2 Stars
Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley for ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I have been listening to this book off and on since April and I can't tell you what this book is about. I still can't tell you what it's about and just everything feels so random. The book is only three hours long but it feels longer. The writing just feels all over the place. Yes We supposed to be in a 10 year mind but since it's structure like a diary, the entries could be a little more structured

Like it also make you question what is real and what is not real which I'm not talking about the magical realism elements of this book.

For Example Spoilers
I thought for the whole book Mississippi was Gilly's stepmom since her mom and her dad was divorce and the way she talked about her. Come to fine out that Mississippi was her aunt.

So I'm just confused about this book that if felt like a string of thoughts with no actual plot.

DNF. The writing style was hard to follow, and I honestly couldn’t keep up with what was going on. Maybe because it’s written as a diary, it would have been better to read vs listening as an audio book, but I’m not really too sure. There wasn’t much “substance” to keep me interested, and I can’t imagine for a child it would either. I kept listening in hopes that maybe the disorganized and what felt like chaotic entries may start to go somewhere but it didn’t feel like they were going in any specific direction.

This was a fun short read that I listened to on my daily walk. The book is written from the point of view of Gilly, a 10-year-old girl who is looking for her father who lives on the other side of the forest. Unlike other child protagonists, Gilly isn't overly precocious; sometimes she seems even younger than 10 with her magical thinking and vivid imagination. I'm not sure the story will be as effective for younger readers as it is for older ones, since the ending doesn't offer a clear resolution that I'm used to with middle grade books. There were also a few passages that seemed too mature for younger readers, including references to magic mushrooms. One detail that disturbed me was an adult commenting to Gilly that she was "too pretty to not have a boyfriend." This would disgust me in adult fiction or YA but it was particularly troubling given that this is a book for younger readers. Tangerines is an interesting exercise in writing from a child's perspective but I'm not sure it's entirely effective.

Tangerines is a beautifully written, gentle story that captures the world through the eyes of 10-year-old Gilly, a girl with a big imagination, a brave heart, and a deep longing to understand the people she loves.

Told in Gilly’s thoughtful voice, the book blends innocence and wisdom as she and her best friend Oggy navigate a world full of questions: where her father might be, whether wishing hard enough can bring someone back, and what it means to hold on to hope.

Jolles writes with poetic simplicity, letting readers feel the weight of Gilly’s emotions without ever making the story heavy. There’s a quiet magic in the way the forest, dreams, and friendships are described, and even though not all of Gilly’s questions are answered, her journey feels whole and honest.

Tangerines is a tender, reflective read perfect for middle-grade readers or adults looking for a story that lingers gently in the heart.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this audiobook available.

I really struggled with this book. It is pure fantasy, you get a lot of a child’s imagination, but there is no real story, it’s all more like ramblings. Part of me wonders if a middle schooler would understand it better than I did as an adult, but I doubt it.

I loved the themes of self confidence and positive thinking, but I did not love the i initial message of “school is hard so you can just not do it”, nor the idea that 10 year olds should be trying magical mushrooms, and it fully lost me when talk of religion/god/praying came in. The discussions on family dynamics it covers are important, but overall, it is a miss for me as both an adult and a parent.

Thanks to Audio and ebook ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op. I enjoyed this one. It gave me Bridge of Terabithia vibes. I also got vibes that the main character is neurodiverse by the way she talks and journals and is particular about things (just a feeling).

I received an ARC through NetGalley for an honest review.

This is a bizarre and magical story about relationships, magical creatures, imagination, and tangerines.

Told from the perspective of ten year old Gilly, alongside her best friend Oggy, this is an utterly enchanting, joyously lyrical, and uniquely inspired odyssey of what it's like trying to understand and relate to the unfathomably big concepts of love and loss when you are small and filled with wonder.

Beautiful stuff!

