Princess Backwards

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Princess Fred lives in a kingdom where everything is backwards. People
walk backwards. They talk backwards. They even eat dinner for breakfast
and breakfast for dinner. But Princess Fred does everything forwards. No
matter how hard she tries, Princess Fred always finds herself doing
things in the opposite order from everyone else. That’s why her
subjects call her “Princess Backwards” and although they love her,
they always think she is a little strange.

One day, a terrible fire-breathing dragon called Marvin attacks the
kingdom. The Royal Archers fail to stop Marvin because they all fire
their arrows backwards. As Marvin approaches the drawbridge, Princess
Fred forgets she is supposed to do everything backwards and grabs a pail
of water. With one mighty throw she extinguishes Marvin’s fiery
breath. From the castle wall a cheer goes up for the Princess. From then
on, all the people in the kingdom accept the fact that Princess
Backwards is different, but now they know that being different is okay
and sometimes even a lovely thing.

This is a very entertaining book. Jane Gray manages to keep what is
essentially a one-joke theme fresh from beginning to end. Equally
diverting are the illustrations. Liz Milkau packs her panels with lots
of sight gags, such as a dog wearing its collar around its rear end and
a chandelier struggling to stay lit even though the candles are upside
down. Highly recommended.