This is part of the Math Picture Book series.

My musical friend Christi Gell sent K8 and me a delightful math picture book recently. One Grain of Rice, by Demi, is both visually and mathematically beautiful.

It’s exponentially better as you read it.

And that’s not a figure of speech! One Grain of Rice is the story of a girl that asks for a simple reward for a good deed. She asks for a single grain of rice on the first day and for 30 days, double the amount of rice given on the previous day.

I’ve heard this story told in a variety of ways, but the illustrations and scenario of this book make it appealing in ways that outshine all the rest.

The illustrations have a gold-leaf feel about them. And Demi shows the quantity of rice very literally, down to multi-page foldouts showing exactly how many animals it takes to carry that day’s amount of rice!

It starts small.

Here you see her getting “help” carrying the rice from various animals on the 9th, 12th and 13th days.

And on the 16th day, she really needs this help!

Soon the raja’s getting worried.

By the 24th day, she’s needing to borrow deer from the raja to carry it!

By the 30th day, she needs 256 elephants to carry it all. And all 256 of them are shown in a gorgeous 4-page foldout!

Don’t miss this math picture book!

One Grain of Rice is also the tale of a greedy raja that learns a lesson through the cleverness of a girl. The magnificient illustrations help kids (and grownups) see the magnitude of exponential growth, without even putting that label on it.

Head out now to get your own copy of the math picture book One Grain of Rice, by Demi. And send a copy to an artistic or mathematical friend too!

then

or

You might also like:

• Math Picture Book: Perfect Square
• Math Picture Book: The Grapes of Math
• Ten Questions to Ask About a Math Problem
• The Order of Operations Explained: Exponents

This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support us so we can continue to provide free content!