Pong Lo is a poor Chinese peasant who wants to marry the emperor’s daughter.  He humbly approaches the throne to make his request, but is soundly rejected — and nearly executed!.  However, the princess recognizes that Pong Lo is bright and clever and arranges for him to work in her father’s royal storeroom.  Pong Lo accepts the lowly position and begins climbing the ladder of success within the palace as his pleasant personality and quick wit bring him friends and success time and again.

One day the princess is suddenly deathly ill and the emperor desperately needs the expertise of this bright and faithful new servant to save her life .  Pong Lo is willing to help, but he has one simple request — a single grain of rice, doubled every day for 100 days.  The emperor naively agrees.

A Grain of Rice, a Scholastic Math Club Book, tells the classic story of a poor peasant who outfoxes an emperor through basic mathematics!  Wonderful illustrations too.

Middle Grade reading level, 80 pages, Mathematics, Published in 1990.