It’s not unusual for kids (or adults) to not know what to say when they meet someone with an obvious disability. Author Katie Mazeika wants to change that with her picture book, Maybe Just Ask Me!

The story follows Mazie, a new girl at school who wears an eye patch and a head scarf. When she shows up for the first day a lot of kids notice her, but no one talks to her. At recess, the wind blows her scarf from her head, revealing that she’s bald. That gets the kids talking about why she looks the way she does.

They guess that she could be a pirate, or a circus performer, or has been to outer space. Mazie has a hard time speaking up to tell them the truth. When she finally finds her voice, she tells everyone that if they really want to know what happened, they should just ask her. And then she tells her story.

A note at the end form the author explains that the story is inspired by her own childhood. At three, Mazeira had cancer and had to have her eye removed. After many surgeries and chemotherapy, she started school with no hair and an eye patch. She heard kids whispering about her, but no one asked.

Even today, she says, people believe they are being polite when they don’t ask. But she feels it’s better to ask questions and see people for who they are. “Curiosity, with kindness,” she says, “should always be allowed.”

Also included at the back of the book is Mazeika’s personal list of things people can do to be supportive of people like her. Maybe Just Ask Me! can help open a conversation between parents and their kids about many things they are curious about, and help people find a kind way to interact with people they see with disabilities.

Interested in learning more? Here’s a link to a meet-the-author-interview at Teaching Books.net. You can also find a curriculum guide and other materials at the author’s website, KatieMazeika.com.

The author provided a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.