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A Grain of Rice

by Helena Clare Pittman (Author)

A Grain of Rice
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Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade
cms Common Sense Media Review

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] book that is wise and humorous, and one to be perused and savored." --School Library Journal

cms Common Sense Media Review
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Review quotes

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." —Booklist

"Clever and quietly told in simple, yet evocative language." —Kirkus Reviews

"Any young reader (with calculator handy) will enjoy the tale." —Scientific American

"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." —School Library Journal
Helena Clare Pittman
HELENA CLARE PITTMAN is the author of numerous books for children, including the acclaimed A Grain of Rice, The Snowman's Path, The Angel Tree, and Once When I Was Scared.

You can visit her at Helena Clare Pittman at helenaclarepittman.com.
Classification
-
ISBN-13
9780440413011
Lexile Measure
780
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Yearling Books
Publication date
December 19, 1995
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV011020 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - Asian American
Library of Congress categories
Fairy tales
China
Rice
Book Links, 01/01/97
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