Building confidence through stories
Lisa Farber's debut book, Tilly Doesn't Want to Jump, aims to help children who need a little encouragement to take that big leap.
At a time when many children are navigating anxiety and self-doubt, Melbourne drama teacher Lisa Farber is hoping to remind kids that bravery is something they already have.
Her debut picture book, Tilly Doesn’t Want to Jump, follows a young girl standing at the top of a high diving board, caught between the part of her that wants to leap and the part that’s telling her to turn back. It seems like a small moment but it’s a feeling that every child, and every parent, knows well.
“We live in an age where being anxious or scared is seen as something negative and to be avoided, but I believe it is in these moments of small challenges that we build our own self-confidence and self-worth,” Farber told The AJN.
“I took a simple moment in Tilly’s childhood and tried to make it metaphorically about any of us, adult or child, having the courage to take the plunge.”
Farber was born in South Africa and emigrated to Australia with her family when she was 16, finishing school at Mount Scopus. After completing a Law/Arts degree at Monash University and working in litigation, she found herself drawn to something more creative.
Having studied speech and drama in both Cape Town and Melbourne, Farber made the leap – pun intended – and opened her own drama school. She has spent more than 25 years teaching children of all ages to present themselves with confidence and to love all things literature, poetry and theatre.
“It has been the greatest privilege to have taught across generations, where I have taught both the parents and later their children.”
Farber said that experience inspired the book. The words came naturally because she had witnessed so many “Tilly moments” in her students over the years, and she draws on personal experience too.
“I am also very, very scared of heights myself, so the tummy-churning feeling that Tilly experiences on the high board is familiar and accurate,” she explained. “I wrote it from my heart. I felt every word.”
Illustrated with watercolours by Chloe Finnis, the book uses deliberate repetition in its language to create rhythm and pace, something Farber said also makes it ideal for new readers learning word recognition and patterns.
Tilly stands alone on the diving board and draws on her own memories of bravery to find courage in the present moment. Her parents are at the pool with her but play no role in the story, a choice Farber made with purpose.
“I know personally as a parent we so often want to come in and save our children from discomfort or difficulty, but so often we have already equipped them well enough to manage it all on their own,” she said.
“Each time there is a triumphant experience for a child, no matter how small, it becomes the building block for further adventures and opens up a path to amazing new experiences.”
Primary teacher and librarian Laurie Sacker described the book as “a great read for parents, teachers and all of us who have found something a little tricky and have needed a little encouragement to take that big leap”.
Since sharing the book’s premise with friends and family, Farber said she has been flooded with stories of people “being Tilly” in their own lives, from applying for a promotion to jumping off a cliff into the ocean to asking someone on a date.
“Tilly is already sharing her courage toolkit.”
Tilly Doesn’t Want to Jump is published by Hawkeye Publishing, $22 rrp.
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