Vocabulary
A rundown, often overcrowded apartment house, especially in a poor section of a large city.
What is a tenement?
What is the story's central message about what holds real value in life?
That every person's treasure is unique and personal.
Who is the central protagonist in the story?
Greg Ridley
What neighborhood in New York City does the story take place?
Harlem
What type of person teaches both Greg and Roger a life lesson?
An older, wiser stranger.
Done without being planned, organized, or rehearsed.
What is impromptu?
What relationship is Greg struggling with at the beginning and understands better at the end?
The relationship between him and his father.
Who is the blues singer and harmonica player that treasures his past?
Lemon Brown
What does the narrator call the abandoned building where Greg meets Lemon Brown?
An old tenement.
Both stories take place in what type of setting?
An urban or inner-city setting.
Giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen; threatening.
What is ominous?
What does the phrase "you can't judge a book by its cover" mean?
The idea that you can't judge someone by their appearance or where they live.
Why is Greg angry with his father at the beginning of the story?
His father won't let him play basketball because of his grades.
What is the weather like on the night the story takes place?
Dark and stormy with angry, swirling clouds.
Lemon Brown teaches Greg about the importance of memories, but Mrs. Jones teaches Roger about what?
Trust, kindness, and making good choices.
Twisted, as if from age or pain.
What is gnarled?
The story teaches us that what is more important then money?
Memories and love.
What was Lemon Brown's son, Jesse, carrying with him when he died in the war?
His father's harmonica and old newspaper clippings.
What part of the setting reflects Greg's mood?
The weather.
Roger's internal conflict is deciding if he wants to run or not. Greg's internal conflict is what?
How he feels about his father's lectures.
What is frantic?
What does Lemon Brown help Greg understand about his father's lectures?
That it comes from a place of love and hope for his future.
Lemon Brown's actions when the thugs approach show us that he is ______ .
Brave and protective.
Ominous, eerie, gloomy.
Kindness and empathy rather than judgment.