Characters
This frustrated teen is the main character of the story.
Who is Greg Ridley?
The story begins with this kind of stormy, emotional weather.
What is dark and stormy weather reflecting Greg’s mood?
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?
This famous New York neighborhood is the story’s setting.
What is Harlem?
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?
Greg runs into this abandoned building to escape both the rain and his father’s lecture.
What is a rundown tenement?
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?
This blinking outdoor object provides the only light in the dark room.
What is the neon sign over the bodega?
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.
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.
What is a 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?