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One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale
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.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1997
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About the author
Demi
179 books179 followersDemi (September 2, 1942) born Charlotte Dumaresq Hunt, is an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator. During her career she has published over 300 titles.
Demi was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the great-grand daughter of the American painter William Morris Hunt, and the great-grand niece of architect Richard Morris Hunt. Demi earned her nickname as a young child when her father started calling her demi because she was half the size of her sister.
She studied art at Instituto Allende, Mexico, and with Sister Corita at the Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. She was a Fulbright scholar at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India where she received her Master’s degree.
Demi is known for her biographies for spiritual figures including Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tzu, Jesus, Mary (mother of Jesus), Muhammad, Rumi, Francis of Assisi, Gandhi, and the Dalai Lama.
In 1990, Demi and her husband Tze-si “Jesse” Huang represented the United States at the First Children’s International Book Conference in Beijing.
Source: Wikipedia
Demi was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the great-grand daughter of the American painter William Morris Hunt, and the great-grand niece of architect Richard Morris Hunt. Demi earned her nickname as a young child when her father started calling her demi because she was half the size of her sister.
She studied art at Instituto Allende, Mexico, and with Sister Corita at the Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. She was a Fulbright scholar at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India where she received her Master’s degree.
Demi is known for her biographies for spiritual figures including Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tzu, Jesus, Mary (mother of Jesus), Muhammad, Rumi, Francis of Assisi, Gandhi, and the Dalai Lama.
In 1990, Demi and her husband Tze-si “Jesse” Huang represented the United States at the First Children’s International Book Conference in Beijing.
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 291 reviews
August 17, 2016
I have read many books by world-renowned children’s book author, Demi, but I have not gotten around to reviewing any of Demi’s books yet. “One Grain of Rice” is the first book by Demi that I am reviewing and it is a folktale from India that is about a young woman named Rani who tries to trick the raja of India into giving her more rice than is needed during a famine. “One Grain of Rice” is truly a worthy folktale that will be loads of fun for children!
When Demi stated in the title of this book that this is a clever tale, she was not kidding! Demi has done an excellent job at both illustrating and writing this clever story that is full of pure wit! What really stood out for me in Demi’s writing was how Demi portrayed the main character Rani as a clever and independent heroine of the story as Rani uses her wits and her talented use of mathematics as a way to teach the raja a lesson he will never forget! I also loved the way that Demi uses mathematics as a major plot device in this book as it helps children learn more about mathematics and Demi made this book even more helpful for children by providing a chart at the back of the book about how Rani doubled each number per day, so you do not have to necessarily use a calculator to work out the formula used by Rani, but you can use a calculator if you want to teach your child about how to work out the problems on their own. Demi’s illustrations are extremely beautiful in this book as she uses watercolor painting to illustrate the characters and the landscapes. My favorite images in this book are of Rani herself as she is a truly beautiful looking character as she wears a gorgeous Indian red dress and has flowing black hair that touches her back. I also enjoyed the images of all the animals that were being used when they were delivering the rice to Rani and the image that truly stood out for me was the image of the elephants bring Rani the rice in baskets as the page is folded out and you can see hundreds of elephants waking across the page.
Overall, “One Grain of Rice” is a truly wonderful and clever folktale for children who love folktales from India and want to learn about mathematics in a creative way! I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the mathematical approach in this story might be too difficult for smaller children to understand.
Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog
January 7, 2020
I have a keen interest in children’s literature to support learning in mathematics. There are a plethora of mathematically rich books for young children, yet titles that are conceptually strong for older students are not so common. This is one of my top two favourites. My other favourite being Anno’s mysterious multiplying jar by Masaichiro and Mitsumasa Anno. I have used One Grain of Rice in classes ranging from Year 4 (10 year-olds) through to students in Year 10 (16 year-olds) and it’s story about the exponential power of doubling never fails to impress.
The book tells the tale of Rani and how she cleverly outwits a greedy raja who has hoarded reserves of rice grown by her village. Clear social justice issues can be explored through this text. The raja has told the people that he “will store the rice safely so that in time of famine, everyone will have rice to eat, and no one will go hungry”. This isn’t really the case as the villagers “were left with only just enough rice to get by”. Circumstances present themselves making it possible for Rani to be rewarded according to the raja, “plentifully, as a raja should”. It is at this point that her mathematical plan is presented. Rani requests that the raja give her one grain of rice, “then each day for thirty days you will give me double the rice you gave me the day before…”. The tale then outlines the growing quantity of rice as the days pass. Initially the raja thinks, “This girl is honest, but not very clever. She would have gained more rice by keeping what fell into her skirt”. By half way through the thirty day period, the raja realises that “this doubling adds up to more rice than I expected. But surely her reward wont amount to much more”.
The illustrations are beautiful. Rich reds, purples and gold help to convey the abundance of rice afforded by Rani’s plan. But also important, is the manner in which some of the images are arranged, in the form of an array (items organised in columns and rows). For instance, there is a quadruple page spread featuring two-fold out pages taken up by an array of 25 by 10 elephants, all carrying baskets full of rice. The ‘array’ is just one of numerous ways of conceiving multiplication and is an important concept in the development of multiplicative thinking and exponential growth. As the tale nears its conclusion, the reader is told that Rani had received more than 1 billion grains of rice. When I use this story in my teaching, it’s at this point that I stop reading the tale aloud. My question to students is, “Well, I wonder how many grains of rice exactly does Rani receive?”. When this question comes from the students themselves, it is even better. An interesting discussion ensues and estimates are offered and talked about. The students are charged to work in pairs to determine the exact quantity. How students undertake this work varies, from a systematic approach as suggested by the table included on the final page of this book (something I don’t reveal until our thinking work is done) to determining an algebraic rule. I will not reveal this formula here.
