The Five Little Peppers book series was created by Margaret Sidney. It covers the lives of the five children of Mamsie and the late Mister Pepper who are born into poverty in a rural 'little brown house.' In this book Joel and Davie Pepper are away at boarding school trying to learn manners and self-reliance while their sister Polly must cope with gossips and snobs at her school. But when a terrible train accident leaves the brakeman's wife a widow with children to support, Polly tries to help them by raising money. Can she make it work?