A Grain of Rice
- Subject
- People & Places - United States - Asian American & Pacific I
- Age
- 6-8 years
- Format
- Trade Paperback
- Pages
- 112
- Publisher
- Yearling Books
- Size
- 12.9 cm × 18.8 cm
- ISBN
- 9780440413011
Over 200,000 copies sold! Now with a newly refreshed design, this classic mathematical folktale tells the story of a clever farmer who outwits the Emperor of China and becomes the wealthiest man in the world—all starting with one grain of rice.
When a humble farmer named Pong Lo asks for the hand of the Emperor’s beautiful daughter, the Emperor is enraged. Whoever heard of a peasant marrying a princess?
But Pong Lo is wiser than the Emperor knows. And when he concocts a potion that saves the Princess’s life, the Emperor gladly offers him any reward he chooses—except the Princess.
Pong Lo makes a surprising request. He asks for a single grain of rice, doubled every day for one hundred days. The baffled Emperor obliges—only to discover that if you’re as clever as Pong Lo, you can turn a single grain of rice into all the wealth and happiness in the world!
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year for 9 to 12
Praise for A Grain of Rice:
“Gracefully illustrated. . . . This original story set in fifteenth-century China will captivate readers and perhaps teach them a little about mathematics.” —Booklist
“Clever and quietly told in simple, yet evocative language.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Any young reader (with calculator handy) will enjoy the tale.” —Scientific American
“[A] book that is wise and humorous, and one to be perused and savored.” —School Library Journal
When a humble farmer named Pong Lo asks for the hand of the Emperor’s beautiful daughter, the Emperor is enraged. Whoever heard of a peasant marrying a princess?
But Pong Lo is wiser than the Emperor knows. And when he concocts a potion that saves the Princess’s life, the Emperor gladly offers him any reward he chooses—except the Princess.
Pong Lo makes a surprising request. He asks for a single grain of rice, doubled every day for one hundred days. The baffled Emperor obliges—only to discover that if you’re as clever as Pong Lo, you can turn a single grain of rice into all the wealth and happiness in the world!
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year for 9 to 12
Praise for A Grain of Rice:
“Gracefully illustrated. . . . This original story set in fifteenth-century China will captivate readers and perhaps teach them a little about mathematics.” —Booklist
“Clever and quietly told in simple, yet evocative language.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Any young reader (with calculator handy) will enjoy the tale.” —Scientific American
“[A] book that is wise and humorous, and one to be perused and savored.” —School Library Journal
Data provided by BiblioShare.
This title isn't available to order right now. Browse the book shop for thousands that are.
What reviewers said
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year for 9 to 12
“Gracefully illustrated with finely shaded drawings. . . . This original story set in fifteenth-century China will captivate readers and perhaps teach them a little about mathematics.”
“Clever and quietly told in simple, yet evocative language.”
“Any young reader (with calculator handy) will enjoy the tale.”
“Pittman invites readers into her story through her choice of concrete objects, sensory images, and universal messages. She borrows from the motifs of oral literature, and also weaves in information about arithmetical progression and 15th-Century Chinese people, patterns, and traditions. Pittman's well executed pencil drawings ooze with emotion, and there is a fusion of text and illustrations . . . [A] book that is wise and humorous, and one to be perused and savored.”
More like this
One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale
Demi
The Price of a Slice: Long Vowel Sounds with Consonant Blends
Brian P. Cleary
The Price of a Slice: Long Vowel Sounds with Consonant Blends
Brian P Cleary
Fyrian's Fire: Book 1 of the Fate of Glademont Series
Emily H Jeffries
Force of Fire (the Fire Queen #1)
Sayantani DasGupta
Arroz Con Leche / Rice Pudding: Un Poema Para Cocinar / A Cooking Poem
Jorge Argueta
Little Book of Alice in Wonderland: Wonderland's Wit & Wisdom
Hippo! Orange
