The idea for ‘Just You Wait' came into my head when my daughter was three. She was telling herself a story about a naughty boy - it reminded me of a mean girl at school, and how I stood up to her in the end. I think everyone has experiences like this. Everyone comes up against bullies, but sometimes we need help to deal with them. Because Eleanor True is a princess in a fairy tale school, it was lots of fun thinking up horrible things that Prince Roderick would do, and different ways Princess Eleanor would try to stop him… fairy tale problems and a magical solution. 

I also had huge fun playing with fairy tales writing this story, and Craig Smith had even more fun with his illustrations! Look carefully, and you can see all these fairy tale, nursery rhyme and legendary characters we put in Just You Wait!

Rapunzel,   Little Bo Peep and her sheep,   Hey Diddle Diddle (cow, dish & spoon), Phar Lap,    Dragon,   Sleeping Beauty (thorns, tower & spinning wheel),   Snow White (poisoned apple, princess in a casket),   Goldilocks & the Three Bears,   3 Little Pigs & the Big Bad Wolf,    Tinkerbell,    Cinderella’s glass slipper,    Gingerbread Man,    King Arthur’s Sword,    The Frog Prince

CBC NOTABLE AUSTRALIAN BOOK 2005

Selected for NSW and SA PREMIER'S READING CHALLENGES

Featured title in the National Library of New Zealand's 'Great Reads for Gutsy Girls'