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One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale (Hardcover) (Hardcover)
by Demi
| Category:
Maths, Learning, Education, Ages 4-8, Children's book |
| Market price: ¥ 218.00
MSL price:
¥ 208.00
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A reward of one grain of rice doubles day by day into millions of grains of rice when a selfish raja is outwitted by a clever village girl. |
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Author: Demi
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pub. in: April, 1997
ISBN: 059093998X
Pages: 40
Measurements: 10.4 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00110
Other information:
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- MSL Picks -
Demi's lively illustrations, shining with gold-leaf details, enrich this story of Rani, a clever young woman who uses her skill in mathematical thinking to outwit a self-indulgent raja and secure food for her starving people. When the raja wishes to reward Rani for a good deed, Rani asks for one grain of rice, with the amount to be doubled each day for 30 days. Demi's illustrations become increasingly rich as each day a different animal parades across vibrantly colored backgrounds to deliver rice. Children will be as surprised as the raja to see how quickly Rani's rice accumulates as the trick unfolds, and they'll be just as satisfied as Rani to see the selfish raja's rice supply diminish. The illustrations amplify the suspense and humor, until finally, on the last day, 256 mighty elephants march across a four-page foldout to deliver their bundles. Teachers are sure to appreciate the book's multiple uses within the curriculum (Demi includes a table showing the math involved), and everyone will enjoy the triumph of good over evil achieved by a clever trick and math.
Target readers:
Kids aged 4-8
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Demi was born Charlotte Dumaresq Hunt in an extended family of important American artists and her early memories of her mother's studio, and the famous people who surrounded her theatre involved father, were a strong influence on her life.
She attended the Instituto Allende in Guanajuato, Mexico, and Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, then traveled to India on a Fullbright scholarship. From there she finally settled in New York where her career as an illustrator began.
Two strong influences sparked her interest in things Chinese - a book by Wang Kai called The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, written in 1679, and her husband shared the traditional stories of his youth with her. The influence of Chinese art flows into her work. She paints on silk and uses traditional ingredients in her paints, even adding powdered jade to the mix "for good fortune". She says, "Life is magic. Everything alive is magic. To capture life on paper is magic. To capture life on paper was the aim of Chinese painters. That is my aim, too."
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In artwork inspired by Indian miniatures (though lacking their exquisiteness), Demi (The Stonecutter, 1995, etc.) fashions a folktale with far-reaching effects. The raja of a rice-growing village orders his subjects to deliver to him the bulk of their harvest; he will keep it safe should a famine occur. A few years later the harvest fails, and so does the raja: ``Promise or no promise, a raja must not go hungry,'' he intones. When a young village girl, Rani, returns to the raja some rice that had fallen from baskets laden for his consumption, he offers her a reward. Her request is seemingly modest: a grain of rice on the first day, two grains the next, four grains on the third; each day doubles the rice of the day before, for 30 days. The raja, though, doesn't grasp the power of doubling. Day 21 garners 1,048,576 grains of rice; on the last day it takes fold-out flaps to show the herd of elephants necessary to convey the rice to Rani, who feeds the masses and extracts from the raja a promise to be more generous. This gratifying story of the disarming of greed provides an amazing look at the doubling process, and a calendar at the end shows how the reward simply grew and grew.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
A moral and a math tale rolled into one. What more could you ask, except for some delightful illustrations modeled after Indian art and culture? This book is such a pleasure that besides obtaining a copy from myself, I gave one to my mathematics advisor, who thought it was cute as well. It's a clever illustration of the doubling function and a useful teaching tool for the younger grades.
The text is well-written and appropriate for its audience, the pictures are colorful and elegant, and the pull-out poster is just plain fun. What child wouldn't like a scene that simply depicts 256 elephants marching across the page? And the story of a girl who teaches a ruler to be kind and just is classic-not to mention that, being a girl myself, I appreciate the message that is sent by the intelligent main character being female. Finally, the very last page of the book contains a helpful chart that corresponds the grains of rice Rani receives each day to the day she receives it on.
