Ask Me

Starred review from April 27, 2015
In this posthumously published tale by Waber, best known for his Lyle the Crocodile books, a girl directs a conversation with her father. “Ask me what I like,” she says. “What do you like?” he asks. Lee (Open This Little Book) pictures the duo on a park outing, and the girl delights in falling leaves as she admires the natural surroundings (“I like geese in the sky. No, in the water. I like both”). After naming many favorite things, she gets more specific: “How come birds build nests?” Her father warmly responds, “All right, how come birds build nests?” sustaining the give-and-take. The girl’s words appear in black type and the father’s in dark blue, so readers know who is speaking despite the untagged dialogue and lack of quotation marks. Taking advantage of negative space to emphasize a bright sky, people’s faces, and the girl’s swingy dress, Lee lines the characters in charcoal-gray pencil and frames the pages in scribbles of maple-leaf red, autumnal gold, and denim blue. The easygoing verbal exchange and affectionate visuals celebrate a close father-daughter relationship while recognizing beauty in everyday simplicity. Ages 4–8.

Starred review from April 1, 2015
As a little girl and her father take a walk together, the girl directs her dad to ask her questions about what she likes. The girl, clad in a bright red coat, gently commands, "Ask me what I like." Dad, wearing a bold blue cap, complies. The answers flow: "I like dogs. I like cats. I like turtles." As they walk through the neighborhood, the conversation continues, spurred on by what the girl observes. She likes geese in the sky and in the water. She likes lightning bugs but not fireflies. She loves flowers and ice cream cones. She likes "red everything." She likes "splishing, sploshing and splooshing in the rain." She likes those words she made up. Sharp-eyed readers will notice the text color subtly changes from gray when the girl speaks to dark blue when her father does. Their simple back-and-forth dialogue speaks volumes about their strong father-daughter bond. As endearing and joyful as it is to read Waber's words aloud, it is Lee's illustrations that make this title truly special. Primary colors in pencil dominate the images, with grays and light tans lending calming touches. The autumn trees and wildflower field look wonderfully scribbled, contrasting beautifully with the finely detailed geese, butterflies, and maple leaves. Lee makes masterful drawing look deceptively simple, creating visual appeal for readers of all ages. Sublimely satisfying. (Picture book. 4-8)

Starred review from February 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 2-A vivacious child and her father share an early autumn stroll. "Ask me what I like," she says. Dad's dutiful answer is printed in purple: "What do you like?" Energetically she answers with a list. Sometimes dad presses for details, "Geese in the sky? Or geese in the water?" She answers, "I like geese in the sky. No, in the water. I like both. Ask me what else I like," she demands, seeing something new she wants to tell him about. So they proceed through their day, celebrating the brief but precious time when children are gaining a sense of self and exploring the power that comes with it. The patience required to converse with a small person who wants to dictate every part of the interaction is sure to be familiar to parents, but the poetic text rises above the mundane and captures the beauty, energy, and innocence of these conversations and holds them up for readers to appreciate without becoming saccharine or trite. Lee's lively, colored-pencil drawings are a perfect match to the text. The line drawings are similar in style to those in Wave (2008) and Shadow (2010, both Chronicle), but Lee expands from the single-color palette she employed in those titles to a full spectrum of bright autumn colors. VERDICT A first choice for libraries, especially those looking to expand their selection of father-as-caregiver stories.-Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, MN

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