The book tells the tale of Rani and how she cleverly outwits a greedy raja who has hoarded reserves of rice grown by her village. Clear social justice issues can be explored through this text. The raja has told the people that he “will store the rice safely so that in time of famine, everyone will have rice to eat, and no one will go hungry”. This isn’t really the case as the villagers “were left with only just enough rice to get by”. Circumstances present themselves making it possible for Rani to be rewarded according to the raja, “plentifully, as a raja should”. It is at this point that her mathematical plan is presented. Rani requests that the raja give her one grain of rice, “then each day for thirty days you will give me double the rice you gave me the day before…”. The tale then outlines the growing quantity of rice as the days pass. Initially the raja thinks, “This girl is honest, but not very clever. She would have gained more rice by keeping what fell into her skirt”. By half way through the thirty day period, the raja realises that “this doubling adds up to more rice than I expected. But surely her reward wont amount to much more”.
The illustrations are beautiful. Rich reds, purples and gold help to convey the abundance of rice afforded by Rani’s plan. But also important, is the manner in which some of the images are arranged, in the form of an array (items organised in columns and rows). For instance, there is a quadruple page spread featuring two-fold out pages taken up by an array of 25 by 10 elephants, all carrying baskets full of rice. The ‘array’ is just one of numerous ways of conceiving multiplication and is an important concept in the development of multiplicative thinking and exponential growth. As the tale nears its conclusion, the reader is told that Rani had received more than 1 billion grains of rice. When I use this story in my teaching, it’s at this point that I stop reading the tale aloud. My question to students is, “Well, I wonder how many grains of rice exactly does Rani receive?”. When this question comes from the students themselves, it is even better. An interesting discussion ensues and estimates are offered and talked about. The students are charged to work in pairs to determine the exact quantity. How students undertake this work varies, from a systematic approach as suggested by the table included on the final page of this book (something I don’t reveal until our thinking work is done) to determining an algebraic rule. I will not reveal this formula here.
July 21, 2019
A clever mathematical folktale from India, One Grain of Rice follows the story of a selfish Raja who hoards all the rice in his province, endangering the welfare of his people during a time of famine. When an honest young girl does the Raja a service, and he offers her the reward of her choosing, she asks for thirty days of rice: a single grain the first day, double that amount the second, and so on. Such a modest demand, thinks the Raja, who has clearly never heard of exponential growth...
With an enjoyable tale that teaches both a moral and mathematical lesson, and gorgeous illustrations inspired by the Indian miniature painting of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, this delightful picture-book is a feast for both mind and eyes. Demi's trademark use of gold ink is very much in evidence here, and her fans will find the effect charming. This is one I originally read around the time of its publication, in the late 1990s, but I thank my goodreads friend Lisa for reminding me of it, and alerting me to the fact that it is just one of many retellings! I look forward to exploring some of the other versions of this tale as well, from David Barry's The Rajah's Rice , to Helena Clare Pittman's A Grain of Rice .
With an enjoyable tale that teaches both a moral and mathematical lesson, and gorgeous illustrations inspired by the Indian miniature painting of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, this delightful picture-book is a feast for both mind and eyes. Demi's trademark use of gold ink is very much in evidence here, and her fans will find the effect charming. This is one I originally read around the time of its publication, in the late 1990s, but I thank my goodreads friend Lisa for reminding me of it, and alerting me to the fact that it is just one of many retellings! I look forward to exploring some of the other versions of this tale as well, from David Barry's The Rajah's Rice , to Helena Clare Pittman's A Grain of Rice .
October 9, 2009
I really love stories for children that address that magic of numbers/mathematics. It’s one of many reasons why I so enjoy The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. That book conveys the joy of both numbers and words.
This is a story with a moral and is about fairness and cleverness, but it’s the way numbers work (watching grains of rice grow from one to over one billion in only 30 days) with simple multiplication that makes this story so much fun.
The story of a girl who tricks a leader into doing the right thing for the people of the land sends a good message too. The illustrations are colorful and eye catching but their style isn’t one I generally find aesthetically pleasing; they’re not my favorite illustrations, but they do work well for this story.
At the end of the book there’s a page that shows exactly how doubling the grains of rice each day creates such a large number. Great fun! Also, it’s very educational and it definitely has the potential to get young people enthusiastic about mathematics.
This is a story with a moral and is about fairness and cleverness, but it’s the way numbers work (watching grains of rice grow from one to over one billion in only 30 days) with simple multiplication that makes this story so much fun.
The story of a girl who tricks a leader into doing the right thing for the people of the land sends a good message too. The illustrations are colorful and eye catching but their style isn’t one I generally find aesthetically pleasing; they’re not my favorite illustrations, but they do work well for this story.
At the end of the book there’s a page that shows exactly how doubling the grains of rice each day creates such a large number. Great fun! Also, it’s very educational and it definitely has the potential to get young people enthusiastic about mathematics.
June 19, 2017
A fun retelling of a traditional Indian folktale whose heroine applies mathematics to outsmart a greedy raja:
Although the art style of Demi's illustrations, "inspired by traditional Indian miniature paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries," is not my favorite, the illustrations fit the tale perfectly:
And I loved the depiction of various animals that brought the rice to Rani each day, especially the double gatefold spread with 256 elephants that on the 30th day brought 536,870,912 grains of rice :)
Although the art style of Demi's illustrations, "inspired by traditional Indian miniature paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries," is not my favorite, the illustrations fit the tale perfectly:
And I loved the depiction of various animals that brought the rice to Rani each day, especially the double gatefold spread with 256 elephants that on the 30th day brought 536,870,912 grains of rice :)
November 9, 2011
The only other story I've read by Demi was her ancient Chinese folktale entitled, "The Empty Pot," which also includes a moral/lesson and is based in an ancient civilization. I hadn't realized this was a style of Demi's until discovering "One Grain Of Rice," which incorporates similar cultural and moral elements. In fact, "The Empty Pot" seemed so authentic to Chinese culture I had assumed Demi must be of Chinese descent in order to write and illustrate with such genuine detail. However, after reading "One Grain of Rice," which is based in ancient India, I realize that her ability to engulf herself in other cultures, appreciate the symbols, values and histories of these civilizations, is what makes her such a unique author and illustrator.
