Ma gives Pa clear directions when he heads to market: Buy two eggs and a half pound of flour. Nothing more; Christmas is near and they need to watch every penny if the family is to have a special holiday dinner. But susceptible Pa arrives home with a turkey poult. “It will fatten up into a fine bird, and we can have it for Christmas dinner. Think of the money we’ll save!” The complications of raising a turkey in a tenement apartment soon become clear, as the growing bird (christened Alfred) makes a mess, needs more than table scraps in his diet, and gets in everyone’s way. But Pa always has a solution: first a pen on the fire escape, then a pen hung on the clothesline, and finally Alfred in the bedroom while the family moves into the kitchen and parlor. At last Christmas arrives, and the problem can be solved once and for all by putting Alfred on the menu … or can it? This cumulative story with a clever and satisfying conclusion is brought to humorous life by illustrations of a working family living in nineteenth-century New York City. (Ages 4–8)