If the author wasn't long departed, she would have to be cited for severe abuse of exclamation points and abuse of question marks. I never saw such terrible use of punctuation in my life. The book isn't particularly charming or memorable; it's trying hard to ape the style of Louisa May Alcott, one of the most popular authors of the late 1800s in the US, and it fails badly. None of the characters have Alcott's charm and believability and the plot meanders along without much purpose. I know the story was originally serialized in a magazine, but so was Dickens and his stories have a point by the end. I wonder if the characters would have seemed a little less annoying if everyone wasn't shouting all the time. How else are you supposed to read a story where nearly every sentence ends in an exclamation point? Even the narration shouts! Now I'm doing it!

Let's just say that I loved this book so much that I own three copies of it! An old one that matches the rest of the Five Little Peppers series, a 50's era one with color illustrations, and this pocket edition. (Of course, small books have their own charm, but when I found this edition I really didn't have to try hard to find an excuse to buy it also.)

2021 reread: I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the Pepper family! Yes, it's cliched, and maybe a little cheesy, but just such a happy and cozy story, even through all the hard times the family has.

I did notice this time through how much the Pepper children complain about what they don't have. It's totally understandable given some of the basics they have to do without (!), but also probably wasn't helpful to my own childhood habits of wishing I had nicer things that 'everyone else' seemed to have.

Otherwise, there's very little in the way of content concerns--passing references to the death of their father, and to war, and a few unwise choices (very normal and understandable for their age levels, and also generally corrected). Children who are very prone to repeating phrases may pick up some slang words from the era such as the exclamation 'whockety!'.

Original review: I know I really enjoyed and re-read this one quite a bit in my childhood. I should really re-read it again in my adulthood so I can give it proper review.

My 7 and 4 year old loved this charming story about the five Pepper children and are now determined to read (or have me read aloud

There being no library in the nearest town, my early reading during summers with Mother and my paternal grandmother in the latter's cottage near Lake Michigan was severely limited by what was on hand, mostly books belonging to "Nanny", my grandmother. Fortunately, she was quite a reader.

Mikey Spillance novels not being of much interest yet, I picked up her old copy of the first Little Peppers novel because it was clearly a children's book. Indeed, the edition had been published when she was just about my age.

Unfortunately, it was really boring and really long, perhaps the longest books I'd read on my own by that time. The late Victorian sentimentality of the author struck me, even then, as cloying, as all-too-precious. Dark thoughts were evoked as I began imagining disasters escalating into absurdity rather than always being happily resolved.

Still, I finished the thing and do have one clear, rather pleasant memory of laying on my stomach on my parents' big bed downstairs on a particular sunny afternoon, book opened on their green corduroy spread.

The memory of that brings to mind another of the same bed in an earlier summer. It was custom going back as far as memory for me to run downstairs upon Nanny's daily announcement that she was intending to straighten up the rooms. There was just enough time for me to unzip their quilt cover and crawl in before she, with much advance warning, hobbled down the stairs to confront the notoriously lumpy bedclothes. One lump--me!--was always especially recalcitrant, requiring much poking and proding before breaking up into giggles and laughter.

I auppose I may have perservered through Nanny's kid book partly out of respect for her. She was a wonderful grandmother.

That old steel bedframe, said to have come from a hotel originally, is the one in my room to this day, Nanny and Mother being dead and the cottage in Michigan in ruins.

Not my review, copying for future reference when we read it - Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, by Margaret Sidney

This book was lower on my list because I was expecting something this old to be... well, boring! Or with problematic "product of its time" content, since it was written in 1881. I found a copy in my mother's house and took the chance to read it, and I'm pleased to announce I could not have been more wrong!

This book would make a delightful family read aloud. There's a lot of depth to it that makes it enjoyable for many ages. Despite a relatively slow pace, the dialog is perfectly crafted to evoke the sensation of being in a household with 5 children! The tone of the book always maintains "of course everything works out fine and resolves quickly and to the good," but you still get plenty of tension and sudden surprises with sickness, childish disappointment, Christmas excitement, a burglary, the toddler wandering off, etc. These are masterfully danced around so that only the older readers will notice the real danger in the "what ifs", even as you know it's going to resolve well.

One caveat I will note is that the vocabulary level is very high. I had to look up a number of words that are not in common usage anymore. I still think it would be great for young listeners, as the language will wash over them and there's plenty of low-hanging fruit to entertain them, like grandma's poor hearing causing funny repetitions, the littlest ones almost giving away surprises, dramatic spills, etc.

