Characters
This frustrated teen is the main character of the story.
Who is Greg Ridley?
what was Gregs mood as he sat on the stoop of his building?
angry/mad
The reason Greg fears he can’t join the Scorpions.
What is his failing math grade?
The old, dented musical instrument in Lemon Brown’s treasure bundle.
What is a harmonica?
Greg learns that treasure isn’t money but something of this nature.
What is emotional or personal meaning?
This blues musician once performed as “Sweet Lemon Brown.”
Who is Lemon Brown?
Why does Greg go into the abandoned building?
to avoid his father
Greg distracts the intruders by doing this on the stairs.
What is howling like a ghost?
These items describe his performing days more than fifty years ago.
What are newspaper clippings?
Lemon Brown teaches Greg that a father passes down this kind of gift.
What is identity or legacy?
This character works at the post office and frequently lectures Greg.
Who is Greg’s father?
he is homeless
Lemon Brown defends himself by doing this to one of the attackers.
What is throwing his body down the stairs?
Lemon Brown gave these items to his son so he’d “know who I was, and what he come from.”
What are his harmonica and clippings?
Greg’s smile at the end shows this change in his attitude toward his father.
What is greater appreciation?
Lemon Brown’s son, who carried his father’s harmonica into the war.
Who is Jesse?
How does Lemon Brown know that his son valued the treasure?
The son kept the treasure while he fought in the war.
Greg first hears this mysterious sound that makes his stomach tighten.
What is breathing or scraping in the dark?
Jesse carried these precious items with him during this major life event.
What is going off to fight in the war?
The story shows that tough experiences can help characters do this.
What is grow or mature?
These characters threaten Lemon Brown while searching for his “treasure.”
Who are the neighborhood thugs?
The musty smell, broken furniture, and darkness help create this atmosphere of what? what mood is it?
What is an eerie, tense mood?
After the fight, the thugs flee because they fear these two things.
What are “crazy rag men and howling spooks”?
Lemon Brown says this is the only thing a man truly has to pass to his children.
legacy or meaningful treasure?
A major theme is that even people who seem to have nothing still possess this.
What is something valuable—a treasure?