One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale

APA Bibliography: Demi. (1997). One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

Readability Lexile: AD890L

Book Information: https://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/One-Grain-of-Rice.html

Online Read-Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikZ7rTnvwgA

Genre: Folklore, Diverse Protagonist 

Author Information: http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/authors/Demi.aspx

Summary: This folktale is about a raja in India. He started collecting rice from all of the rice farmers. He reassured them that they will be safe at his palace, and when famine strikes, he will give it to everyone. Every year, the raja sent the rice collectors to collect rice from the farmers. One day, a girl named Rani came up with a plan to trick the raja. She did something good for the raja, so the raja decided to reward her. Rani asks the raja to give her a grain of rice every day that is doubled from the day before for 30 days. On day 1, Rani received one grain of rice, on the second day, she received two grains of rice, and so forth. On the last day, Rani received more than one billion grains of rice. Rani taught the raja to be fair and wise.

Target Audience: The target audience is children in Pre-K to 5th grade. This book is not just a story, it is also a mathematical tale. This book appeals to the younger children with all the colors and different animals. It appeals to the older children with the mathematical work. 

Evaluation: This is a book that is different from the others on my blog. It talks about how rajas used to rule in India. They were very cunning and took a lot from the farmers. Farmers used to live in poverty because they had everything taken away from. This book teaches about another culture, which is why this book is really unique. 

Reader Response Activity: For the younger children you can make a sensory table for the classroom full of colorful rice. Take a big 5lb. of rice and divide it into at least 4 different colors. You can keep the colored rice separated by color, or you can combine them all. Younger children love sensory tables because they can feel and touch everything.
For the older children, I suggest a math activity. This activity will allow the children to think critically and they can understand place values. On the very last page of the book is a table that shows how many grains of rice Rani received each day. You can print off a table like this, but make sure it is blank, so the students can fill it out themselves. Have the students find the grains of rice for each day. It may be easier to count without a calculator for the first 10 days, but the students may need a calculator for the rest.
Both of these activities were adapted from https://teachbesideme.com/one-grain-of-rice-math-activities/.