The King's Chessboard (Picture Puffins)

“The King’s Chessboard” written by David Birch is a wonderful children’s story which teaches a wonderful lesson about pride. In this story, the King of Deccan wanted to reward a wise man who had performed various noble services. The wise man told the king he did not want to be rewarded, but

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the king insisted. Finally, the wise man asked the king to give him one grain of rice for the first square on his chessboard; and for each additional square, twice the number of grains on the square before it. The king agreed, but after several days of delivering rice, he determined this task was impossible. The king always said he could do anything and the wise man taught him a great lesson. This story is best suited for elementary students of all ages.

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Here is a tale full of exotic, old-world flavor which takes place at a palace in ancient India. Detailed drawings show a fortress made of tall minarets and spires, heralds astride decorated elephants, servants bearing shields, and a turbaned ruler bedecked in rich jewels. The story itself is a

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parable about a powerful king and a wise man whose simple requesta grain of rice doubled for each square of the king's chessboardproves to be an impossible challenge for the royal granary. A amusing scenario unfolds as the amount of rice multiplies daily, causing great curiosity among the villagers and embarrassment to the prideful king, who learns a valuable lesson. This book is good to teach children about the concept of a chessboard, multiplication, and the basic ideas "power to" a number. This book teaches multiple concepts in one. I also think it is interesting because many of my students enjoy playing chess; therefore they will be intrigued to learn about it.

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The main point of “The King’s Chessboard” is to show that you shouldn’t push someone into something they don’t want to do. The other main point is that you should never let your pride get in the way of the things that you do. I really enjoyed this book because the illustrations convey and

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enhance the story. Throughout the story you see the king’s anguish of giving away so many grains of rice a day. The illustrations throughout the book are also full of vibrant colors; this allowed me as the reader to be fully engaged in the reading. For all of the colors seemed realistic and relevant to the story. The colors are always a sort of light yellow to enhance the idea of morning. Also the characters within this book are highly developed and know what they want to gain and loose for this experience. For instance when the wise man says that he doesn’t want anything from the king and then decides to make something up just to satisfy the king and not himself. He goes through this book collecting the grains and just giving it away to animals and people. Also the character of the king is a man who would rather give into something opposed to just saying he isn’t sure about something. This is shown when the king initially doesn’t want ask the wise man how much rice a grain on the chessboard doubled a day becomes at the end. The development of these characters is crucial because it shows the vital difference between the two and how they need to communicate and listen to one another to benefit form an agreement.

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A great story for children learning mathematical concepts, The King’s Chessboard tells the story of a wise man who refuses the king’s reward for completing a favor. When the king insists the man accept a reward, the man proposes a deal: He will take a payment of rice equal to each square on the

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king’s chessboard—doubling the amount he receives with each day. This quickly empties out the royal coffers. .

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