By Gaia Cornwall
A boy works up the nerve to jump off the high diving board for the first time, with his dad waiting close by.
Jabari just passed his swim test, and today's the day he jumps off the high diving board. He announces he's ready. He's not scared at all. Then the ladder turns out to be awfully tall, and maybe he should stretch first, and take a little rest, and honestly he could just go tomorrow instead. His dad doesn't rush him or tease him about the stalling. He stays close and offers one idea: a deep breath, and telling yourself you're ready, can help you feel ready. So Jabari climbs up, looks down at how far it is, and jumps.
It's the book I reach for when a child is standing at the edge of their own high board — the first day of school, the recital, the deep end. It gets the stalling right: the extra stretch, the little rest, the sudden interest in going tomorrow, all the ways a nervous child buys time before the scary thing. Jabari's dad is the reason it lands. He stays near without hovering, says the fear out loud without making it bigger, and then lets Jabari make the jump on his own. Jabari and his father are a Black family, drawn with a lot of warmth, and it's a pleasure to hand a child a courage story that's simply a courage story. Some children will recognize their own stalling in Jabari; others will just love the pool.