This is the most existential 10-year-old I've ever met. In all seriousness, it was so interesting to see this small village in the forest and all of its creatures and happenings through the eyes of Gilly. Having the book be her diary entries and what goes through her head when writing was really fun to read, if not a little messy and all over the place, which is to be expected when a 10-year-old is your main character. The narrator's voice was such a good fit for the character that I created in my head, and the pacing and tone were perfect. I enjoyed the adventurous aspect of the book and can see how this can be a favourite for some kiddies out there. A very interesting perspective and representation of some mental health aspects of some of the characters. Overall, this was a fun, whimsical and cute read, but it's not 100% my cup of tea.

I liked the way this book was written because it felt very authentic. The short, sometimes disconnected, thoughts felt realistic for a child's diary. I liked Gilly's relationship with Oggy and her misunderstandings of the other people around her. The description of the setting was fanciful and the animals in the forest sounded like fairytale creatures. I didn't realize this was part of a series but I'm interested in checking out the rest!

At first, Tangerines seems like a simple story told through a child’s eyes—but there’s a lot more going on under the surface. Gilly’s confusion and emotional messiness feel painfully real, especially as the adults around her dodge the truth. It’s frustrating, but also the point. The writing is sparse, sometimes poetic, and Casey Montgomery’s narration really sells Gilly’s vulnerability without overdoing it. The audiobook can feel a bit scattered, especially if you’re not listening in long stretches, but the emotional weight sneaks up on you. It’s quiet, sad, and surprisingly impactful—especially in hindsight. A thoughtful, layered listen. I personally found it quite poignant and hard to listen in places having recently lost my father.

Tangerines, this little cute book about a 10 year old girl who really wants to talk to her dad about important questions, like where are you and why havent you visited me in all these years?
Meanwhile she spents lots of evenings with her tangerines tree and her good bff, she dreams of being a writer thus everything she lives she writes it down in her journal, which we are currently reading.
It sounds so sweet, and actually I was pretty excited to read, well listen to this audiobook, but honestly I found it pretty boring, storywise, because although it felt like having a 12 year old telling you stories, kudos for the narrator that was a super impressive narration by the way, and the prose felt like that as well, it was an enjoyable experience, but the story fell kind of flat for me at least, just like slice of life journal, so even with everything good this book has, I wouldn't recommend it.
Thanks to Netgalley and the author for providing me a copie of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I selected this book because of the attractive cover and interesting description, but I didn't particularly enjoy it and finished listening to the audiobook at a faster speed.

The narrator's performance was good.

I can see how many people might enjoy it. It is very imaginative and the voice seems authentic, as if really was written by a ten year old. Would I recommend it to my students of that age? I don't know.

Gilly is a ten-year old with a creative soul. She lives on the edge of a forest inviting her imagination to soar. Her best way to embrace the stories is to journal everything in her diary. From her friendship with Oggy to looking for her dad, Gilly cannot seem to find her quiet. Her emotions are all over the place and writing her feelings helps to calm her mind and see clearer.

Listening to this book was difficult for me. It proclaims that it was written as a ten-year old, but to me, the randomness and lack of realism made it feel like a brain dump. Many of the ‘facts’ written in the journal are just wrong, and as an adult, I can discern the truth; however, reading it as a child, there are so many misconceptions which are passed as truths that children just wouldn’t know. The innocence of reading it from a child’s perspective is sweet, but it was really hard for me to follow, from monkeys at the wedding to tangerine juice having healing properties. It may have been more engaging if I were reading and seeing the diary aspect of it, but overall, it was a really hard book to follow and enjoy.

This story was told from the perspective of a 10-year-old girl. The writing was very whimsical and very childlike. This deals with serious topics such as; mental health the thoughts of a parent having an affair, loneliness, and bullying. The concept was interesting and done well.
I would recommend this for a higher level Elementary school student. I’m not sure that younger students would understand all the symbolism or how the character resolved her issues towards the end without some guidance from an adult or a better understanding of grief, mental health, and loneliness. Thank you to Net Galley for the audiobook arc in exchange for an honest review.

Gilly and Oggy are fast friends who live in the forest. Gilly lives with her mother because her father left many years ago. She longs for him and imagines their reunion. She has a secret plan for that...

