Jabari Jumps

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Hello, friends! Today’s book is Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall, a sweet and simple story with an important lesson on overcoming fears. Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol. Little Jabari had just finished his swimming lessons and passed his swim test. He decided that he was now ready to jump off the diving board and today was the day. He watched all the other children jump off the board and declared it looked easy. However, when he got to the bottom of the board he looked up and saw how high it was. He felt scared but he didn’t want to let anyone know how he felt. In this story, Jabari goes to the lido with his dad and little sister. Newly graduated from swimming classes, Jabari is full of confidence. He knows that today will be the day he climbs the diving board and jumps into the pool for the very first time.

Jabari has come to a decision: he is ready to go off the high diving board like the other kids. His father asks if he’s sure, and Jabari thinks he is: he’s finished his swimming lessons and passed his swimming test. Still, when he sees how high the board is, he begins to get nervous. He allows the other children to go first. Then he has trouble climbing the ladder, so he takes a tiny break. He realizes that he forgot to stretch (can’t dive without stretching). In fact, there are a lot of little things standing in the way of his big jump. But his daddy takes him aside and gives him some advice: it’s okay to be scared to try new things. Sometimes, you just have to take a deep breath, tell yourself you’re ready… and jump. His dad knew how he was feeling though. He told Jabari that it was okay to feel scared and that sometimes even he felt scared. He then taught him what he does when he feels scared and how it helps. Jabari decided to give the diving board another go, this time using the technique his dad had taught him.

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Young Jabari decides today is the day he is going to jump from the diving board, even though it’s a little high and a little scary. While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. Every once in awhile, a story comes along and fills a hole in the picture book universe. Maybe we knew about the void, like how few children’s books feature main characters of color, or perhaps we only realize what we’ve been missing in retrospect, like tales with a competent, emotionally attentive male caregiver. Through a carefully crafted plot and wonderfully expressive illustrations, Jabari Jumps does just that, claiming a spot in the story-time queue it won’t soon relinquish.

The positive representation of the father as a loving, gentle and kind figure, actively involved in caring for his children is also important. It is still unfortunately rare to see a father rather than a mother at the centre of a domestic moment in books for children, and these are examples that children really need to see if traditional gender stereotypes are to be successfully challenged. What Jabari Jumps is celebrating is the triumph of quiet perseverance; of letting children take their time to conquer new skills and find confidence in themselves and their abilities at their own pace. The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools. Mixed-media images in serene muted colors, high-rise buildings above the tree line, and the intriguing addition of faded newsprint accents strengthen the urban feel of the illustrations. Jabari’s story will help assuage the fears kids experience when faced with a new and daunting adventure. A terrific seasonal storytime read-aloud that’s perfect for one-on-one sharing.

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Jabari decides that he is ready to jump off the high diving board at his local swimming pool in this engaging summertime picture-book from author/illustrator Gaia Cornwall. Having finished his swimming lessons and passed his swim test, the young boy believes he can take that leap. Then he actually confronts the ladder to thet high board, and he finds himself a little intimidated. His loving father is there, however, to talk him through his fears, and help him take a chance... A little boy has finished his swimming lessons and is trying to get up the courage to jump off the diving board in this utterly charming debut picture book with a valuable lesson about conquering your fears from a gifted author-illustrator

Standing on top of the diving board with his toes curling around the edge, Jabari is so brave it makes my heart ache. But his father has given him such gentle, loving support to get to this point – never pushing him and letting decide for himself how far he wants to go – that he knows, and we know, he is ready. A daunting gaze downward, past Jabari’s toes that curl around the edge of the board, makes the water look incredibly far away, and when seen from behind, he seems as high up as the skyscrapers in the distance. It’s a lovely, knowing account of a big “first” in a child’s life. One of those books with a deceptively simple storyline, Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall focuses on an ordinary moment in childhood, and turns it into an adventure. And it’s the little details that make this book so special. For example, I love the moment when Jabari arrives at the lido and watches the other kids jumping off the diving board.The illustration shows Jabari from behind, clutching his towel and with his goggles pushed up on his head as he holds his dad’s hand tightly. We are watching Jabari watch the other children and we know exactly how he’s feeling.