diff --git a/collects/honu/core/read.rkt b/collects/honu/core/read.rkt
index 8cbc71c5b1..c49b885b8d 100644
--- a/collects/honu/core/read.rkt
+++ b/collects/honu/core/read.rkt
@@ -1,18 +1,35 @@
 #lang racket/base
 
 (require rackunit)
-(require parser-tools/lex)
+(require parser-tools/lex
+	 (prefix-in : parser-tools/lex-sre))
 (require racket/match)
 
-(define-tokens honu-tokens (number))
+(define-tokens honu-tokens (number identifier))
 
-(define-empty-tokens honu-empty-tokens (eof fail whitespace))
+(define-empty-tokens honu-empty-tokens (eof fail whitespace
+					left-parens right-parens
+					left-bracket right-bracket
+					left-brace right-brace))
+
+(define-lex-abbrev identifier-first-character (:or (:/ #\a #\z)
+						   (:/ #\A #\Z)))
+(define-lex-abbrev identifier-character identifier-first-character)
+(define-lex-abbrev identifier (:: identifier-first-character
+				  (:+ identifier-character)))
 
 (define honu-lexer
   (lexer-src-pos
     [(eof) (token-eof)]
     [(char-range #\0 #\9)
      (token-number (string->number lexeme))]
+    ["(" (token-left-parens)]
+    [")" (token-right-parens)]
+    ["[" (token-left-bracket)]
+    ["]" (token-right-bracket)]
+    ["{" (token-left-brace)]
+    ["}" (token-right-brace)]
+    [identifier (token-identifier (string->symbol lexeme))]
     [(union " ") (token-whitespace)]
     ))
 
@@ -43,4 +60,16 @@
 		(list (token-number 5)))
   (check-equal? (lex-string "5 8")
 		(list (token-number 5) (token-number 8)))
+  (check-equal? (lex-string "hello")
+		(list (token-identifier 'hello)))
+  (check-equal? (lex-string "()")
+		(list (token-left-parens)
+		      (token-right-parens)))
+  (check-equal? (lex-string "()[]{}")
+		(list (token-left-parens)
+		      (token-right-parens)
+		      (token-left-bracket)
+		      (token-right-bracket)
+		      (token-left-brace)
+		      (token-right-brace)))
   )