Five Little Peppers in the Little Brown House

This is where the Pepper family begins. Five children and their widowed mother, scraping by in a little brown house that leaks and creaks but never lacks for love. Margaret Sidney's first two stories introduce us to Polly, the responsible eldest; Phronsie, the darling youngest; and Joel, Davie, and baby Percy, all bound together by poverty and devotion. In "Polly Pepper's Chicken Pie," the eldest daughter hatches an inventive scheme to provide a proper dinner for her family. In "Phronsie Pepper's New Shoes," a child discovers joy in something so simple that modern readers might forget what it means to do without. These are stories of dignified hardship, of children who solve problems with cleverness rather than despair, of a mother who manages to feed and clothe five hungry souls through sheer force of love. The Peppers have been warming hearts for over a century because they show us that family is the real fortune, that resourcefulness matters more than wealth, and that a cramped little house can hold infinite happiness.