Daddy Daughter Bookworms Diving into Fear: A Discussion on 'Jabari Jumps'

You're listening to the Daddy Dotta Bookworm sponsored by CareFresh Training Group, where I talk about tons of books. Hello, bookworms, my name is Lucy.

And I'm Alex, and today we're going to answer the question. Can you jump into the pool?

That's right, we're reviewing Jabari Jumps. Author and illustrator is Gaia Cornwell. Publisher is Candlewick Press, copyright 2017.

What did you think of this book? First off, Lucy.

Well, my first thoughts were why would Jabari be scared to jump into a pool?

Exactly. Why don't you tell us a couple of the characters that were in the book?

The main character is Jabari and his dad and his little sister.

Anybody else? Nope, ok, there was there a lifeguard there. There was a lifeguard there but the lifeguard was Not a main character. But it wasn't a main character. And what kind of genre was it? What kind of book was it?

It's a fictional children's book.

So, Lucy, what did you think about the cover? Because the cover has some interesting things that the readers would probably take from it.

Something was going to be scary jumping off the diving board.

You think so? Uh-huh, what was he doing? He was on the diving board and where was he looking Down? Yeah, I know he was looking down with his toes curled right. So, Lucy, why don't you tell everybody a little bit about the story?

It's a boy named Jabari and he is finally able to jump off the diving board. But he's too scared to jump because the diving board was so tall.

Have you ever tried to jump off a diving board? Well, not Well.

I have. But there's this thing at my summer camp. There's like mats where you can dive off of.

So what else happened in the story? So he's trying to jump off that diving board right, and does he do it right away? No, no, what does he do first?

His dad said Are you okay? And then he says I'm just a little tired. And then he climbs down and then he says I forgot to do my stretches. And then he says I think tomorrow might be a better day for jumping.

Yeah, he was just trying to give an excuse so he didn't have to do it. Huh, Because he was so scared. Did he have any other excuses? He?

couldn't no.

Okay, so then, what did he do?

And then he got to the top of the ladder. He climbed and then he walked to the edge, he curled his toes and then he splashed right into the water.

And then he did it, didn't he?

Uh-huh.

And it's pretty neat because I think his dad says you did it and it was pretty exciting. So after he did it, how do you think he felt?

I think he felt excited.

And then, what did he tell his dad after he jumped into the pool?

Surprise double back flip is next.

Surprise, double back flip is next, exactly so he got the confidence that he needed, didn't he? Mm-hmm? So you connect with Jabari at all.

I was scared to dive and passing the deep water test at my camp and the zip line.

The zip line. Yeah, I know it takes a lot of bravery to do those kind of things, doesn't it?

Uh-huh, I'm still learning how to dive though.

Exactly, and you're still learning how to climb and do the zip line, but you know what. That's what this book is all about. It's about facing what's scary. Have you ever done anything else that made you feel like the character scared?

Um, yes, I felt scared on the stage in kindergarten when I had to do this performance at the end of the year and on the spider web thing.

What happened on the spider web thing.

So I didn't know how to get down and I asked you for help and then you said no.

Well, I didn't say no, but what did I do? I helped get you to climb down, and you did it on your own right, uh-huh, because I couldn't get up there, because you were in a tight space. So those are kind of the same way that you were scared, uh-huh. So what was some of the favorite things that you liked about the book?

I loved the art in the book and when he finally jumps into the pool, I think the art was with watercolors for the water.

It was beautiful artwork, the author, who's also the illustrator. She does such a great job of really showing the movement of the water and how it works. It was really. It's light, it's light colors, so it just fits so great with the story. Would you change anything with this story? You think? No, no, I wouldn't. You wouldn't change a thing, nope, Okay. So who do you think you'd wanna recommend this? Or would you recommend this to another person?

Yes, I would. I would recommend this book to people that are scared to try something new.

What type of person or age do you think this book would be good for?

All kids that might be scared of the pool or something else.

I think even adults that are scared of the water might like this book. What do you think? Yep, okay, so do you have any final thoughts on the book in terms of any other points that you are thinking of about Jamari Jumps?

Well, I do have one small little thing.

What's that?

I think they should have. Well, this is basically changing, but I um so I think the people at the pool, I think they should be like more interactive of how Jabari tries to jump into the pool.

Kind of like you have it at camp. Yeah Well, you know what? I think the reason why they might not have been? It might have been at a public pool, and it was just Jabari and his dad and his little sister.

The little sister and the other people at pool would have been more interactive if they knew how hard Jabari has been working.

Okay, that's, that is a good point. I I read the book too, and I thought it was really fantastic how he just faced his fear. Lucy, why don't you tell the listeners how they can get the book if they want to buy it?

They can buy the book at their local children's bookstore, where they can go to our show notes, where we have a link. Also, please help us by giving the podcast a five star review.

Why don't you tell the listeners how they can get in touch with us?

To submit your theories and feedback. You can email us at daddydaughterbookwormscom.

Our Instagram is daddydaughterbookworms and our Twitter is ddbookworms.

And don't forget to subscribe on our YouTube channel search daddydaughterbookworms.

And when you're there, don't forget to hit the bell so you can get every episode when it comes out. So, lucy, I want to thank you for reading another great book and I want to thank the listeners for listening. So, that said, my name is Alex.

Now I'm Lucy and see you soon. Bye, bye, maybe next week.