The Five Little Peppers are off to school - Joel and Davie at a boys' boarding school, Polly, Phronsie and Ben at home. When the boys come home for the holidays, all the children are caught up in plans to help the poor family of a brakeman who was killed in an accident. Meanwhile Polly struggles to keep Jasper's friend from being expelled, Phronsie has a frightening accident and Ben works hard to repay Mr. King.
Margaret Sidney was the pen name of Harriett Mulford Lothrop, née Stone (1844-1924). She was first published at age 34, when two of her stories came out in the Boston children’s magazine "Wide Awake". Following their success, the editor asked her to write more. This led to the publication of her 12 book series "Five Little Peppers". She married her publisher Daniel Lothrop, and after his death, she ran his publishing firm. She later sold it so as to have more time to write, though the company kept publishing her work. Together, the couple had also bought the mansion "The Wayside" in Massachusetts, where both Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne had previously lived. Sidney was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the founder of the Children of the American Revolution. She wrote over 30 novels.
