The Adventures of Joel Pepper (Five Little Peppers, #6)
byMargaret Sidney

3.5 out of 5 stars

The five little Peppers are living snug in the little brown house with their widowed mother, but they are very poor. The eldest children must work almost as hard as their mother does, sewing and cooking, and working in the fields for the neighboring farmers. But their neighbors are kind and generous, and somehow the Pepper family manage.

Joel Pepper is the third child in the family, and the most mischievous. He doesn’t mean to cause trouble, but somehow his brilliant ideas always go wrong. He puts together a circus with costumes and acts for each of the children to play, but falls out of a tree when he is playing the monkey. He crashes his sled when it snows. He thinks he will help to build up the fire in the stove, and nearly burns down the entire house. He wanders into a field to pick blackberries, and gets chased by a bull.
But through all his adventures, Joel is courageous and loyal, and he gradually learns to be more considerate and kind to his siblings.

I really loved that Joel is a typical thoughtless little boy, but he has some good character development as he learns that he needs to stop and think of others before rushing ahead. The interactions between the siblings are perfectly written, as they squabble a bit and make up games together and look out for each other. I just love stories about siblings!

The writing is delightfully old-fashioned and full of simple charm! However, I felt like some of the chapters ended abruptly. The author will leave it to the reader’s imagination to finish up the last little bit of the storyline. We know they got cake as a special treat, but we don’t get to see them eat the cake. It leaves the story hanging a little bit, and I wanted the satisfaction of seeing them actually enjoying the cake.