Meu Pé de Laranja Lima

Meu Pé de Laranja Lima (English: My Sweet Orange Tree) is a novel by José Mauro de Vasconcelos. The book was first published in 1968 and was used for literature classes for elementary schools in Brazil. It has also been translated and published in the US, Europe and Asia.

The novel is part of a tetralogy written by Vasconcelos and centered on different stages in the life of the protagonist, Zeze, and, by extension, Vasconcelos. The four books were published in a disorganized order, following an aleatory chronology instead of a direct one. The direct continuation of the story, Doidão, was actually published in 1963, five years before My Sweet Orange Tree, and follows the life of Zeze during his adolescence.

Plot

Zeze is a young boy who lives in Bangu, Rio de Janeiro with his underprivileged family. Because everyone is busy trying to support the family, Zeze is usually left by himself with his baby brother Luis, and ends up doing mischievous deeds that make his parents and older siblings so angry that they physically discipline him for what he has done.

After Zeze's father gets fired, the whole family moves, and the new house has a few trees that each of the siblings claims. After having all the trees taken, Zeze gets upset, but one of his older sisters, Gloria, suggests looking in the backyard and Zeze soon discovers a small orange tree. At first, Zeze doesn't like his tree, but he finds out that amazingly, he can communicate with it. He gives the tree a name, Minguinho, and the two become best friends.