In this Indian folktale, Demi tells the story of a little village girl who uses her cleverness to outsmart a powerful raja (emperor) and teach him a lesson about keeping promises and acting as a fair ruler. And although Demi's text alone presents a powerful plot, the intricate and bold illustrations are what truly make her stories one of a kind. The intricate lines, bold colors, and use of focal point and space make it difficult to look away. I find I have to revisit pages of this story just to get the full impact of the illustrations. The use of the color gold in this story is very prevalent and symbolizes a sense of prestige and wealth as it covers all things and beings belonging to or ruled by the raja. In addition to the captivating illustrations, I love how the morale also incorporates a math lesson that teaches children about the rule of doubling. I really enjoy the page at the end of the story that folds out in order to make space for the fifty-six elephants carrying five hundred and thirty-six million, eight hundred and seventy thousand, nine hundred and twelve grains of rice. Demi clearly wants the reader to understand what that amount of rice would actually look like. Demi's attention to detail and need to provide as much authenticity as possible makes her stories great stories to use in a unit on folktales. However, I would not recommend using these stories as read-alouds, as the illustrations are quite small and require the reader to spend extended periods of time viewing the illustrations up close. I'm very interested to read more by Demi and welcome any recommendations!
In this Indian folktale, Demi tells the story of a little village girl who uses her cleverness to outsmart a powerful raja (emperor) and teach him a lesson about keeping promises and acting as a fair ruler. And although Demi's text alone presents a powerful plot, the intricate and bold illustrations are what truly make her stories one of a kind. The intricate lines, bold colors, and use of focal point and space make it difficult to look away. I find I have to revisit pages of this story just to get the full impact of the illustrations. The use of the color gold in this story is very prevalent and symbolizes a sense of prestige and wealth as it covers all things and beings belonging to or ruled by the raja. In addition to the captivating illustrations, I love how the morale also incorporates a math lesson that teaches children about the rule of doubling. I really enjoy the page at the end of the story that folds out in order to make space for the fifty-six elephants carrying five hundred and thirty-six million, eight hundred and seventy thousand, nine hundred and twelve grains of rice. Demi clearly wants the reader to understand what that amount of rice would actually look like. Demi's attention to detail and need to provide as much authenticity as possible makes her stories great stories to use in a unit on folktales. However, I would not recommend using these stories as read-alouds, as the illustrations are quite small and require the reader to spend extended periods of time viewing the illustrations up close. I'm very interested to read more by Demi and welcome any recommendations!
September 29, 2023
This is an excellent mathematical themed story about how fast numbers double. My eight year old loved how smart and kind Rani was with her one choice reward from the raja.
February 13, 2024
Clever story about a girl teaching a raja a valuable lesson in an unexpected way.
December 9, 2015
This is a mathematical folktale. The story took place in India and it talks about a Raja who was believed to be wise and fair. He told his people who were rice farmers that they had to give him almost all their rice to store so in times of famine no one could go hungry. Every year the rice was taken to the royal store houses. One year the rice did not grow and people were hungry. The ministers went to see the raja to ask him to give some of the stored rice to the people. The raja told them that he was not going to give them rice because he did not know how long the famine would last and he would not have anything for him to eat. Time passed and people went hungrier. One day the raja decided to have a feast for himself and send a servant in an elephant to get two baskets of rice from the store house, one village girl saw that some rice was falling from the baskets and she planned to catch the rice in her skirt. At the palace a guard called her thief and she told him that she was not stealing the rice but returning it to the raja. The raja heard that and decided to reward her. At the beginning the girl did not want anything but the raja insisted and she told him that he wanted him to give her a grain or rice that day, then each day he will give her double the rice he gave her that day for a period of 30 days. The raja agreed and the second day she got 2, and then 4 and so on until on the 30th day she received 256 elephants carrying many bags of rice that emptied the royal store houses. In the last day the raja asked the girl what she was going to do with all his rice and she told her that she was going to give it to the hungry people and one basket for him if he promise not to take all the rice for himself and the raja accepted and promise to be a wise and fair raja from that day on. I liked the story it can be used to teach children about multiplication/ exponential growth and also children can learn that it is not good to be greedy. I think children will also enjoy looking at the nice illustrations in the book.
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October 20, 2015This book reminds me of The King's Chessboard. The difference is that the king(Raja) wants to reward a woman for being honest instead of a man for his loyal service. Also, there is no chessboard.
Nice story about greed.
Nice story about greed.
June 29, 2018
Very cool! I think my students would be hard put to determine if this is a mathematics story or a folktale....
September 22, 2019
I found One Grain of Rice to be a very interesting folktale that combines the traditional folktale elements with mathematics. This story is very clearly a folktale because of the characters and that it is presented as something that happened a long time ago. Both Rani and the Raja are very flat characters with little detail about their lives or their personalities. The reader is only told a little about the village and does not know anything else about the Raja or Rani except for what is important to the conflict. The Raja is introduced very quickly and the reader is told that he sees himself as wise and fair. The story quickly passes through the villagers collecting and giving the rice to the Raja and then starts the main conflict of the story, the village experiencing a famine and the Raja not providing them any rice. I would classify this as a trickster tale because Rani outsmarts the Raja by using the doubling method to collect an increasing amount of rice each day. She is not mischievous, but is helpful and wise because she outsmarts the Raja in order to feed the village and prevent the Raja from being greedy again.
I really enjoyed both the writing and illustrations in this book. The images really stood out to me because of the unique style and the occasional accents of gold that make the characters pop. I think that Demi has found a great way to use illustrations to enhance the story and make it both exciting and understandable for all readers. The pictures all have frames around them, but some of the characters are outside of the frames, creating a very dynamic story that makes the reader excited to know what happens next. The way that she incorporates traditional Indian art is very respectful and well-done. The bright colors also stood out to me because it immediately drew me into the story. When the grains of rice really start to add up, Demi uses very interesting techniques like using a shadowing effect with camels carrying rice so it looked like there were many camels without taking up all of the space. She also included one page that expands when unfolded so the reader can really understand the massive amount of rice Rani was collecting. I was really impressed by Demi’s work and how the art beautifully complemented the story and made me want to read more. The story was interesting throughout and I liked how Demi does not shy away from more complex vocabulary words. This story is a very fun read and will excite many.
