Anno's Magic Seeds

Beautiful Math

by Mitsumasa Anno

A gift from a wizard makes Jack's fortune grow by ones and twos, then threes and fours, then faster and faster, challenging you to keep track of his riches.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, School, 1st Grade, Teaching, Stem

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

His name is written as 安野光雅 in Japanese.

Mitsumasa Anno (born March 20, 1926) was a Japanese illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books with few or no words. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1984 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature".

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting concept of progress told in a very nice,simple way. Enjoyed the little math puzzle.

[Azul · Rating 3 out of 5]

este es extraño y creo que sirve para enseñar potencias jsjsj. creo que también sirve para hablar sobre acumulación de bienes y las malas prácticas del capitalismo(? pero más para ejercitar las matemáticas que para causar conciencia social idk.

las ilustraciones son muy minimalistas y bonitas uwu

[Shiloah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family math! Great story!

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring is how I would describe this book. Repetitious to the point of total frustration and boredom. Would I recommend it, no not for anyone. Sure there is something to be learned but what a boring way to learn it. I have now read numerous of Mitsumasa Anno's books and not found one that I would recommend to anyone. I do not understand the following he has.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book uses patterns of ones, twos, threes, and fours to show "exponential growth" and has students work on word problems and equations that are based on the story. This would be a good resource to use to introduce a multiplication lesson.

[Cosette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm still thinking about that inchworm that climbed 3 inches every day and fell 2 inches every night...

[Araceli Rotaeche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maravilloso cuento...
Además de contar, me obligó a pensar y reflexionar...
Una pequeña historia sobre el cultivo, la cosecha, el comercio y el cálculo.
¡Muy ilustrativa!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

CC1 wk8 science

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has a good bit of text, and the text asks questions of the reader. It's definitely a book to read slowly; it works a lot better if you answer the questions as you go.

The point is mainly "whoa, exponential growth," but you can also find powers of two when Jack is following one particular pattern.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best if you calculate as you go along.

Unlike many math problems/stories, Anno changes the problem as we go along (gets married, goes one year without eating a seed, has a baby, has a storm that wipes out most things, etc.).

Would be interesting to show side-by-side the differences each change makes.

[Cheryl]

(Also read the other Beautiful Math books, for example Socrates and the Three Little Pigs, on openlibrary.org.)

[Sopana T · Rating 4 out of 5]

มีคนบอกว่าลูกของเขาอ่านเล่มนี้แล้วสามารถคูณได้เป็นธรรมชาติ ตอนป.2 สำหรับลูกเราแล้วมันคือ ป.4

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little story but I was disappointed at the artwork. The artwork in the Anno's Journey books are great.

[Sher Khan]

books are good companion

[Anam Ansari]

good

[Felicity Hempstead · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book for math lessons (s). Students should work on word problems and equations based on the story. This is a great way to introduce arrays and multiplication.

[Vo Khon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great. It is not just about math, it is also about life, about these difficult when farmers grow crops to live.
The math there is multiplied by 2.
What an awesome drawing too.

[Tali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Previously read: july 2013

[Evelyn Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 6yo son was interested and set up to solve some Math problems. We didn't figure out all the sums today, but I think he is interested in working out the equations tomorrow again!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man is given two magic seeds. He is told he can eat one, and it will sustain him all winter, and plant the other one, which will bear two more magic seeds. For several years he does so, and each year winds up with one seed to plant.
But then he gets smart. He decides to eat something else, and plants BOTH seeds and ends up with four magic seeds. From then on, he is on a roll. He can eat and plant and still end up with more seeds than he started with. You are asked to do math problems to find out how many he plants, etc.
He gets married and starts a family. He has many, many seeds. At the end, there is a terrible hurricane which wipes out many of his seeds, but he is left with a few so he can rebuild his life. The last page shows the family praying to the gods (or god) so the seeds will be plentiful and multiply.

The story is itself is interesting.....one time. So it is probably better to get this book from the library than to buy it.

The math was too difficult for my six year old. It starts out easy, but then gets confusing with so many seeds and he does different things: feeds some to his family, gives some away. While I could work out the math if I had time, I didn't feel like taking the time to do so since I was reading the book to my son.

