Summary Chapter 30: Francie watches as an unmarried mother takes her baby out for a walk in her buggy. The older married women are aghast that the girl is proud of her baby and begin to call the child a bastard. At first the girl, Joanna, ignores the women, but […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 4: Chapters 30–33Summary and Analysis Book 4: Chapters 27–29
Summary Chapter 27: One Christmas the children go to a tree lot, where at midnight, the tree lot owner will throw the leftover trees into the crowd. If the person who catches the tree can remain standing, he or she can keep the tree. Francie and Neeley are determined to […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 4: Chapters 27–29Summary and Analysis Book 3: Chapters 24–26
Summary Chapter 24: Johnny is a Democrat, so the family attends a celebration staged by the Mattie Mahoney Association, a Democratic organization, which includes a boat ride and picnic. The boat ride and picnic are designed to entice women, who will soon get the vote, and children, who will eventually […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 3: Chapters 24–26Summary and Analysis Book 3: Chapters 21–23
Summary Chapter 21: There are two teachers who visit Francie’s school each week. The music teacher, Mr. Morton, is especially talented and is wonderfully successful at introducing classical music into the children’s lives. Miss Bernstone teaches art. Both Mr. Morton and Miss Bernstone love the children, regardless of how poor […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 3: Chapters 21–23Summary and Analysis Book 3: Chapters 18–20
Summary Chapter 18: Neeley and Francie have been making mud pies, and they arrive at a clinic to be vaccinated against smallpox looking very dirty. The doctor, who has been forced to do community medicine in a free clinic, sees the dirt on Francie and begins disparaging the poor, whom […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 3: Chapters 18–20Summary and Analysis Book 3: Chapters 15–17
Summary Chapter 15: Much of this chapter describes the family’s new apartment, which is set up like railway cars, each room leading into the next. The kitchen looks out over a courtyard, where the Tree of Heaven grows out of the cement. The previous occupants could not afford to move […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 3: Chapters 15–17Summary and Analysis Book 2: Chapters 13–14
Summary Chapter 13: At first, Johnny helps Katie with the janitorial work in the new building, but soon he begins to slack off, leaving her to do most of the work. Like the other children who live in this area, the Nolan children spend their days on the streets. Even […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 2: Chapters 13–14Summary and Analysis Book 2: Chapters 10–12
Summary Chapter 10: When Francie is only three months old, Katie discovers that she is pregnant again. Francie remains a sickly baby, but Katie compares her daughter to the Tree of Heaven, which survives no matter what happens; Francie will survive as well. The second child is a big, healthy […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 2: Chapters 10–12Summary and Analysis Book 2: Chapters 7–9
Summary Chapter 7: In the first chapters of Book 2, readers learn the story of Katie’s and Johnny’s courtship and wedding. Johnny was the boyfriend of Hildy O’Dair, Katie’s best friend. One evening, Hildy arranged for Johnny to bring a date for Katie, so that the two friends could double-date. […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 2: Chapters 7–9Summary and Analysis Book 1: Chapters 4–6
Summary Chapter 4: Francie visits Flossie to see what kind of costume she will be wearing to Saturday evening’s masquerade party. Flossie’s brother, Henny, is dying of consumption. When Francie looks into Flossie’s closet and admires all her lovely costumes, she also imagines that she sees a skull and bones […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 1: Chapters 4–6