Characters & People
This young girl is the main character in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Who is Francie Nolan?
97 Orchard Street is located in this New York neighborhood.
What is the Lower East Side?
Many tenement families at 97 Orchard Street worked in this type of small workshop.
What is a sweatshop?
The “tree” in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn symbolizes this.
What is hope / perseverance?
The Nolan family is originally from this country.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is set in this New York borough.
What is Brooklyn?
To save money, immigrant families often did this with their living space.
What is share rooms or take in boarders?
One main theme of 97 Orchard Street is the immigrant search for this.
What is the American Dream?
97 Orchard Street focuses on the lives of families who were mostly this type of people.
Who are immigrants?
Families at 97 Orchard Street lived there mostly during this century.
What is the 19th (and early 20th) century?
In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie often spends her time doing this activity.
What is reading?
In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie’s love of books represents this theme
What is education as a path to a better life?
In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, this character struggles with alcohol but is loved by his children.
Who is Johnny Nolan?
The tree in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a symbol of this.
What is hope or survival?
Tenement families often struggled with this basic need, which was not always clean or safe.
What is water (or sanitation)?
Families at 97 Orchard Street often faced challenges with these two issues.
What are poverty and overcrowding?
The tenement building at 97 Orchard Street is now preserved as this.
What is the Tenement Museum?
Many immigrants who lived at 97 Orchard Street came to America for this reason.
What is to find a better life / opportunity?
In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the Nolan family collects these to earn money.
What are tin cans and bottles (scraps)?
Both readings explore how families find this even in hardship
What is strength / resilience / hope?