I also really like how the story incorporates a math lesson about doubling. On the back page, there is a table that shows the reader how many grains of rice Rani receives each day so they can see the actual numbers. At the end, it also tells the reader to add up each day’s total so the reader can see that by using the doubling method, Rani got over 1 billion grains of rice in 30 days because of her wise use of mathematics. I am actually considering buying this book for my classroom library because I could see myself using it as a way to introduce a math unit. I don’t know the state standards well enough to know if students learn this exactly, but I still think this would be a great way to have students see the importance of math and to start talking about doubling numbers or even multiplication. I highly recommend this!
I really enjoyed both the writing and illustrations in this book. The images really stood out to me because of the unique style and the occasional accents of gold that make the characters pop. I think that Demi has found a great way to use illustrations to enhance the story and make it both exciting and understandable for all readers. The pictures all have frames around them, but some of the characters are outside of the frames, creating a very dynamic story that makes the reader excited to know what happens next. The way that she incorporates traditional Indian art is very respectful and well-done. The bright colors also stood out to me because it immediately drew me into the story. When the grains of rice really start to add up, Demi uses very interesting techniques like using a shadowing effect with camels carrying rice so it looked like there were many camels without taking up all of the space. She also included one page that expands when unfolded so the reader can really understand the massive amount of rice Rani was collecting. I was really impressed by Demi’s work and how the art beautifully complemented the story and made me want to read more. The story was interesting throughout and I liked how Demi does not shy away from more complex vocabulary words. This story is a very fun read and will excite many.
I also really like how the story incorporates a math lesson about doubling. On the back page, there is a table that shows the reader how many grains of rice Rani receives each day so they can see the actual numbers. At the end, it also tells the reader to add up each day’s total so the reader can see that by using the doubling method, Rani got over 1 billion grains of rice in 30 days because of her wise use of mathematics. I am actually considering buying this book for my classroom library because I could see myself using it as a way to introduce a math unit. I don’t know the state standards well enough to know if students learn this exactly, but I still think this would be a great way to have students see the importance of math and to start talking about doubling numbers or even multiplication. I highly recommend this!
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December 11, 2011Where’s the Math: Common Core Standards 2.MD.10 Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put together, take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in a bar grap
Genre: picture book- story
Theme/Keywords: operations, predictions, data collection
Features of print: Type of illustrations: Very beautiful artwork Text density and Features of print: the text seems to be a little long but not too bad. There is also a chart of how much rice accumulates over 30 days.
Language considerations: Tier 2 Word Work for ELLs: raja, grain, wise
Cultural considerations: Set in India. Adds to the culturally diverse books in the classroom.
Open Ended Question to invite mathematical thinking: What is another reward that Rani could have asked for to help the people? What would have happened if she had asked for that?
Extension Activity- With three jars, create one that increase by one object every day, one that increase by 2 objects every day, and one that increase by 3 every day. At the end of the week, see which jar has more/less and why. The children can graph the results over the course of the week.
Genre: picture book- story
Theme/Keywords: operations, predictions, data collection
Features of print: Type of illustrations: Very beautiful artwork Text density and Features of print: the text seems to be a little long but not too bad. There is also a chart of how much rice accumulates over 30 days.
Language considerations: Tier 2 Word Work for ELLs: raja, grain, wise
Cultural considerations: Set in India. Adds to the culturally diverse books in the classroom.
Open Ended Question to invite mathematical thinking: What is another reward that Rani could have asked for to help the people? What would have happened if she had asked for that?
Extension Activity- With three jars, create one that increase by one object every day, one that increase by 2 objects every day, and one that increase by 3 every day. At the end of the week, see which jar has more/less and why. The children can graph the results over the course of the week.
August 2, 2019
I didn't really care for the illustrations, although they do fit with the culture. I loved that it was a folktale AND involved math!
Classroom Tie-Ins: India, math, folktale, raja, doubling
#cbad 2018-2019 - 5th grade SCA - 10/22/18 - average rating 4.6
Classroom Tie-Ins: India, math, folktale, raja, doubling
#cbad 2018-2019 - 5th grade SCA - 10/22/18 - average rating 4.6
April 20, 2020
This mathematical folktale explains exponential growth in a way that even elementary students may find both intriguing and exciting. The raja collects all of the people’s rice. When a famine hits, the raja selfishly keeps the rice for himself. When a village girl, Rani, is caught collecting and returning some lost rice to the raja, he wants to reward her and asks her what she wants. The raja agrees to give Rani a grain of rice the first day, and double the amount of rice given to her each day for 30 days. After Rani had received all of the raja’s rice, she fed all of the hungry people and even the raja. This folktale would definitely make students giggle with how quickly the grains of rice add up. However, it also creates a path for students to discuss how they might be considerate of others, like Rani.
In my future classroom, I could use this text to help students make predictions while reading. When readers are first introduced to Rani, the text states she is clever and begins to make a plan. Students could be asked, “what kind of plan do you think Rani is creating?” When the raja asks how he might reward her for returning the rice, she claims that one grain would suffice. Students could be asked why she might only ask for a grain of rice. Then, she asks for the grains to be doubled from the previous day for 30 days. Students could predict how much rice they think she would have at the end of the 30 days. This lesson could help students make connections between how they might predict or estimate in math and science with how they can predict parts of a text while reading! We love when we connect ideas across content areas!
To meet the third grade standards RL.3.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text and RL.3.9 Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters, students could listen to One Grain of Rice and The Hallowed Horse, another folktale by the same author, to compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of the stories. Both folklores also have main characters which are both young and wise. This helps convey to students that they can be change makers and serve their communities, which also ties in a hint of social studies!
This was a WOW book for me because I remember a math teacher reading it to our class in middle or high school. I always thought it was almost ridiculous how quickly the grains of rice exponentially increase from a grain, to a small handful, then a basket, and finally four royal storehouses of rice. I think this story would make students of any age giggle with the astonishing amount of rice that results from Rani’s cleverness. I also love the moral that this story creates of how young people can be wiser and more conscientious about their communities needs.
