Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

SPOILERS INCLUDED This book by Margaret Sidney (the pseudonym of Harriett Mulford Stone Lothrop), was first published in 1881, and has remained in print ever since. A quaint, classic children's tale, THE FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS AND HOW THEY GREW was the first of a series of Little Peppers books published from 1881-1916. Thus, the Little Peppers books span the Late Victorian, Edwardian, and George V eras. This was a period of dynamic social change, from the time of candles and gaslight to the First World War, and the books reflect this overall. Many have noticed the stylistic similarities between Louisa May Alcott's books and Margaret Sidney's. This is not accidental. They were approximate contemporaries, they were both New Englanders, and Ms. Sidney, a literary historian, eventually purchased Ms. Alcott's home (which had been earlier owned by Nathaniel Hawthorne) and lived there for many years. Unlike Alcott, who could be sonorously self-righteous in her writings, Ms. Sidney's books sparkle with energy. They are stories reflecting a powerful, proper New England Protestant Work Ethic, a sense of Grace, Works and Reward, but the Five Little Peppers have a great deal of good-natured fun at the same time. At the opening of THE FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS AND HOW THEY GREW the Pepper household is wretchedly poor in material wealth and comforts, but is rich to the point of overflowing with love of family, which makes their grinding poverty easier to bear. The widowed Mrs. Pepper is a seamstress who takes in piecework for pennies. The two older children, Ben (Ebenezer) and Polly (Mary) are twelve and eleven respectively. They've both grown up very quickly. Ben works at manual labor for the Parson of Badgertown. He occasionally brings his two younger brothers, Joey (Joel) and Davie (David) Pepper along to work at easy fix-it jobs. Polly is the household's surrogate mother, cooking, baking, and caring for the family while Mrs. Pepper is away working. Polly's steps are delightfully haunted by Baby Phronsie (Sophronia), the three year old youngest Pepper. It is Mrs. Pepper's fondest wish that her children are schooled, but they must all contribute to keep the wolf from the door. The family often suffers setbacks, such as an outbreak of measles amongst them all, but they all believe in the ultimately beneficient future. This future begins in a dark way, when Phronsie is kidnapped by an organ grinder. She is ultimately rescued by Jasper King, the son of a wealthy businessman. Jasper, a lonely boy, soon befriends Ben and Polly, and introduces the Peppers to his own family. Impressed with the fine qualities of the Pepper brood, the Kings ask Mrs. Pepper and the children to come and live at their house in the city, where Mrs. Pepper begins work as a domestic and the children begin school. As the book closes, the King family and the Pepper family discover that they are related to each other. The following books in the series expand on this foundation. THE FIVE LIT

I LOVE this series! They're inexpensive and beautifully made books - the black edges look classy and the covers are so well designed. There are many more than actually came up when I searched for "Aladdin Classics", and they're well worth finding!

At the turn of the last century, five children and their widowed mother are left alone in the Brown House to make do in the daunting face of real poverty, with the fear of starvation always looming. And yet, the Pepper house is full of love. The five children, Ben, Polly, Davie, Joel and Phronsie, all help their mother in the day-to-day chores that make up their rough existence.True to the mores of the time, Polly helps her mother sew so she can earn her pitiful pennies as a seamstress. The older boys do odd jobs and their chores. They frequently have nothing to eat but a cold potato, and when measles strikes the house, the almost deadly consequences just about tear the family apart. But their strength and love pulls them through--just in time to meet a family that will change their lives forever.If you want your child to learn true family values, and to see and value the true spirit of giving, this is the book. Without preaching, without being cloying, without hammering the point home, "The Five Little Peppers" is a lasting testament to all that is good in people. Its charm is as strong today as it was generations ago.