I saw this on Libby and decided to reread it for purely nostalgic reasons. My grandma read it to me when I was a kid, and I was surprised by how much of it I remembered.

For me, it ripped off a lot of the elements of Little Women with even more rather saccharine moralizing. The characters don't ring particularly true, and there are so many weird narrative elements that are hugely distracting. Lastly, I think the thing that annoyed me most about the plot was how many times Phronsie Pepper almost died because she was roaming around by herself getting abducted, almost getting hit by carafes, etc. why was nobody ever watching that child??

This is one of those books my mom read out loud to us, probably over several school days while we sat at our large wooden table eating lunch. Such fond memories…

But those sweet moments get me wondering… when did she ever eat?! As a kid, I clearly didn’t pay attention and/or realize that in order for her to read aloud, she had to eat after us. Oh, the odes to a motherhood full of love, sweetness and sacrifice!

And such is the mother in this delightful tale too. She’s a poor widow who works hard, bringing in a little income from her sewing and mending, who wonders how she’ll ever give her children all that they need.

Luckily for her, she has caring and compassionate people in her life who enjoy her and her children so much, they want to be a blessing in return.

Thus we have scenes of children laughing, loving, planning surprises for each other; sometimes fighting, but always making up in the end. Stories of measles, a monkey, and mistletoe.

Add this one to your to-read-soon list!

Ages: 5+

Cleanliness: there is fighting and grumbling but it’s almost always addressed or resolved.

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Another wonderful story from my childhood that has remained in my memory all these years. I also shared this one with Makayla. It is the story of hardship, love, & perserverence after the 5 Little Peppers lose their father. In late 1800 America it was very hard on their mother to keep this close-knit family together but she managed to.

Another old favorite I forgot I read :) I should return someday. I remember loving this. Big families are awesome.

This is a real classic. The story of the Little Peppers was one of the first books I read as a child and made such an imprint on me. The story became alive at that age. I wish there were more stories like that written today.

This was my favorite book as a kid. I found it in one of my old boxes the other day and realized that I haven't thought about it for years. It was amazing... I think.. haha.

This book took me forever to finish and I finished it in starts and fits. I was supposed to read this a few months ago for Dead Writers Society genre challenge and never got back to it in time. So I don't count this book towards the genre challenge since I didn't finish it in the month I was supposed to, but dang I want something for finishing this.

"Five Little Peppers" is about Mrs. Pepper and her five children, Ben, Polly, Joel, Davie, and Phronsie. The family is not doing very well since Mr. Pepper has died. Mrs. Pepper is a seamstress of some sort and is doing what she can to keep her family fed and under one roof. Too bad her kids ask repeatedly for things that they have to know their mother can't afford and just at times act like jerks.

I really couldn't get a handle on everyone. The book really doesn't flow together very well. This whole thing felt like a collection that was than wrapped up into one book. Some chapters work well together, and others do not.

I didn't really care for the writing probably because Ms. Sidney chose to write the book in the way that some young kids speak at certain ages. It drove me crazy sometimes to work out what someone like Davie or Phronsie was trying to say.

The flow was not great because once again not all chapters flowed into each other naturally. And there was a bigger problem as I said that the book as a whole did not feel as cohesive as it should have.

It took a while to get into this one. At the beginning I almost thought it was a family of animals. They just seemed unreal. It started to pick up once Jasper entered the picture. Then by the last chapter I was looking forward to reading the other books in this series.

Ten stars! This book was delightful from beginning to end. Such beautiful language, family, storytelling!!

I have read this before, but it had been a while ago. I really enjoyed this book and the love the Pepper family has for each other. I definitely will be reading the other books in this series. <3

I found a vintage copy of this at a book store in Colorado and brought it home with me. I read this as a child and thought I would like to re-read it. It was as I remembered for the most part, but reading it as an agnostic adult, the religious theme through it was more permeating than I remembered.

My mom has raved about this book for years and couldn't believe that I hadn't read it. So when I saw it on CD at the library I decided to get it over with. The kids (the 8 to 14 crowd) and I actually enjoyed it but at the same time we kind of make fun of it by quoting the children in the sickly sweet voices that the reader uses. ("Polly, please tell us a story. Oh, do, Polly, do!" or "I must make a gingerbread boy for my poor sick man!") It has been compared to the Anne of Green Gables books but the action is much slower. I know that there is no way I would have gotten through it reading it aloud to the kids. I'm glad they liked it though.