This is one of those picture books that does exactly one thing and does it beautifully. It's not flashy or groundbreaking, but it captures the specific terror of standing at the edge of something new with such precision that kids feel seen.

The father-son dynamic is the real win here—dad doesn't minimize Jabari's fear or force him forward, but he also doesn't let him off the hook entirely. He just stays close and lets Jabari work through it. That's good parenting in 32 pages.

It's gentle without being saccharine, simple without being simplistic. A solid tool for bedtime reading before swim lessons, first days of school, or any moment when your kid needs to know that being scared is part of being brave.