I especially loved the joyful Pepper family dynamics. All five children are all "yes ma'am" and always eager to help. They are independent and capable, and the elder children especially make vital contributions to the household. The children complain some about their lack, but this is always redirected to gratitude and imaginative solutions. The children are honest and generous, giving the best sweets to their siblings and taking very good care of one another, each to their ability. Neighbors stop by unannounced and love on the family.

I found very little to be objectionable about this book, so I'm trying to include all possible topics of interest! The children really are good as gold, the family relationships are delightful, and it's just a very positive book overall. Content notes below:

- It's a single-mother household because their father died, no further elaboration. They meet a boy who has no mother and does not elaborate further beyond a brief conversational tension.

- The family gets the measles. They are worried for a while that one child will become blind permanently, and another child has a high fever for a night that everyone is worried about. This will read differently to different ages--adult readers will see between the lines and realize that he very nearly died.

- The family praises the Lord and gives thanks. A child prays to be made willing to endure anything, to be made "good". Another prays to find a lost sibling, which is immediately granted. The Lord's provision in a time of need is implicit and explicit in a few places. "And children, we ought to be very good and please Him, for He's been so good to us."

- One boy says he'll be a minister when he grows up, and go "everywhere". His sister says he's not "good" enough. The boy asks if the minister is ever naughty, she says no, so he says he doesn't want to be one.

- Not all grown ups are good. One essentially makes a child cry by saying she's no help to her mother. In another case, the 3 year old wanders off with an organ grinder. He keeps walking to the next town, and tries to keep her from running away for help later. A stranger and his dog intervene and chase him off.

- There's some "secrecy" language like "it's a secret," and "never letting anyone know", but it's immediately apparent that it's a surprise present for one of the children. One other case: the kids agree not to include the littlest one's near accident (potentially fatal) in their next letter to their mother, so as not to scare her. The adults at their current house know, so it's not really a *secret*, per se, but I'm still not a fan.

- This book has a lot of "don't cry" when comforting others. Doesn't bother me, as it's meant well and intended to make the receiver feel better here, but I know that doesn't fit with everyone's parenting style.

- An adult says "that stupid Jane!", referring to the housekeeper, when he is flustered and can't find a glass of water.

- The 3 year old wakes up to catch burglary in progress. One robber tries to hit her but is stopped by the other. Brief excitement, and of course all ends well, but it is possible it could frighten an already-anxious child.

- Two boys go outside to fight each other after they argue about whether one could have stopped the burglars. One of the mothers catches them hitting each other and puts an end to it. No injuries are described and they claim it was "great fun" and one of them "hits splendidly".

- I found no language concerns (besides one "stupid"), romantic/sexual content, or racial insensitivity (or any nonwhite characters at all, to be fair). The closest I could find was referring to the children's faces as "black" when they finished poking around the oven, because they got sooty.

Santa content below:

- The 3yo wishes she had something to give Santa. Her sister says it pleases Santa most of anything if she's a good girl. She exclaims that she'll be good always.

- We get all the Santa talk with the littlest ones, but most of what's in view is the two eldest children working very hard for weeks to prepare a Christmas for them. It might slip by a VERY small child if your family does Santa, but the young ones clearly receive the presents in their stocking that the big kids worked on making for them.

- The eldest dresses up as Santa ("the jolly Old Saint") to surprise the littles but gives himself away when he himself is surprised by some unexpected guests.

- The oldest girl got a pet bird for Christmas. Just wanted to mention in case you're going to deal with begging

Fiction

Appropriate for many ages.

Such a sweet and fun story. This was a re-read from years ago, so I actually forgot most of the story. It made the story feel new and special all over again. I never actually read the rest of the series, so that will be next!

I would probably read again.

The story dates from late 19th century. I had my own copy when I was a child and loved it. Yes it probably would not be enjoyed by young readers today but it takes me back to my childhood and favorite stories that had characters that persevered despite adversity.

I loved this book, it was a fun, family story set in the 1800's.

After finishing Cheaper By The Dozen I decided to read this since it is mentioned in the above book. Just as I was convinced that it was a very tiresome story I couldn't put it down. It went from being very victimist (could that be a word?) to fun. Now I just have to buy the other 12 or so books...

Read this aloud as a family read aloud and I'm struggling to rate it. On one hand, my 11 and 8 year olds loved it and always wanted more. On the other, ,my 10 YO found it "cheesy" but then again, he finds anything that he doesn't pick cheesy...and I caught him smiling or laughing numerous times so...In any case, it is kind of a delightful old fashioned story, but I felt like it was a bit *too* "delightful" and old fashioned to the point of annoying.

There are some children's books I reread and still love. Books like this on the other hand, make me wonder how I thought it was interesting as a child.