How to Solve a Problem: The Rise (and Falls) of a Rock-Climbing Champion

by Ashima Shiraishi, Yao Xiao (Illustrator)

Overview

From Ashima Shiraishi, one of the world's youngest and most skilled climbers, comes a true story of strength and perseverance—in rock climbing and in life.

To a rock climber, a boulder is called a "problem," and you solve it by climbing to the top. There are twists and turns, falls and scrapes, and obstacles that seem insurmountable until you learn to see the possibilities within them. And then there is the moment of triumph, when there's nothing above you but sky and nothing below but a goal achieved.

Ashima Shiraishi draws on her experience as a world-class climber in this story that challenges readers to tackle the problems in their own lives and rise to greater heights than they would have ever thought possible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781524773274
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	36,734
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 12.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD650L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Ashima Shiraishi started climbing at the age of six, and today she is one of the best climbers in the world. She is the first and only female climber ever to ascend a V15 bouldering problem, earning praise from Outside magazine as "a young crusher" and the New York Times as a "bouldering phenom." This is her first picture book.

Yao Xiao is a China-born illustrator based in New York City. Her work has appeared in Time, EW, National Geographic, and The Wall Street Journal, among other outlets, and she is also the author of the monthly web comic Baopu. This is her first picture book.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/02/2020

Teen author and climber Shiraishi doesn’t just scale rocks—she solves problems, “which is to say, I make them mine.” In crisp, vibrant spreads, Xiao, making her picture book debut, shows Shiraishi confronting a massive rock face. “Once I had a problem and it stretched into the sky,” she writes. The next spread shows the boulder covered with images, visual mnemonics to help her along the way. “One part was arched like a question mark, another part stuck out like my father’s elbow... and another was shaped like the bolts of fabric stacked in my mother’s sewing room.” Now Shiraishi starts climbing, using no ropes. Vignettes show her at each hold, twisting, pushing, grasping. Then she falls, hard. She takes a break, taking in “the new information the fall had given me. Each fall is a message, a hint, an idea.” She climbs and falls again until, eventually, she scales the wall. When problem-solving is a necessary part of any process—one that informs and aids in resilience—the specter of failure disappears. Xiao’s cleanly outlined forms and intensely saturated hues show Ashima honing analytical skills whose power reaches beyond the climbing wall to the rest of life. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Both a riveting narrative and an excellent guide for young readers to try, try again.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

”Cleanly outlined forms and intensely saturated hues show Ashima honing analytical skills whose power reaches beyond the climbing wall to the rest of life.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
 
“[Ashima’s] beliefs in learning from each fall and that learning from failure is a superpower are sure to empower any person facing a problem. Engrossing and inspiring.” —Booklist
 
“An inspiration to young readers.”—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

02/01/2020

K-Gr 3—A teen rock-climbing star describes how she approaches a climb, mapping it out one step at a time. Olympic-hopeful Ashima Shiraishi addresses readers directly, explaining that climbers call the rocks they face "problems." Her first-person narration is relatively simple, often featuring a single line on a page. Shiraishi describes facing one difficult climb, breaking it down into familiar steps and using similes to identify each distinctive part. She climbs, falls, and climbs again "with the new information / the fall had given me." This New York–born, Japanese American phenom is given a heroic treatment in digital illustrations by illustrator Xiao. The cover showcases Shiraishi hanging by her fingertips, almost flying, against a backdrop of sky and mountain. Early spreads showcase her climbs in Central Park before attempting the challenge at the heart of her story. After tracing her path up the rock, Xiao depicts Shiraishi reaching for a path through the stars. A final spread repeats the night sky motif with a more detailed history of her accomplishments through age 15. Publisher Christopher Myers introduces this teen author and athlete as someone who is "one of the best in the world at what she does" but with a secret superpower: "the ability to try again after failing." VERDICT A well-told story that could be an inspiration to young readers.—Kathleen Isaacs, Children's Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD

School Library Journal

★ 2020-01-21
A philosophy for life, built word by word, hold by hold, climb by climb.

Japanese American teen rock-climbing champion Shiraishi narrates the story of how she navigated one of her biggest climbs with patience, perseverance, and creativity. Problems, whether on rock or in life, can look “tremendously endless” to anyone, even Ashima, depicted here as a 13-year-old. But when she compares individual holds to the shape of her mother’s bolts of fabric or of her father’s elbow in a dance, she connects with the route, finding her way up the rock. However, her ascent isn’t perfect, and her first fall is depicted, boldly, on a vertical double-page spread. She “listens” to the climb, regroups with her father’s help, and approaches the rock with renewed mental and physical strength. Her summit, illustrated in a strong, striking pose—arms spread wide, fingers gripping the rock—portrays the perseverance, reflection, and tenacity Ashima demonstrates in every climb. Backmatter both narrates and visually depicts the author’s rise through the annals of climbing, including her completion of a formidable boulder problem, the first woman to do so. Vivid, clean-lined illustrations by debut artist Xiao immerse readers in sweeping, earth-toned vistas of rock and sky that form Ashima’s world. Lively endpapers show Ashima in various body positions common to the sport of rock climbing.

Both a riveting narrative and an excellent guide for young readers to try, try again. (Informational picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews

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