This book touches on the theme of neurodivergence and I really wanted to like it. Unfortunately the scattered storytelling style just didn't work for me.

I have no doubt that there are many other readers who will find it appealing though, consider checking it out if the description appeals to you.

This meandering short and sweet diary-format novel falls somewhere halfway between Barbara Newhall Follett’s seminal book, 'The House Without Windows', and something like ‘The Snow Child’ by Eowyn Ivey.

I’m having difficulty identifying a reading age for it, though. Thematically, Jolles presents an adult readership with an insightful exploration of neurodivergent experience. He also investigates children’s perspective on loss, viewed through the lens of innocence and optimism, and he depicts childish confusion with subtlety and sensitivity. But for a younger readership? Given that the general rule for young readers is that main characters should be a year or two years older than the target reader, I’m not sure that a ten-year-old’s point-of-view is going to resonate with the majority of Middle Grade readers, and certainly not YA. For instance, Oggy provides a nice foil for Gilly’s character, but his contrariness is tiresome and blunts any dramatic impact.

However, Tsvi Jolles offers readers some really marvellous (in the literal sense of the word) descriptions here, and encountered many moments of remarkably creative language as well as intense emotional insight:

'Stars are like all the places we want to go and all the things we wish we had but don't. They're so far away, just hanging in the sky, teasing us.'

I listened to the audiobook of ‘Tangerines’ all in one go and I found Casey Montgomery’s narration an absolute joy; she is exceptional. I was sure I’d heard her narrate other audiobooks, but none of her credits are novels that I know! There wasn’t a moment she didn’t hold my attention, as she pitched the voice just right for the narrator's age, and also paced the performance flawlessly for the symbolism-dense prose.

My thanks to Brave Fawn Books, and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op for the audio ARC.

When I realized I got the audiobook of a ten-year-old rambling about anything, I seriously thought about DNFing without even starting... and that would have been a HUGE mistake.
It is amazing to listen to how this little girl thinks about the world around her and the things that happen to her and her family.
It's a short audiobook, but I could have listened to her for hours without complaining.
I would love it if the author and narrator team up for other collaborations.

This story is told in the imaginative, creative style of a ten year old girl writing in her diary. There are so many things our narrator, Gilly, experiences that we, the readers, may understand a bit better than she does. However, as we are experiencing it all through the fantastical, magical lens of a ten year old girl, we also aren't fully aware of what the reality of these experiences may be. This made for a fascinating and immersive read, as it could be interpreted in multiple ways. The narrator did a wonderful job of portraying how innocent, yet somehow certain of everything Gilly is. This story is definitely worth a reread to try and see if a second listen can help the reader to absorb more and learn more.

Overall, I have many theories floating around about the circumstances surrounding Gilly and her friends and family. I really enjoyed this book and much like Gilly's pencils, I feel my brain needs a break, so that it can be full of brand new ideas about this story.

This was REALLY short, I enjoyed it but it wasn't quite anything particularly special. I give this a 3 it was fun and good overall, the writing was well-done and the story was interesting but it wasn't entirely my thing.

Overall this book is really cute...I feel like it is better geared towards slightly older kids, maybe middle school and up only because some things are hinted at but never fully explained. So *if* your kid comes to you with questions it would be easier to answer for an older child.

I enjoyed this book for what it was, but was a little disappointed with the ending as things weren't really explained fully and I feel like I still have questions left unanswered. I loved the characters of Oggy and Gilly though sometimes they felt slightly younger than the age they were depicted. I love that it is told from Gilly's perspective and that the thought process jumps around like that of an actual child. However, with that in mind, it does make some of the aspects of the story a little hard to follow (for example what is going on with her dad).

The only thing I didn't particularly care for in this book was the ending. I feel like it was rushed and just abruptly ended. I wish it was a little more finished, for example did Gilly's mom ever find out what her and Oggy did while she was sleeping? What was her reaction? I'm also a little confused about the fact that it implies she's pregnant but we don't really know by who.....or when that happened?

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me access to listen to this one!