THE PEPPER PARTY FAMILY FEUD FACE-OFF

Perfectionist Maria Pepper’s wacky family
interferes with her mascot ambitions in this simultaneously released sequel to The
Pepper Party Picks the Perfect Pet (2019).

Supertidy Maria (an oddball in her family)
is the kind of go-getter who lives her life by her favorite book: How to
Make Friends, Influence People, and Crush Your Enemies into Dust. Her next
step on the path to greatness is winning the school contest to get to be school
mascot, the San Pimento Olive. But she’s surprised by stiff competition, which
comes in the form of Darren Dill IV, an uber-rich new kid who ups the stakes by
giving away free ice cream. Their contest takes comedic forms (including a rap
battle featuring 12-year-old Ricky Pepper versus Darren’s butler,
Crinklebottom, a DJ, Y’allTube celeb, and lawyer) and culminates in the actual
tryouts. Darren unexpectedly offers friendship right before her family (in
attempts to help her) causes their biggest disaster yet in front of the whole
school (and on camera). Pushed too far, Maria quits her family. Darren takes
her in, offering her Crinklebottom’s services to divorce them, just as he’d
done with his own family. It’s up to the Peppers to uncover Darren’s true
agenda, creating a climax that uses funny takes on sinister imagery to reach
new heights of hilarity and bring forth familial reconciliations. The main
characters all have light skin, some Peppers lighter than others, with the
unfortunate result that the rap battle is waged by apparently all-white
combatants.