad role in Erik’s life. Erik, Paul knows, has a way of manipulating people. Paul can tell that Erik is going to get Arthur to do bad things for him.
The first sign of Erik’s sinister ways comes when there’s a terrible accident. Another football player, Mike Costello, gets struck by lightning during practice. Paul sees Erik and Arthur laughing about the tragedy.
Tangerine is a region of wild weather. There are constant muck fires smoldering under the ground; there are constant rain and flash floods; and the county, it turns out, has the most lightning strikes in the entire country. One day after a torrential storm, a sinkhole opens up at Paul’s school and swallows one of the portables. No one dies, but the school grounds are condemned. Paul has to go to another school. He’s thrilled: this means he can play with another team—without an IEP.
Paul demands that his parents let him go to Tangerine Middle School. They’re nervous because the school is in a rougher, poorer town of Tangerine. It’s nothing like their sterile housing development. But it has a soccer team—a good soccer team. The War Eagles, it turns out, have some of the best players in the county. Many of the players are girls. Tough girls. The boys are tough too. At first, they’re suspicious of Paul. But little by little, Paul comes to prove himself on the field. He also likes the kids’ sense of humor. When they tease him, he teases back. Everyone in Tangerine is rough and honest, and Paul loves it.