In my future classroom, I could use this text to help students make predictions while reading. When readers are first introduced to Rani, the text states she is clever and begins to make a plan. Students could be asked, “what kind of plan do you think Rani is creating?” When the raja asks how he might reward her for returning the rice, she claims that one grain would suffice. Students could be asked why she might only ask for a grain of rice. Then, she asks for the grains to be doubled from the previous day for 30 days. Students could predict how much rice they think she would have at the end of the 30 days. This lesson could help students make connections between how they might predict or estimate in math and science with how they can predict parts of a text while reading! We love when we connect ideas across content areas!
To meet the third grade standards RL.3.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text and RL.3.9 Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters, students could listen to One Grain of Rice and The Hallowed Horse, another folktale by the same author, to compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of the stories. Both folklores also have main characters which are both young and wise. This helps convey to students that they can be change makers and serve their communities, which also ties in a hint of social studies!
This was a WOW book for me because I remember a math teacher reading it to our class in middle or high school. I always thought it was almost ridiculous how quickly the grains of rice exponentially increase from a grain, to a small handful, then a basket, and finally four royal storehouses of rice. I think this story would make students of any age giggle with the astonishing amount of rice that results from Rani’s cleverness. I also love the moral that this story creates of how young people can be wiser and more conscientious about their communities needs.
April 20, 2020
Synopsis: Hoot by Carl Hiaasen is a mystery written by Carl Haissan is about a boy named Roy Eberhardt. After moving to a new school and causing some trouble he winds up at a construction site. The new restaurant called Mother Paula’s all-American Pancake House is supposed to be constructed right on top of a site of endangered owls. However, a mysterious figure known as Mullet Fingers (Napoleon Bridger Leap) has been vandalizing the property in order to slow down the construction. Roy starts a movement against the restaurant and the foreman Leroy in order to attempt to save the birds. After a large protest that garnered media attention, the boys and a girl named Beatrice are able to prevent the construction of the new pancake house. The construction site gets converted into a new protected area for the owls. The book ends with Roy helping Mullet fingers escape Juvenile detention, to never be seen again. I would use this book for advanced fourth grade readers and most of the 5th grade readers.
Instructional applications: I see this book being a perfect book for book clubs or literature circles. This book has a dynamic plot with character that students can analyze in depth. There are plenty of opportunities to talk about theme, character development, predictions and writing style. I also believe that students will be excited to read every chapter of this book. Another way to use this book is talk about environmentalism and change makers. A teacher can use this book as a way to introduce environmentalism and then challenge the students to create a plan in order to help an extinct species.
Reasons for being a wow book: I remember watching the movie on nickelodeon as a child and I was inspired to read the book. I finally understand why everybody loves this book. I loved reading every page of this book. It is clearly well written and extremely enjoyable to read. All of the characters are amazing and have at least one aspect that is relatable. I also consider myself an environmentalist and I felt a strong connection to a lot of this book’s themes.
Instructional applications: I see this book being a perfect book for book clubs or literature circles. This book has a dynamic plot with character that students can analyze in depth. There are plenty of opportunities to talk about theme, character development, predictions and writing style. I also believe that students will be excited to read every chapter of this book. Another way to use this book is talk about environmentalism and change makers. A teacher can use this book as a way to introduce environmentalism and then challenge the students to create a plan in order to help an extinct species.
Reasons for being a wow book: I remember watching the movie on nickelodeon as a child and I was inspired to read the book. I finally understand why everybody loves this book. I loved reading every page of this book. It is clearly well written and extremely enjoyable to read. All of the characters are amazing and have at least one aspect that is relatable. I also consider myself an environmentalist and I felt a strong connection to a lot of this book’s themes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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April 22, 2017One Grain of Rice is a story that takes place in India, and is about a wise man called Raja. The Raja would tell his people that they had to give him their rice yields for saving in case their was a famine. When there was a famine, the Raja decides that he would not give he rice to his people, until one day a young girl was caught by appearing to smuggle some rice. However, the girl claimed that she was returning the rice to the Raja, and so he rewarded her by giving her one grain of rice on the firs day, and then double the rice for each day after for a period of 30 days. So then, the girl received 2 grains on the second day, 4 on the third, and so on until she had more rice than she needed. Then, the girl said she would give her extra rice to all of the people and would give some of the rice back to the Raja if he promised to not keep all of the other rice for himself. Thus, the story presents 2 great points - it is a mathematical folktale that teaches children about exponential growth and it teaches kids about the value of generosity and selflessness. I think that folk stories are the perfect opportunity to teach kids values, and being generous and selfless are important character traits that children should build. Also, show the kids about complicated math ideas like multiplication and exponents would be awesome for a quick read aloud for an upper elementary class.
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March 22, 2019An amazing mathematical folktale from India describes how Rani outsmarted Raja, who thought he was a fair and wise ruler of the land. Rani asks for just one grain of rice on the first day, and then doubled the number of grains of rice every day for 30 days. Soon, the Raja understood the power of doubling and promised to be a real wise and fair ruler of the land.
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October 2, 2017One Grain of Rice by Demi is a great fantasy book that lends itself to teaching mathematical concepts of exponential growth along with the idea of being kind and sharing. What I enjoyed most about this book is that it really hits home the message of exponential growth because the reader truly cannot imagine just how much rice will accumulate in one month! I like that this book approaches a difficult mathematical concept through a simple and easy to understand story. Plus, this book has a feel good message that can be passed on to younger students if the math concepts are too complex. This book really does span the ages! One thing I am a bit confused about is how this book is listed as a fantasy book. I wonder if it is because of the raja and the idea of a kingdom? Regardless, I found it categorized this way in many different places.
I especially like how this book uses mathematics to be clever and to solve a great problem. This story sends the message that math can truly be amazing and can solve problems you never imagined. Also, although completely mathematically sound, the book implies that with math anything can happen!
I especially like how this book uses mathematics to be clever and to solve a great problem. This story sends the message that math can truly be amazing and can solve problems you never imagined. Also, although completely mathematically sound, the book implies that with math anything can happen!
April 1, 2019
This folktale does a good job of combining a moral of doing what is right with mathematical skills.
August 30, 2022
I love this book. It has a clever and brave female lead who teaches a selfish raja a mathematical lesson.
