The one-dimensional story of nine-year-old Eleanore, assigned to follow Old Wattles the turkey to find out where she hides her eggs, is filled out with domestic chores (butter churning, quilt piecing) and everyday adventures that add up to a personable and attention-holding picture of frontier childhood. Each day, Eleanore's search for the eggs is dramatically interrupted--she trips over a rock, throws one at a rattler who is attacking Old Wattles, and is chased up a tree by a bull--but at last she does find the eggs, all fifteen of them, thus proving that she can pull her weight in the busy family. Hospitable.