Title: The Rajah’s Rice
Author: David Barry
Illustrator: Donna Perrone
Publisher: W.H. Freeman & Company
Copyright: 1994

Chandra, the official bather of the Rajah’s elephants, miraculously cures them from illness. When the Rajah offers her a reward she extracts something from him that may be more costly than he first assumed.

Comments:

David Barry does an splendid job making the mathematical process very clear throughout the entire story, while keeping the reader’s interested as well. This is a good book to read as an introduction to a new math concept, such as ‘doubling,’ to help demonstrate that math can be fun and valuable at the same time. Perrone’s illustrations are bright in color, have smooth, clean lines, and are very clear in details and descriptions. The mathematical theme of this story jumps off the pages and ties every element together into a beautiful masterpiece.

Genre: FL (Folklore)
Age Range: 7 – 11