diff --git a/lib/microformats2.rb b/lib/microformats2.rb
index 0c60890..ce227a7 100644
--- a/lib/microformats2.rb
+++ b/lib/microformats2.rb
@@ -1,8 +1,133 @@
 require "nokogiri"
 require "open-uri"
+require "json"
 require "microformats2/version"
 
 module Microformats2
+  class TextProperty
+    def parse(element)
+      element.text.gsub(/\n+/, " ").gsub(/\s+/, " ").strip
+    end
+  end
+  class UrlProperty
+    def parse(element)
+      (element.attribute("href") || property.text).to_s
+    end
+  end
+  class DateTimeProperty
+    def parse(element)
+      DateTime.parse(element.attribute("datetime") || property.text)
+    end
+  end
+  class EmbeddedProperty
+    def parse(element)
+      element.text
+    end
+  end
+
+  Prefixes = {
+    "p" => TextProperty.new,
+    "u" => UrlProperty.new,
+    "dt" => DateTimeProperty.new,
+    "e" => EmbeddedProperty.new
+  }
+  PrefixesRegEx = /^(p-|u-|dt-|e-)/
+
+  class Root
+    attr_accessor :properties
+
+    def initialize(element)
+      @properties = []
+      parse_nodeset(element.children)
+    end
+
+    def type
+      # ClassName -> className -> class-name
+      self.class.name.gsub(/^([A-Z])/){$1.downcase}.gsub(/([A-Z])/){"-" + $1.downcase}
+    end
+
+    def to_hash
+      hash = { type: [type], properties: {} }
+      @properties.each do |method_name|
+        hash[:properties][method_name] = send(method_name)
+      end
+      hash
+    end
+
+    def to_json(*a)
+      to_hash.to_json(a)
+    end
+
+    def parse_nodeset(nodeset)
+      nodeset.map { |node| parse_node(node) }
+    end
+
+    def parse_node(node)
+      case
+      when node.is_a?(Nokogiri::XML::NodeSet) then parse_nodeset(node)
+      when node.is_a?(Nokogiri::XML::Element) then parse_element(node)
+      end
+    end
+
+    def parse_element(element)
+      # look for microformat property class
+      html_classes = element.attribute("class").to_s.split
+      html_classes.keep_if { |html_class| html_class =~ Microformats2::PrefixesRegEx }
+
+      # if found microformat property, yay parse it
+      if html_classes.length >= 1
+        parse_property(element, html_classes)
+
+      # if no microformat property found, look at children
+      else
+        parse_nodeset(element.children)
+      end
+    end
+
+    def parse_property(element, html_classes)
+      html_classes.each do |html_class|
+        # p-class-name -> p
+        prefix = html_class.split("-").first
+        # p-class-name -> class_name
+        method_name = html_class.split("-")[1..-1].join("_")
+        value = Microformats2::Prefixes[prefix].parse(element)
+
+        # avoid overriding Object#class
+        if method_name == "class"
+          method_name = "klass"
+        end
+
+        add_property(method_name)
+        add_method(method_name)
+        populate_method(method_name, value)
+      end
+    end
+
+    def add_property(method_name)
+      unless @properties.include?(method_name)
+        @properties << method_name
+      end
+    end
+
+    def add_method(method_name)
+      unless respond_to?(method_name)
+        self.class.class_eval { attr_accessor method_name }
+      end
+    end
+
+    def populate_method(method_name, value)
+      if cur = send(method_name)
+        if cur.kind_of? Array
+          cur << value
+        else
+          send("#{method_name}=", [cur, value])
+        end
+      else
+        send("#{method_name}=", value)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
   def self.parse(html)
     html = read_html(html)
     document = Nokogiri::HTML(html)
@@ -17,7 +142,7 @@ module Microformats2
   end
 
   def self.parse_nodeset(nodeset)
-    nodeset.map do |node| parse_node(node) end
+    nodeset.map { |node| parse_node(node) }
   end
 
   def self.parse_node(node)
@@ -28,21 +153,36 @@ module Microformats2
   end
 
   def self.parse_element(element)
-    # innocent until proven guilty
-    microformat = false
-
     # look for root microformat class
-    element.attribute("class").to_s.split.each do |html_class|
-      microformat = microformat || html_class =~ /^h-/
-    end
+    html_classes = element.attribute("class").to_s.split
+    html_classes.keep_if { |html_class| html_class =~ /^h-/ }
 
-    # if found root microformat, yay
-    if microformat
-      "YAY MICROFORMAT"
+    # if found root microformat, yay parse it
+    if html_classes.length >= 1
+      parse_microformat(element, html_classes)
 
     # if no root microformat found, look at children
     else
       parse_nodeset(element.children)
     end
   end
+
+  def self.parse_microformat(microformat, html_classes)
+    # only worry about the first format for now
+    html_class = html_classes.first
+
+    # class_name -> class-name -> Class-name -> ClassName
+    constant_name = html_class.gsub("-","_").gsub(/^([a-z])/){$1.upcase}.gsub(/_(.)/){$1.upcase}
+
+    # get ruby class for microformat
+    if Object.const_defined?(constant_name)
+      klass = Object.const_get(constant_name)
+    else
+      klass = Class.new(Microformats2::Root)
+      Object.const_set constant_name, klass
+    end
+
+    # get a new instance of the ruby class
+    klass.new(microformat)
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/lib/microformats2_spec.rb b/spec/lib/microformats2_spec.rb
index 903b6b6..6a4b385 100644
--- a/spec/lib/microformats2_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/microformats2_spec.rb
@@ -2,18 +2,27 @@ require "spec_helper"
 require "microformats2"
 
 describe Microformats2 do
+  before do
+    @html = <<-HTML.strip
+      <div class="h-card"><p class="p-name">Jessica Lynn Suttles</p></div>
+    HTML
+  end
+
   describe "::parse" do
-    it "returns an array of found microformats" do
+    before do
       html = "spec/support/simple.html"
-      Microformats2.parse(html).should == ["YAY MICROFORMAT"]
+      @microformats2 = Microformats2.parse(@html)
+    end
+    it "returns an array of found root microformats" do
+      @microformats2.first.should be_kind_of HCard
+    end
+    it "assigns properties to found root microformats" do
+      puts @microformats2.first.to_hash
+      @microformats2.first.name.should == "Jessica Lynn Suttles"
     end
   end
+
   describe "::read_html" do
-    before do
-      @html = <<-HTML.strip
-        <div class="h-card"><p class="p-name">Jessica Lynn Suttles</p></div>
-      HTML
-    end
     it "can be a string of html" do
       Microformats2.read_html(@html).should include @html
     end