Maybe Just Ask Me!

by Katie Mazeika, Katie Mazeika (Illustrator)

Overview

Based on the author’s own childhood experience, this clever and heartfelt picture book follows a young girl who wants to bring discussion of her disability into the open, exploring themes of acknowledging and celebrating differences.

Mazie wears an eyepatch and a head scarf, and on her first day at a new school she’s prepared for her classmates to wonder why. And they do, but no one talks to her about it. Instead, wild rumors fly around the classroom that she’s a pirate or a dragon burned off her hair! Mazie doesn’t mind explaining her disability, but can she find the courage to tell the other kids to just ask her?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665949897
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	04/22/2025
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Katie Mazeika is an author and illustrator with a BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design. When she isn’t in the studio, she likes to spend time at the theater, in her garden, or getting lost in a good book. She is the creator of picture book biographies including Annette Feels Free and Beulah Has a Hunch!. She lives in Ohio with her family and two dogs.

Katie Mazeika is an author and illustrator with a BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design. When she isn’t in the studio, she likes to spend time at the theater, in her garden, or getting lost in a good book. She is the creator of picture book biographies including Annette Feels Free and Beulah Has a Hunch!. She lives in Ohio with her family and two dogs.

Editorial Reviews

12/13/2024

PreS-Gr 1—It's Mazie's first day of school at a new school, and she's naturally eager to make new friends. Disappointed when her peers don't ask about her eye patch and bald head, covered by a pretty scarf, Mazie's classmates project their own made-up explanations for her differences. Often overheard in hushed conversations or loud whispers, readers are privy to Mazie's inner thoughts as she navigates social tensions and fears, drawing on the bravery and hopefulness she gained from her recent battle with cancer. Mazeika offers personal insight into being a child who survives cancer and lives with a visible physical disability in a classroom full of unfamiliar and uncurious peers. Her digital illustrations emphasize the main character and her social situations with strong, bold colors for the protagonist and her classmates. This fictional story of a young white girl struggling to connect with her classmates in a multiracial suburban American classroom offers significant social-emotional learning opportunities for younger readers. Back matter includes the author's personal connection to the story, followed by a list of things children (and caretakers) can do to be supportive of "People Like Me." If the list seems directed at adult readers, the final two lines emphasize a crucial message that might not have been obvious in the storytelling: "We all have things that make us different. What kinds of things do you wish other people just asked about you?" This is a perfect question for children to process and then pose in a classroom, library, or other setting. VERDICT For elementary libraries lacking books that address this specific message, this is an important purchase.—Jessica Fenster-Sparber

School Library Journal

2025-02-01
A child faces gossip from her new classmates.

Though Mazie’s nervous about starting at a new school, she’s excited about making friends. But when she introduces herself, the other kids only stare at her headscarf and eye patch. After the wind sweeps off the tan-skinned child’s headscarf, revealing that she’s bald, Mazie’s racially diverse classmates concoct wild tales. Maybe Mazie was in the circus, and a fire breather burped on her hair. Maybe the eye patch means she’s a pirate! Mazie understands their curiosity is “only natural,” but she’s frustrated that they’d rather gossip than approach her. Finally, with her P.E. teacher’s support, Mazie makes a speech: She’s “as daring as any circus girl” and “fiercer than a pirate,” and if her classmates want to know what happened, “Maybe just ask me!” When they do, the answer depicts a doctor and Mazie, toting an IV, battling a fire-breathing dragon. Unfortunately, the details aren’t specified until the author’s note, where Mazeika explains that the story is based on her experiences with childhood cancer. Though the images contain some clues, omitting mentions of cancer from the primary text risks leaving younger readers still guessing what happened—the very behavior Mazie seeks to stop. Still, the bright, rounded illustrations sympathetically convey Mazie’s emotions, clearly depicting her sadness at her classmates’ rumors and her happiness when they befriend her after learning her story.

A reminder that kids with disabilities are the authorities of their own stories.(Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews