How to Solve a Problem

(by Ashima Shiraishi, illustrated by Yao Xiao)

As Ashima explains near the start of this sweet picture book, “We climbers call our boulders problems. We also call our problems problems—and to solve them both is sort of the same.” The book is about her ascent of Golden Shadow (V14) in Rocklands, South Africa—an incredible feat that she accomplished at the age of 13. But it’s also about solving problems more generally and how to do it, whether you’re talking about problems in bouldering or problems in life: look at the problem, make a plan, give it a try. If you don’t get it on your first try, look at it again, adjust your plan, and keep trying. I like Yao Xiao’s colorful illustrations, especially the endpapers of the book, which show Ashima in an array of climbing/falling/resting poses on a cheerful yellow background. And I like Ashima’s description of doing a climb after working on it and planning it out: “I threw my body through the air and caught myself in all the ways I’d imagined, a bright path of thinking.”