Five Little Peppers

The Five Little Peppers book series was created by Margaret Sidney from 1881 to 1916. It covered the lives of five children with the surname Pepper. The series began with the Peppers in impoverished straits which they were eventually rescued from by a wealthy gentleman who took an interest in the family.

Series Overview

"The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew" tells the story of how the Peppers live, learn, and play in their little brown house. They are poor, and Mamsie must work constantly to keep the wolf from the door but they do it with gaiety and spirit that would not be expected.

The Peppers make do with whatever they have and the elder children try to make things special for the younger. Though tragedies often befall them, they bear it as best they are able and make the most of the good.

Things change for the Peppers when Phronsie is kidnapped by an organ grinder. She is rescued by young Jasper King and his dog, Prince, both of whom rapidly become fast friends with the Peppers. The Peppers so charm Jasper and his father that one by one they are invited to visit their home in the city and soon the entire family is living there. Mr. King gives Mrs. Pepper the title of housekeeper and endeavors to do everything in his power to see that the children are educated and entertained to the fullest extent of his power.

Though the children are surrounded by luxury, (Phronsie amasses a collection of two hundred dolls over the course of five years) the values of hard work, humility and togetherness are still firmly enforced by their mother. This puts them in a curious position in society. Though they run with an upper-class crowd, the elder children are aware they’ll likely work for their livings eventually. This makes them willing to befriend anyone from street girls to grocers’ sons and their quantity, and quality of friends seems to know no bounds.

The stories continue with the Pepper’s adventures in school, abroad and even back in the little brown house where their thoughts and hearts will always turn. In total, the series spanned seventeen years beginning with Phronsie as a three year old and finishing with her as a twenty year old woman.

The Main Characters

Mrs. Pepper (Later Mrs. Fisher): Called ‘Mamsie by her chidren, Mrs. Pepper is a widowed woman struggling to keep her five children healthy and educated. She is the moral backbone of the family and her children are completely devoted to her. She eventually weds Dr. Adoniram Fisher, with full approval of her brood.

Ben (Ebenezer): The eldest Pepper boy. Ben is an avid scholar but willingly puts aside schooling in favor of providing for the family. With his sister, he manages the younger children and will sacrifice anything for them.

Polly (Mary) The eldest girl in the Pepper family. Polly is a busy, bright and cheerful girl who makes the Pepper family’s life as happy as possible. She loves music, flowers and her baby sister with equal passion.

Joel: The middle boy of the family and the most active. Joel is an enthusiastic sportsman who loves treats, parties and entertainment. He is the most trying of the children, often getting himself into mischief or causing the others grief with the things he says.

Davie (David): The youngest boy in the family and the quietest. Davie allows the world to go on around him as he calmly absorbs the doings of the family. He is an obedient student and equally willing to give up anything to make Joel or Ben happy.

Phronsie (Sophronia): The baby and pet of the family. The series opens with her at the age of three. Phronsie is a wide-eyed child who sees the good in nearly everyone and is anxious to aid anyone in need. She calls her dolls her children and treats them as such. She is especially devoted to Polly and Mr. King

Mr. Jasper King: The Pepper family’s benefactor. He is an older widower and in uncertain health at the beginning of the series. Bringing the Pepper’s into his household revitalizes him. Though quick to tempers and firm in his opinions, Mr. King is a family man who seeks to ease every pain and concern in the lives of his children and the Peppers.

Jasper: Mr. King’s son. Jasper is an eager boy who is just as willing to go sledding with Ben as to bake pies with Polly. Jasper and his dog Prince befriend the Peppers when he rescues Phronsie from an organ grinder and his affection for them ultimately leads him to requests their company permanently in the household.

The Witneys: Marian, Mr. King’s adult daughter and her boys Percy, Van and Dick make up the rest of the King household. Mr. Witney ultimately turns out to be Mrs. Pepper’s cousin, making the Pepper’s distant relatives of the family. Mrs. Witney is a second mother to the Pepper children. The three boys, while infatuated with Polly, are frequently at odds both with each other and with Joel.

The books

In order of publication, the Five Little Peppers books are as follows (publication dates follow in parentheses):

* Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (1881) [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2770 Project Gutenberg]
* Five Little Peppers Midway (1890) [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=5632 Project Gutenberg]
* Five Little Peppers Grown Up (1892) [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=7498 Project Gutenberg]
* Five Little Peppers: Phronsie Pepper (1897)
* Five Little Peppers: The Stories Polly Pepper Told (1899)
* Five Little Peppers: The Adventures of Joel Pepper (1900) [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=7434 Project Gutenberg]
* Five Little Peppers Abroad (1902) [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=6987 Project Gutenberg]
* Five Little Peppers At School (1903)
* Five Little Peppers and Their Friends (1904) [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=6418 Project Gutenberg]
* Five Little Peppers: Ben Pepper (1905)
* Five Little Peppers in the Brown House (1907)
* Five Little Peppers: Our Davie Pepper (1916)

Margaret Sidney felt she had completed the books with the publication of the fourth book: "Phronsie Pepper", and stated as much in her introduction to the book. But letters from readers all over the world prompted her to continue writing about the Peppers, which she did for another nineteen years. All of the later books take place much before the third book in the original series. To read the six key books in "chronological" order, rather than by publication date, they would be read approximately in this sequence:

* "Five Little Peppers and How They Grew"
* "Five Little Peppers Midway"
* "Five Little Peppers Abroad"
* "Five Little Peppers and Their Friends"
* "Five Little Peppers Grown Up"
* "Five Little Peppers: Phronsie Pepper"

The other six books are "background" and are set about the time of the first three books listed above chronologically. Since they were written many years later, some situations in them are at variance with those same situations as described in the earlier written books.

The "Five Little Peppers" movies

The Pepper books were the inspiration for a brief series of feature films produced by Columbia Pictures in 1939-40. The four films were vehicles for Columbia's juvenile star Edith Fellows, who played Polly. The rest of the kids were Charles Peck as Ben, Tommy Bond of "Our Gang" as Davie, Bobby Larson as Joey, and Dorothy Ann Seese as Phronsie. "Five Little Peppers and How They Grew" (1939) was devoted mostly to Fellows as the senior member of the Pepper brood, and was not an exact reflection of the book. The other three films, "Five Little Peppers at Home" (1940, with the kids trapped in a mine), "Out West with the Peppers" (1940, with the Peppers in a lumber camp), and "Five Little Peppers in Trouble" (1940, with Polly and company in a snobby school) were homespun family stories with elements of comedy and drama. Edith Fellows carried the series, although by the time it lapsed, five-year-old Dorothy Ann Seese had become an audience favorite and was billed at the head of the cast, second only to Fellows. The Pepper screenplays had little to do with the original books, but the films were popular with moviegoers. They remained in circulation for many years, and were frequently scheduled for children's film festivals and weekend matinees.

External links

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