As a side note, parents might find it a fun project to replicate this tale in real life by giving a child a penny and then doubling it for seven days. At the end of the week the child would be the proud owner of $1.27, not to mention possess some newfound math skills. I would advise you to restrict it to a week instead of the thirty days that is used in the book, though. Unless, of course, you've got the $10,737,400 you would be obligated to give lying around the house in spare change.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
My daughter is three and loves this book - not just for the gorgeous fold-out illustrated spread of the caravan of elephants carrying the rice on the 30th day - but because she can follow along with the story. The tale is of a rich greedy rajah who doesn't want to share, but is then outwitted by a young girl and forced to give up all the grain in his storehouses. At the end, he is humbled and vows to be a fairer and wiser ruler. My daughter loves to sit with one grain of rice in her hand like Rani on the title page of the book. I can see her forming rudimentary mathematical concepts, but I won't push it. There's plenty of time to return to this book when we introduce the times tables.
The visual progression of the increasing volume of rice is shown by the variety of animals which deliver the daily ration. First, just a series of birds with grains of rice in their beaks. Then on to a leopard, a tiger, and a lion each carrying a small pouch in their mouths. By the sixteenth day, a goat is pulling a cart on which sits a bag of rice. On the twenty-fourth day, eight deer each bring her a basket strapped to their backs. And so on until the enormous procession of elephants! The last page of the book is a very useful table called "from one grain of rice to one billion" which shows the actual numerical progression. Demi outdid herself with this book, which any home schooling family will find useful.
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Kathy M. Newsom (MSL quote), Tucson, AZ USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
The story One Grain of Rice A Mathematical Folktale, has a worthwhile theme, teaching morals and the importance of keeping one's promises. The book also touches on the need to plan for the future, as well as teaching a mathematical concept. The book tells the story of a village girl named Rani who outsmarts a raja; teaching him a valuable lesson in the process.
The illustrations are just as important as the text in telling and moving the story along. The drawings of Rani appear to move across the page-drawing the reader's eyes to follow her to the next page of the story. The book evokes the reader's curiosity and encourages him/her to predict the outcome of the story. The reader is touched on an emotional level with the introduction of the real-life situation of famine and one person's humanitarian solution to the problem.
From a mathematical viewpoint the story provides a base on which to build and expand one's knowledge of patterns and relationships; encouraging the use of algebraic thinking in order to solve the mathematical problem presented in the story. A problem I had with the story was that I felt the story was written at about a 1-4th grade level while the mathematical question it presented was more appropriate for a 6th grade classroom. The book dealt with this by including double-page fold outs that helped to illustrate to younger readers how the number of grains of rice were growing. My favorite aspect of the book was the use of the female character of Rani. The book showed that females are capable of understanding and in some cases outsmarting males when it comes to mathematical concepts and knowledge.
One Grain of Rice provides a multitude of opportunities for teachers and students to research and expand on details presented in the story. Students may want to explore the culture, art, and governments of other countries such as India. They may also want to learn about the different types of animals illustrated in the story, or discover where rice comes from and how it is grown. Teachers may want to expand the mathematical lesson further by giving his/her students the task of discovering how many people the rice Rani received as her reward would feed. The book One Grain of Rice A Mathematical Folktale would be a wonderful addition to any library or classroom. |
Roberta Proctor (MSL quote), Coral Gables, Florida
<2006-12-31 00:00>
Demi sweeps us away with this story of a little girl whose quick thinking and knowledge of mathematics teaches a raja a lesson and saves her village.
This story touches on many levels, the first of which is the visual. A few of its glossy pages, each the quality of a fine color print, unfold to over two feet in length for the purpose of illustrating a mathematic principle that could never be explained as well only in words, no matter how many. It also serves up a well-told tale, set in India, which holds a child to the last. Finally, it offers lessons in generosity, keeping one's word, providing for the future, and helping the poor. A Grain of Rice is truly original, however, in the way that it brings all of these elements, particularly the mathematic and the humanitarian, together in one arrestingly beautiful book.
This would make a touching gift to anyone who enjoys Indian art and design or mathematics, regardless of age. It is also a perfect gift for a child as it is both aesthetically pleasing and educational-what parent could want more in a children's book?
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