Of course, a novel where the characters are described as being mostly devoid of emotion would also not be natural either, but in Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, the constant emotional outbursts actually make many of the characters seem rather exaggerated to and for me and even perhaps slightly strange and unnatural, almost as though they are defined primarily by their emotions (or rather by their excess of the same). For I do find Margaret Sidney's narrative style at best slightly scattered, unorganised and also often seriously overly emotional, with especially the Pepper children regularly screaming, laughing loudly, crying, on their knees praying (and constantly disclaiming or proclaiming their love, their fear, their pain, their joy). However, even more of an issue (for me personally at least) is the presented writing style, the narrative flow of Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, the words used/encountered, and the way many of the characters act (or rather, emotionally, extremely act out). Pepper's cousin) does tend to feel more than a bit artificial and forced (and while I know that this was often part and parcel to family type children's stories of the 19th and early 20th century, I do wonder whether modern children reading or attempting to read Five Little Peppers and How They Grew might not feel as though they are being force or spoon fed, that they are being told a story that kind of defies belief and one that assumes innocence and even a degree of naiveté on the part of the reader). And yes, in particular the serendipity presented at the end of the novel (when Percy, Van and Dick's father returns and is revealed to be Mrs.
Rather episodic in nature, and definitely of its time (there are elements of religious preachiness, strict gender roles and definite social stratification present), the chapters, while generally readable and at least mildly enjoyable, are also at times rather majorly far fetched, with some rather too obvious coincidences (so much so, that there at least sometimes seems to be an almost fairy-tale like aura of disbelief encountered, which can be a bit disconcerting, as Five Little Peppers and How They Grew seems to have been primarily written as a piece of realistic fiction).
The first of a series, Margaret Sidney's Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (first published in 1881) tells the story of the Pepper family (five siblings and their widowed mother), their joys, their struggles, their love for one another.
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