Green Town

Green Town is the main location in the novel and is based on the author's experience of growing up in Waukegan, Illinois. This small Midwestern town is divided in half by a ravine. There is also a train that runs through it, as well as a drug store and numerous small businesses. It is the sort of town where everyone knows each other and spends time visiting neighbors on porches in the summer.

The Woods

The woods outside Green Town, visited by Douglas, Father, and Tom on the first day of summer, are where Douglas discovers he is truly alive. It is a place where Father and the boys have often ventured to collect fox grapes and wild strawberries and picnic under the trees.

Grandfather and Grandma's House

Grandfather and Grandma's rambling 3-storey house is also a home to lodgers. Great-grandma also lives there until her...