Six-year old Eli of 1868 New Mexico encounters basic math problems while herding his father’s sheep. He finds answers to these and other problems when he enters first grade at the end of the summer.
The story begins when Eli’s grandparents sell their farm in Ohio, travel by steamboat to Independence, Missouri, take a wagon train over the Santa Fe Trail to the New Mexico Territory, and help establish the Friendly Valley community on the east side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Included are details of a log cabin constructed by Eli’s grandparents and the frontier marriage of their son, John. Eli and his 5-year old sister, Elsie, enter the story when Eli is 6 years old.
The book is written for elementary and middle school students. A short glossary is included at the end of the story. For more advanced readers, three problem sets on distances, areas, and geometry are derived from information given in Chapter 2.
The book could be assigned by teachers as outside reading to provide material for classroom discussion or for written or oral book reports.