Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

Sidney, Margaret. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. Watermill Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8164-1460-6
This book will only appeal to a certain type of tween. I have known ten and eleven year-olds who have both loved and lost interest in this book. A classic, written in 1881, focuses primarily on the daily lives of five poor children living with their widowed mother in a small, dilapidated house. As is typical of novels written for children about poverty, the Pepper children knew they were poor, but did not feel poor, as they were constantly surrounded by love and family.

Small joys, generosity, overcoming illness, and making new friends are all themes visited in this book, the first in the Five Little Peppers series. Anyone who has read the Anne of Green Gables series will understand the ability of an author to take something seemingly mundane to adults (such as baking a birthday cake) and turning it into quite a comical, emotional ride with witty remarks and clever storytelling.

Peppers stands out as a classic, written in simple sentence structure for young readers, that will surely enlighten the reader, teaching moral values and the simple joys of life.

The book can be viewed in its entirety via Project Gutenberg at http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2770