[Brianne Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Anno's Magic Seeds" is a picture book written and illustrated by Mitsumasa Anno. The text was set in Goudy Old Style and the illustrations are done in marvelous water colors. The text is quite poetic and repetitive. Both the montages and double page spread illustrations are framed in gold borders.The story requires a reader's constant attention to understand the counting. At the end of each page it asks questions like "how many seeds are buried now?" to keep the reader up to date. At the end in A Note From Mitsumasa Anno he says " And when their harvest produced more food than they needed, commerce and trade began, and calculating and bargaining and other things we think of as typical of covlization." Counting is important in trade and bargaining and is a good theme for teaching counting. In my opinion I think this book is appropriate for older children because it requires more mature mathematical abilities.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anno created a wonderful and interesting math story. This was not my favorite of the three, but it was quite good. The story goes on and on with Anno's magic seeds. He first eats one and plants one, then they multiply, double, and triple. This story is fabulous in guiding children through their math skills in a fun and adventurous way. The pictures are also well done incorporating the plants and magic seeds for children to visually count and follow along with. Teachers could implement this story in a math lesson and parents could also read this at home for more practice. This is overall a great story that teaches a wonderful lesson!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has to be read aloud and taught (unless the child is a math genius) to fully appreciate it. The concept is multiplication and exponential growth. It's good for grade 4 and up. Anno gets two magic seeds and at first, he does what he's told. He eats one and plants the other, so each year he ends up with two seeds again. But what will happen if he breaks the cycle and plants BOTH seeds? Well, his harvest multiplies, and we are lead through exactly HOW that happens. With visuals to anchor us as we get into increasingly larger numbers, this is good for math-phobic people (like me) and students starting out with more difficult math concepts.

[Anna Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anno's Magic Seeds by Mitsumasa is an okay book. I’m not sure what age this is for, because it starts out simple math but grows to be confusing, so probably not great for younger grade levels. It is about a man named Anno who is given two magic seeds. He is told that he can just eat one, and it will last him all winter, but if he plants the other one, it will lead to two other magic seeds. He does this for years. As time goes on he gets smarter and decided to create a strategy. The book asks you how much he will have if he does this or that and you can find the amount of seeds. It’s a good interactive book for upper grade levels. Would be a good group activity.

[Carlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has to be read aloud and taught (unless the child is a math genius) to fully appreciate it. The concept is multiplication and exponential growth. It's good for grade 4 and up. Anno gets two magic seeds and at first, he does what he's told. He eats one and plants the other, so each year he ends up with two seeds again. But what will happen if he breaks the cycle and plants BOTH seeds? Well, his harvest multiplies, and we are lead through exactly HOW that happens. With visuals to anchor us as we get into increasingly larger numbers, this is good for math-phobic people (like me) and students starting out with more difficult math concepts

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anno is such a capable and communicative storyteller, getting the right mix of visual and textual delivery. I stuck with the math for a while but wasn't concerned to get it just right, and the both doesn't provide a solution, so I guess that wasn't the author's concern either. However, the general mathematical principle of the exponential growth of the seed supply was ver capably demonstrated. Finding a rendering of Jean-François Millet's L'Angelus painting on the last double-page spread was a great delight. More simple and more close-up than his intricately illustrated books but no less a pleasurable.

[Vanessa Peavy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I personally found this book a little boring to read, so students might have a hard time focusing so keeping them engaged, hands in activities would be best. When reading this book have students sit in groups to work together to solve the problems within the book page-by-page. Have another group of students keep track of the amount of seeds planted by graphing.Great lesson to go along with this book:

http://lcss.us/standards/Mathematics/...

[Stacy Coins · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is in a portrait style with boarders all throughout the book. The art style seems to be done in water color with some gold marker for the seeds. As you read on the boarders of the pictures are split up into halves on the paper. The story its self is fun to read and after a while gets you to start thinking on what is going one. It is good for learning how to keep track of multiplication by twos. The book starts even before the title page so you need to look out for that when you read it.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wizard gives Jack 2 magic seeds, one to cook and eat and the other to plant. Each plant grows 2 seeds. Jack decides one year to plant both seeds. The story continues with the amount of seeds planted and used each year. Could be used to write and solve expressions, equations, and ratios. Could have students graph the information.

6th Grade Common Core Standards:
Ratios and Proportions
6.RP.1

Expressions and Equations
6.EE.2.a
6.EE.2.c

Statistics and Probability
6.SP.4

*Available at Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Libraries*

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but think it will only appeal to a limited audience as the child has to pay attention. I like that it has an interactive element in asking how many seeds would come next. It's a great way to practice match skills, and you could count along using actual seeds or buttons or something. I also think this is a good book to prompt a discussion about planting seeds and crops, and that would be a great follow-up activity.