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The 'Five Little Peppers' book series was created by Margaret Sidney from 1881 to 1916. It covers the life of five children with the surname Pepper. The Pepper children were very poor, and their widowed mother was left to raise them by herself. In order of age (descending), the children's names were Ben (Ebenezer), Polly (Mary), Joel, David, and Phronsie (Sophronia).

Contents

The Peppers and friends

The books

Other notes

The Peppers and friends

''The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew'' tells the story of how the Peppers live, learn, and play in the little brown house located in dear old Badgertown. They are poor, and Mamsie, Ben, and Polly must work constantly to keep the wolf from the door but they do it with gaiety and spirit that would not be expected.
Their whole lives center around one another; in the center of that is their wonderful Mamsie who can’t seem to ever stop being the very best and "goodest" there is. She works doing odd jobs: tailoring things; sewing sacks for Mr. Atkins, the storekeeper; taking care of the village grandmother, old Grandma Bascom. Polly, who is ten years old, helps her sew while making sure the children behave and preparing their dinner (lunch). Ben, who is a year older than Polly, stays away all day working at Farmer Blodgett's, chopping wood; it is hard work and he really wants an education, but he does it to keep the family together. It kills him though that Polly "don't ever have anything nice" for herself. Polly and Ben are the best of friends, and in their younger siblings' eyes, there is nothing Polly and Bensie can't do.
Joel is the mischievous merrymaker in the family who is determined that they aren't poor. He helps his two older siblings and his Mamsie by doing all the chores he can; but he's the Pepper mostly likely to be in trouble. David is Joey's best friend and often the forced accomplice in his mischief-making; Davie is considered the weakest of the children though he pulls his weight in chores. Phronsie is the pet, the one at the center of everyone's hearts; she is beautiful, with her soft floating yellow hair and deep brown eyes. She's a cunning four-year-old who tries to pull her weight in the family chores though she can't do much.
But things are soon to change for the Peppers when Phronsie is kidnapped by an organ man. A boy a little older than Ben with a big black dog rescues her and comes back to the little brown house to visit her. His name is Jasper and all of the Peppers, including Mamsie, fall in love with him. However, he is only there on vacation with his rich widowed father and must soon say goodbye to the Peppers, his now good friends.
Soon, though, the Peppers come to stay with Jasper and his sister and nephews in his big house; they end up staying there for good at the invitation of Mr. King, Jasper's father, who has a particular fondness for the Peppers, especially Phronsie.

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) Project Gutenberg

★ Five Little Peppers Midway (1890) Project Gutenberg

★ Five Little Peppers Grown Up (1892) 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) Project Gutenberg

★ Five Little Peppers Abroad (1902) Project Gutenberg

★ Five Little Peppers At School (1903)

★ Five Little Peppers and Their Friends (1904) 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 and Their Friends"

★ "Five Little Peppers Midway"

★ "Five Little Peppers Abroad"

★ "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.
All together, the books cover approximately 16 years in the lives of the Peppers, as Phronsie is four years old at the opening of the first book, and 20 years old, in love, and eventually married at the close of "Phronsie Pepper", which is ''chronologically'' the final book in the series ("Our Davie Pepper", set several years earlier, is the last book in order of ''publication'').

Other notes

The most popular of all of the above books was the first, being published and republished over the years. Many of the ''Five Little Peppers'' books can be read on Project Gutenberg. (See links above next to book titles.)
The Pepper books were the inspiration for movies. The ''Five Little Peppers and How they Grew'' was released in 1939. (For more information, visit IMdb). Another movie, called ''The Five Little Peppers in Trouble'' was released in 1940. (For more information, visit IMdb).
The original movie had more of an "Our Gang" comedy approach, and was not an exact reflection of the book. The later films resembled the books only in character names - their scripts were not based on the books.