March 27, 2023
A beautiful Indian folktale,we loved it 😍
April 22, 2025
Beautifully illustrated folktale from India with illustrations inspired by traditional miniature Indian paintings. Lots of red and gold in the bordered illustrations. Folktale is about the power of multiplication of a grain of rice and a greedy Raja who thinks more of himself than his people.
A traditional version of the story “Sissa and the Troublesome Trifles” appears in Trickester Tales by I. G. Edmonds.
A traditional version of the story “Sissa and the Troublesome Trifles” appears in Trickester Tales by I. G. Edmonds.
June 7, 2024
AAPI - Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Book number 3.
September 29, 2013
One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi
Published: 1997
Age range: 7 - 12
Brief Synopsis:
Set long ago in a rice growing province of India, a Raja orders the village people to give all their rice grown from their crops each year. One year when the rice grows really badly, the villagers can no longer grow rice to give to the Raja and have no food to eat. Promised by the Raja, that he was collecting rice for an emergency such as famine and hunger, the village expected to get some rice during the bad season. The villagers just grew hungrier as the Raja kept all the rice for himself to feast on. During one of the Raja’s feasts, as a servant gathers the rice to bring to him, a local village girl named Rani notices the rice leaking. Rani saves the rice and is rewarded by the Raja for her honesty. Her chosen reward; to be given one grain of rice on the first day, and each subsequent day for thirty days in total, to receive double the rice given the day before.
My Opinion:
This is a very visually appealing book, with beautiful Indian art work and a very interesting folktale to convey the importance of number and how powerful doubling (Compounding) numbers can be. The pull-out pages are an exciting element to the story, showing visually how the amount of rice Rani gets each day increases. The story teaches an important lesson both; caring about others and not to be selfish as well as, how large numbers can grow in a short period of time just by simple doubling. This is an extremely useful resource to have in the classroom for all ages to show the power of multiplying by two. However I would note that, the story is quite repetitive in a tedious way at times, for this reason I think that it would be a good idea to read some of the story and then allow children to conduct their on data, instead of reading the book in one sitting as a whole.
Uses In The Classroom:
This is a fantastic book to be read aloud to a class, with many uses across the curriculum. Firstly to take the book for what it was intended- exponential growth; problem solving and child led enquiry can progress by using this book to support multiplication of two and doubling topics in maths.
The book can also be used with computing and I.T to allow students from year 4 and above to try out their own databases and spread-sheets, using Excel to compound one grain of rice over twenty-nine days.
The story within the book can be linked to geography as the crops which used to be plentiful stopped growing. This can be looked into deeper by asking the class for their opinions on why this would be. Another topic within geography would be famine and hunger, getting students in years 2 and above to discuss what effects this might have on the global world. Also useful when linked to science, to understand what growing plants need to survive.
The book can also be used at the start of a History lesson to get students thinking about, Ancient India, and what the modern day equivalent of a Raja is in ‘our’ society. Leading to a story lead enquiry where children in years 3 and above can research and design their own models of where a Raja might live.
Published: 1997
Age range: 7 - 12
Brief Synopsis:
Set long ago in a rice growing province of India, a Raja orders the village people to give all their rice grown from their crops each year. One year when the rice grows really badly, the villagers can no longer grow rice to give to the Raja and have no food to eat. Promised by the Raja, that he was collecting rice for an emergency such as famine and hunger, the village expected to get some rice during the bad season. The villagers just grew hungrier as the Raja kept all the rice for himself to feast on. During one of the Raja’s feasts, as a servant gathers the rice to bring to him, a local village girl named Rani notices the rice leaking. Rani saves the rice and is rewarded by the Raja for her honesty. Her chosen reward; to be given one grain of rice on the first day, and each subsequent day for thirty days in total, to receive double the rice given the day before.
My Opinion:
This is a very visually appealing book, with beautiful Indian art work and a very interesting folktale to convey the importance of number and how powerful doubling (Compounding) numbers can be. The pull-out pages are an exciting element to the story, showing visually how the amount of rice Rani gets each day increases. The story teaches an important lesson both; caring about others and not to be selfish as well as, how large numbers can grow in a short period of time just by simple doubling. This is an extremely useful resource to have in the classroom for all ages to show the power of multiplying by two. However I would note that, the story is quite repetitive in a tedious way at times, for this reason I think that it would be a good idea to read some of the story and then allow children to conduct their on data, instead of reading the book in one sitting as a whole.
Uses In The Classroom:
This is a fantastic book to be read aloud to a class, with many uses across the curriculum. Firstly to take the book for what it was intended- exponential growth; problem solving and child led enquiry can progress by using this book to support multiplication of two and doubling topics in maths.
The book can also be used with computing and I.T to allow students from year 4 and above to try out their own databases and spread-sheets, using Excel to compound one grain of rice over twenty-nine days.
The story within the book can be linked to geography as the crops which used to be plentiful stopped growing. This can be looked into deeper by asking the class for their opinions on why this would be. Another topic within geography would be famine and hunger, getting students in years 2 and above to discuss what effects this might have on the global world. Also useful when linked to science, to understand what growing plants need to survive.
The book can also be used at the start of a History lesson to get students thinking about, Ancient India, and what the modern day equivalent of a Raja is in ‘our’ society. Leading to a story lead enquiry where children in years 3 and above can research and design their own models of where a Raja might live.
October 28, 2016
What a fun folktale from the Author Demi. One Grain of Rice is a wonderful book that shows how being selfish and greedy can backfire from one little grain of rice asked by a little girl named Rani. This book also is a book about mathematics and you can do so much with this book. The Raja asks all his people to bring most of their rice to him and instead of giving back when there is a famine he keeps it all for himself. A child comes up with a plan when she sees some of the rice is leaking out of a basket being taken to the palace. The Raja grants her anything she wants and she asks for one grain of rice and double the amount for 30 days. You will have to read the book to get more details!!
