• Grain of Rice - Ingram
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Yearling Books, 1995-26-12

Grain of Rice

Grain of Rice

Helena Clare Pittman, Author

Paperback

9780440413011

$7.99 USD
$7.99 USD
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A clever, cheerful, hard-working farmer's son wins the hand of a Chinese princess by outwitting her father the Emperor, who treasures his daughter more than all the rice in China.
  • Make Way for Books Annotation

Rich with irony and insight, this fable-like tale shows how humility and clever thinking outweigh brute force. A small act—mathematically brilliant—shifts the course of power. A satisfying, layered read that rewards both reflection and imagination.

Keywords and Themes: Asian • Asian American & Pacific Islander • Cleverness • Concepts • Counting & Numbers • Critical Thinking • Fables • General • Historical • Humility • Imagination • Insight • Irony • Justice • Juvenile Fiction • Legends • Myths • Social Themes • Strategy • Values • Values & Virtues • Wisdom

Readability • 4.9

Age Range • 8-12

Pages • 112

Subjects • Fairy tales • China • Rice

Categories • Juvenile Fiction | Asian American & Pacific Islander • Juvenile Fiction | Legends, Myths, Fables | Asian • Juvenile Fiction | Concepts | Counting & Numbers • Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Values & Virtues • Juvenile Fiction | Historical | General

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

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