Some Joel Pepper adventures from the Little Brown House days. Some of these have been referenced in other books, so it was nice to read more about them.

The Five Little Peppers are back in the little brown house

I wasn't expecting this novel to involve Joel as a 9-year-old child. Its events very clearly seem to occur prior to the events of the very first book in this series. It's not much fun revisiting the Pepper family, in direst poverty in Badgertown, after reading about their life in the lap of luxury at the King mansion in the city. It's also disappointing, after offering multiple other books in this series in which Joel is in his early teens, for the author to retreat to Joel at such an immature, obstreperous age. As a howling, weeping child, he doesn't make a very inspiring or entertaining hero.

Joel’s little adventures and lessons are so entertaining, and more cohesive than Polly’s stories strung together

Oh my, how I loved this books as a child. They were very dear to me and are firmly entrenched into my memory strong enough to have become parts of my character. There are is a veritable plethora of life examples and lessons to be learned through these works of literature that take us back to a simpler time and place, entirely different family values and senses or morality and ethics; there is much to be learned from these simple books. Most of all, family and love, loyalty and a moral compass much needed in today's society, camaraderie and ...well, the list is entirely too long. I think the books are relevant to the youth of today, if nothing else to provide an example that though some things change with time, a great many others do not.

Too many of the same stories told in other books.

This is best read in context with the other books. I read the original stories years ago, and reading this one now, I did not like the behavior of this child at all. Was the author describing the actions of a boy with ADHD?

Another enjoyable installment filling in pieces of the original stories.

So much drama! Joel is quite an exhausting child, so glad none of mine were like him.