Esme Pepper

Authors: Jacqueline Wilson & Rachael Dean

Interest age: from c 9 years | Family & home stories (Children's / Teenage) | School stories (Children's / Teenage) | Personal & social issues: bullying, violence & abuse (Children's / Teenage) | Personal & social issues: family issues (Children's / Teenage)

Published on 13^th August 2026 by Penguin Random House Children's UK (Puffin) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 336 pages
222mm x 156mm | 750g

A funny, heartbreaking and hopeful story of one girl's resilience, from the author of the bestselling Tracy Beaker series. Esme's mum would do anything for her, including trying to steal the expensive dolls house that Esme desperately wants. When Mum gets caught, Esme has to go into foster care.

When a placement proves hard to find, Esme has to stay with an elderly couple who have retired from fostering. She knows she only has to stay until Mum gets back, but she still has to deal with a new school, and a real idiot of a class bully.

Esme might like to cause trouble, but this time she is going to have to find a way to get along.