It's time to send the animals rescued from the pirate circus home. Uncle Mac sets sail with amazing Esme and her fearless cousins on a journey to hot and cold and distant lands - from Scotland to Siberia to Peru! It's a voyage filled with excitement and danger. And dastardly pirates who will stop at nothing to recapture the animals. This is the third of Tamara Macfarlane's Esme stories which are perfect for newly confident readers to read by themselves, or for parents to read aloud. High in action and with plenty of humour, the stories are brought to life by Michael Fowkes' drawings on every double-page spread.

Follow the wildly imaginative adventures of Esme as she leaves behind her circus home for the first time to spend the summer with her cousins Magnus, Cosmo and Gus at Maclinkey Castle where it's easy to get lost and where you can discover all sorts of weird and wonderful animals in unlikely places - there are porcupines in beds, lizards in drawers and giraffes on the loo. It's all a little wonderful and a lot overwhelming and when her pet donkey, Donk, turns up in a parcel sent from her parents, the fun really begins. When hundreds of baby penguins hatch in Esme's top floor bedroom, the children have to figure out how to get them outside. Esme and her cousin have the ingenious idea of building a helter skelter around the castle turret, but this is just the start - soon Maclinkey Castle is turned into a full-on Fairground Circus with a big wheel, Bumper Bears, and the show stopping Flying Tigers starring Esme herself!

Esme is seriously bored of all the work and practice her mother keeps insisting she does in order to perfect her circus performance. So when an idea forms in Esme's head of adding some fun animals to her performance, she knows just who to call ... her cousins at Maclinkey Castle who have all manner of odd pets. With little rehearsal Esme and her act perform on the high wire. But disaster strikes and her co-stars tumble to the ground. Donk won't wake up and now everyone in town thinks that Circus Miranda is cruel to animals. What can Esme do to stop the crowds from leaving the circus? The answer lies in her punishment of being made to run the lowly sweet treats stand and being banned from performing. With a little bit of maple syrup, chocolate, caramel and a dash of teamwork, surely the kids can tempt the crowds back...?