The Adventures of Joel Pepper by Margaret Sidney

Novel from the Five Little Peppers series. According to Wikipedia: Margaret Sidney was the pseudonym of Harriett Mulford Stone ( 1844– 1924). She was an American author, born in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1878, at the age of 34, she began sending short stories to Wide Awake, a childrens magazine in Boston. Two of her stories, Polly Peppers Chicken Pie and Phronsie Peppers New Shoes, proved to be very popular with readers. Daniel Lothrop, the editor of the magazine, requested that Stone write more. The success of Harrietts short stories prompted her to write the now-famous Five Little Peppers series. This series was first published in 1881, the year that Stone married Daniel Lothrop. Daniel had founded the D. Lothrop Company of Boston, who published Harrietts books under her pseudonym, Margaret Sidney. Harriett and Daniel may have both had an interest in history and in famous authors. In 1883, they purchased the house in which both Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne lived. Nicknamed The Wayside, the house is located in Concord, Massachusetts.