Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Margaret Sidney Polly and Ben Pepper are full of secret plans to surprise Mamsie. But it's hard to come up with ideas for presents when there isn't even enough money for the children to go to school. Since their father died, the five Pepper children and their mother have been living in poverty, with only potatoes and brown bread for supper. Ben chops wood to help support the family, and Polly looks after the little ones while their mother earns what she can by sewing. The Peppers are so poor, they've never even had a Christmas. But from measles to monkeys, through bad times and good, the cozy kitchen in the little brown house rings with laughter and hope. Then, just when a misadventure nearly leads to tragedy, a boy named Jasper King tumbles into their lives. Can good fortune be far behind?