Friday, December 06, 2013

Friday's Forgotten Books, Friday, December 6, 2013


Steve Nase with my parents, his grandparents, circa 1992

Robert Barnard day on December 20th.
Would someone like to helm this on January 3?  

From the vault.

THE FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS AND HOW THEY GREW, Margaret Sidney

The Five Little Peppers book series was created by Margaret Sidney between 1881 and 1916. The series began with the Peppers, a fatherless family, finding themselves in difficult straits. Mamsie presides over her three sons and two daughters.

My copy of the first volume has a few lovely colored pictures and many in black and white. It is number Book
#28 in the Patti Nase Library. That information is crossed out and the name Jeff Nase written over it. Something evil has been at work here.

The style is v
ery much like that in LITTLE WOMEN and is clearly greatly influenced by Alcott. The poverty, the triumph over adversity, the camaraderie is similar, the cozy setting is the same. Yet this series continues past the first volume, highlighting different circumstances and family members over time. The writing is lovely. I was amazed at how sophisticated the language was since it is billed for 8-12 year olds. There is something comforting in how none of their problems came from lack of love, drugs, prejudice, or any modern distraction. I could read one right now. I didn't save many of my childhood books, (many passed down to me from cousins and friends were a bit worn to begin with and I was not a careful child), but I saved four Little Pepper books. All of them claimed by my brother, who I am sure never read a book without a cowboy on the cover.

In order of publication, the Five Little Peppers books are as follows (publication dates follow in parentheses):
Five Lit
tle Peppers and How They Grew (1881)
Five Little Pep
pers Midway (1890)
Five Little Peppers Grow
n Up (1892)
Five Little Peppers: Phronsie Pepper (1897)
Five Little Peppers: The Stories Polly Pepper Told (1899)
Five Little Peppers: The Adventures of Joel Pepper (1900)
Five Little Peppers Abroad (1902)
Five Little Peppers At School (1903)
Five Little Peppers and Their Friends (1904)
Five Li
ttle Peppers in the Brown House (1907)
Five Little Peppers: Our Davie Pepper (1916)


From Elsewhere in Blog Land

Sergio Angelini, THINK TWICE, Ayn Rand
Yvette Banek, GIDEON OLIVER BOOKS, Aaron Elkins
Joe Barone, A GREAT DELIVERANCE, Elizabeth George 
Brian Busby, EXIT IN GREEN, Martin Brett 
Bill Crider, 12 GREAT CLASSICS OF SCIENCE FICTION, edited by Groff Conklin
Martin Edwards, ACCESSORY TO MURDER, Pamela Barrington
Curt Evans, THE FOURTH LETTER, Frank Gruber
Ray Garraty, INDEPENDENCE DAY, Richard Ford
Jerry House, RED RANGE and PIGEONS FROM HELL, Joe R. Lansdale
Randy Johnson, BLOODY MURDOCK, Robert Ray
Nick Jones, OUR MAN IN CAMELOT, Anthony Price
George Kelley, THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF SANTA CLAUS, L. Frank Baum
Margot Kinberg, RATKING, Michael Dibdin
Rob Kitchin, THE LOW ROAD, Chris Womersley
B.V. Lawson, THE MYSTERY OF MARY, Grace Livingston Hill
Evan Lewis, THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF SATAN HALL, John Carroll Daly
Steve Lewis/ Allen J. Hubbin, PHILLY STAKES, Gillian Roberts
Todd Mason, STORIES FROM ANOTHER WORLD, Sheila Kohler; THE MAN WHO LOVED THE MIDNIGHT LADY, Barry Malzberg
Neer, MR. NORRIS CHANGES TRAINS, Christopher Isherwood
J.F. Norris, THE JUDAS CAT, Dorothy Salisbury Davis 
Juri Nummelin, THE DEADLY CHANCE, Paul Denver
James Reasoner, DEATH STALKS THE NIGHT, Hugh B. Cave
Richard Robinson, WIND SONG, Carl Sandburg
Gerald Saylor, BEST AMERICAN NOIR OF THE CENTURY, Penzler and Ellroy
Ron Scheer, DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, Max Brand 
Kerrie Smith, THE RIDERS, Tim Winton
TomCat, MURDER ON THE TRAIN, Herman Heijerman
Kevin Tipple, TOO LATE TO DIE, Bill Crider
Prashant Trikannad, THE KILLERS, Ernest Hemingway

5 comments:

Deb said...

I'll definitely participate in Robert Barnard day. I'll email you an FFB that week.

J F Norris said...

Mine's up now, Patti:
The Judas Cat by Dorothy Salisbury Davis

Todd Mason said...

I can swing it on 3 Jan.

STORIES FROM ANOTHER WORLD by Sheila Kohler and THE MAN WHO LOVED THE MIDNIGHT LADY by Barry Malzberg are today's choices by me...

Kelly Robinson said...

Holidays + writing deadlines have me pulling out my hair right now, but I'll definitely be in for Barnard day.

Charles Gramlich said...

I've heard of this series but have not read them. I need to give some a try.