Some things I would do with my students (which I would think Grades 3-5 would enjoy this book immensely!) would be to pick out vocabulary that they may not know and allow them to find the definitions before you would even begin the books. Another activity you could do is before reading the whole book let the children try and figure out how many grains of rice she would have at different days (or even the same days that the book lists) and when you read the book the students can check their own work to see if they are correct!
This is a WOW book for me based on the fact that this book has so many lessons in sharing and not being greedy as well as math lessons in multiplying and adding up the grains of rice. So glad that I found this book!!
Some things I would do with my students (which I would think Grades 3-5 would enjoy this book immensely!) would be to pick out vocabulary that they may not know and allow them to find the definitions before you would even begin the books. Another activity you could do is before reading the whole book let the children try and figure out how many grains of rice she would have at different days (or even the same days that the book lists) and when you read the book the students can check their own work to see if they are correct!
This is a WOW book for me based on the fact that this book has so many lessons in sharing and not being greedy as well as math lessons in multiplying and adding up the grains of rice. So glad that I found this book!!
June 29, 2022
One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical FolktaleDemi
"It was my understanding that there would be no math.”
— Chevy Chase, impersonating President Gerald Ford in a Saturday Night Life sketch of yore
Math is my bugaboo. That’s why I took up a friend's suggestion to read One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale.
At its most basic level, this is a story about how 1 grain of rice becomes more than 1 billion grains of rice. How? Math. If 1 grain of rice is doubled every day for 30 days, and all those amounts are added together, then you get 1,073,741,823 grains of rice. There’s a chart on the last page of the book that explains the arithmetic.
If someone handed me the chart, I would not care. But give me the math in a story — better yet, a folktale (this one comes from India) — and I’m all in.
Charlotte Dumaresq Hunt, aka Demi, the artist and author, studied art in India, where she lived for two years. She’s written more than 300 books, many of them about religious figures, including Muhammed, The Dalai Lama, and Jesus. Her newest book, released this month, is Talking to God: Prayers for Children from the World’s Religions.
The hero of One Grain of Rice, a young woman named Rani, is clever. She’s also bold. She tricks the raja into sharing his hoarded rice with the starving people. The story has both a math lesson and a moral lesson.
On the first page of the book, the raja “believed that he was wise and fair, as a raja should be,” and by the final page, he has become that type of ruler: “And for the rest of his days, the raja was truly wise and fair, as a raja should be.”
Why the disconnect between how the raja saw himself and how he actually was? His plan was to store rice in his royal storehouses and then dole it out so that “everyone will have rice to eat, and no one will go hungry.” That plan backfires after famine leads to a bad harvest. The illustrations of the starving people are haunting.
“The people had no rice to give to the raja, and they had no rice to eat.”
That’s when the raja gets greedy. His ministers ask him to open the storehouses, but he doesn’t want to be without food for himself. Enter Rani, a young woman who “began to make a plan.” When she catches some rice that accidentally trickles from a basket on a royal elephant, she tells the raja she was returning it, and in gratitude, he offers her anything she wants.
She could have asked for rice only for herself and her family. Instead, her plan allows the raja to give her enough rice “for all the hungry people,” one day at a time for one month.
The grains of rice are presented by a parade of animals: Bengal tigers, leopards, royal deer, peacocks, lions, monkeys, and elephants. I can’t even identify all the exotic birds.
It’s on the ninth day that we start to figure out how these grains of rice will multiply. That’s the day 1 grain of rice becomes 256 grains. When that doubles the following day, we’re up to 512, “a small handful.” Then by the thirteenth day, 4,096 grains, we’re up to a bowl. By day 16, Rani has enough rice for two bags. By day 21, the take has moved from bags to baskets. On day 24, the baskets are carried on the backs of animals — 32 Brahma bulls with 64 baskets on day 27. Two days later, the rajah is forced to empty two storehouses onto the backs of camels to keep his pledge. Next come elephants.
The staggering amount of rice carried by the camels and elephants are illustrated using fold-out pages: three for the camels, four for the elephants. It feels like unfolding a game.
The fold-out pages also illustrate children and critters frolicking in a giant pile of 1 billion grains of rice as if it the grains were water in a swimming pool. And the raja is happy too, having learned his lesson. Rani leaves him one basket of rice, which, as we learned on day 21, represents 48,576 grains.
As I read the book, I noticed Demi writes all the numbers as words, not numerals — “five hundred and thirty-six million, eight hundred and seventy thousand, nine hundred and twelve grains of rice.” I don’t know why she does it that way, only that it feels less math-y. It feels like a foreign language. And with the detailed illustrations of a foreign land on backgrounds of gold, featuring animals I’ve never seen with my own eyes, I feel invited into a new world, one that includes math.
I have never, ever, until this moment, felt invited when it came to anything mathematic. What if math was less about formulas and more about fun?
My favorite episode of On Being with Krista Tippett, Asteroids, Stars, and the Love of God, features an interview with Brother Guy Consolmagno and Father Joseph Coyne, both Jesuit scientists who have stars named after them. The discussion turns to whether the laws of science and math are discovered or invented. Fr. Coyne quips, “Mathematics is not the language of love,” and Br. Consolmagno contradicts him with a story of love and math:
"Well, depends if you’re a mathematician or not. I’ll put it in a different way. When I was a little kid, nine years old, I remember a rainy Sunday afternoon and you couldn’t go out to play and you were stuck in the house. And my mom came out with a deck of cards and dealt them out and we played rummy together. Now, my mom can beat me in cards because I’m nine years old. That wasn’t the point of the game. The point of the game was this was her way of telling me she loved me, in a way that she couldn’t just say, you know, ‘Son, I love you,’ because I’m nine years old. I’m going to squirm and go, ‘Aw, Mom,’ and run away. … So, is it invented? It’s as invented as the card game. But is it an act of love? It’s as much an act of love as the card game."
My mom taught me to play gin rummy. The card game requires a fair amount of math, but playing with her never felt like a lesson. It felt like love.
In the book’s final picture, we see Rani and the people holding hands and dancing toward the raja, who is sitting on an elephant. He is holding a basket of rice, and this time, instead of an accidental trickle, he is purposefully letting the rice fall into the children’s empty baskets. It looks a little like a game. It almost looks like he loves his people.
"It was my understanding that there would be no math.”
— Chevy Chase, impersonating President Gerald Ford in a Saturday Night Life sketch of yore
Math is my bugaboo. That’s why I took up a friend's suggestion to read One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale.
At its most basic level, this is a story about how 1 grain of rice becomes more than 1 billion grains of rice. How? Math. If 1 grain of rice is doubled every day for 30 days, and all those amounts are added together, then you get 1,073,741,823 grains of rice. There’s a chart on the last page of the book that explains the arithmetic.
If someone handed me the chart, I would not care. But give me the math in a story — better yet, a folktale (this one comes from India) — and I’m all in.
Charlotte Dumaresq Hunt, aka Demi, the artist and author, studied art in India, where she lived for two years. She’s written more than 300 books, many of them about religious figures, including Muhammed, The Dalai Lama, and Jesus. Her newest book, released this month, is Talking to God: Prayers for Children from the World’s Religions.
The hero of One Grain of Rice, a young woman named Rani, is clever. She’s also bold. She tricks the raja into sharing his hoarded rice with the starving people. The story has both a math lesson and a moral lesson.
On the first page of the book, the raja “believed that he was wise and fair, as a raja should be,” and by the final page, he has become that type of ruler: “And for the rest of his days, the raja was truly wise and fair, as a raja should be.”
Why the disconnect between how the raja saw himself and how he actually was? His plan was to store rice in his royal storehouses and then dole it out so that “everyone will have rice to eat, and no one will go hungry.” That plan backfires after famine leads to a bad harvest. The illustrations of the starving people are haunting.
“The people had no rice to give to the raja, and they had no rice to eat.”
That’s when the raja gets greedy. His ministers ask him to open the storehouses, but he doesn’t want to be without food for himself. Enter Rani, a young woman who “began to make a plan.” When she catches some rice that accidentally trickles from a basket on a royal elephant, she tells the raja she was returning it, and in gratitude, he offers her anything she wants.
She could have asked for rice only for herself and her family. Instead, her plan allows the raja to give her enough rice “for all the hungry people,” one day at a time for one month.
The grains of rice are presented by a parade of animals: Bengal tigers, leopards, royal deer, peacocks, lions, monkeys, and elephants. I can’t even identify all the exotic birds.
It’s on the ninth day that we start to figure out how these grains of rice will multiply. That’s the day 1 grain of rice becomes 256 grains. When that doubles the following day, we’re up to 512, “a small handful.” Then by the thirteenth day, 4,096 grains, we’re up to a bowl. By day 16, Rani has enough rice for two bags. By day 21, the take has moved from bags to baskets. On day 24, the baskets are carried on the backs of animals — 32 Brahma bulls with 64 baskets on day 27. Two days later, the rajah is forced to empty two storehouses onto the backs of camels to keep his pledge. Next come elephants.
The staggering amount of rice carried by the camels and elephants are illustrated using fold-out pages: three for the camels, four for the elephants. It feels like unfolding a game.
The fold-out pages also illustrate children and critters frolicking in a giant pile of 1 billion grains of rice as if it the grains were water in a swimming pool. And the raja is happy too, having learned his lesson. Rani leaves him one basket of rice, which, as we learned on day 21, represents 48,576 grains.
As I read the book, I noticed Demi writes all the numbers as words, not numerals — “five hundred and thirty-six million, eight hundred and seventy thousand, nine hundred and twelve grains of rice.” I don’t know why she does it that way, only that it feels less math-y. It feels like a foreign language. And with the detailed illustrations of a foreign land on backgrounds of gold, featuring animals I’ve never seen with my own eyes, I feel invited into a new world, one that includes math.
I have never, ever, until this moment, felt invited when it came to anything mathematic. What if math was less about formulas and more about fun?
My favorite episode of On Being with Krista Tippett, Asteroids, Stars, and the Love of God, features an interview with Brother Guy Consolmagno and Father Joseph Coyne, both Jesuit scientists who have stars named after them. The discussion turns to whether the laws of science and math are discovered or invented. Fr. Coyne quips, “Mathematics is not the language of love,” and Br. Consolmagno contradicts him with a story of love and math:
"Well, depends if you’re a mathematician or not. I’ll put it in a different way. When I was a little kid, nine years old, I remember a rainy Sunday afternoon and you couldn’t go out to play and you were stuck in the house. And my mom came out with a deck of cards and dealt them out and we played rummy together. Now, my mom can beat me in cards because I’m nine years old. That wasn’t the point of the game. The point of the game was this was her way of telling me she loved me, in a way that she couldn’t just say, you know, ‘Son, I love you,’ because I’m nine years old. I’m going to squirm and go, ‘Aw, Mom,’ and run away. … So, is it invented? It’s as invented as the card game. But is it an act of love? It’s as much an act of love as the card game."
My mom taught me to play gin rummy. The card game requires a fair amount of math, but playing with her never felt like a lesson. It felt like love.
In the book’s final picture, we see Rani and the people holding hands and dancing toward the raja, who is sitting on an elephant. He is holding a basket of rice, and this time, instead of an accidental trickle, he is purposefully letting the rice fall into the children’s empty baskets. It looks a little like a game. It almost looks like he loves his people.
August 15, 2011
We liked this book which shows how quickly one grain of rice grows into many when doubled everyday for one month. I think I would have liked the story better if the Raja had kept his promise... my kids thought he was pretty foolish and selfish.
I liked the back page which shows the daily numbers since I was getting ready to take out a paper and show my kids (they give it 5 stars).
I liked the back page which shows the daily numbers since I was getting ready to take out a paper and show my kids (they give it 5 stars).
June 6, 2016
A total pleasure to read! We read this when we were learning about India, and we were all charmed by Rani's witty answer to the problem at hand, and also by the beautiful illustrations. Perfect book to show children math can be both fun and exciting while also being able to grasp math's practical applications. Five stars!
March 13, 2014
We love this book and were lucky to find it at the thrift store. The illustrations are lovely and pop off the page with metallic gold. The story, I think, is found in other cultures, but I like the telling of it in this book. It's very clever and leaves you smiling at the end.
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