Seven Golden Rings: A Tale of Music and Math

Skipping Stones Honor Award, Skipping Stones Magazine
Lasting Connection Title, Book Links

In this clever, convivial picture book, an Indian boy untangles a mathematical conundrum to win a place at the Rajah's court.

In ancient India, a boy named Bhagat travels to the Rajah's city, hoping to ensure his family's prosperity by winning a place at court as a singer. Bhagat carries his family's entire fortune--a single coin and a chain of seven golden rings--to pay for his lodging. But when the innkeeper demands one ring per night, and every link snipped costs one coin, how can Bhagat both break the chain and avoid overpaying? His inventive solution points the way to an unexpected triumph, and offers readers a friendly lesson in binary numbers--the root of all computing.

Rajani LaRocca was born in Bangalore, India and immigrated to the US with her parents when she was a baby. She graduated from Harvard with both a BA and an MD, and has worked as a primary care physician since 2001. Her debut middle-grade novel, Midsummer Mayhem, was praised as "a delectable treat" in a Kirkus starred review. Rajani lives in Concord, Massachusetts, with her family. Find her online at www.rajanilarocca.com and on Twitter as @rajanilarocca.

Archana Sreenivasan is the illustrator of two board books in the Once Upon a World series, Rapunzel and Diwali, and she has also created numerous editorial pieces, book covers, and comics. She studied animation film design at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India, and illustration during a summer residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Archana lives in Bangalore, India, with her husband and two cats. Please visit her on the web at https: //archanasreenivasan.com/ and on Instagram as @archanasreenivasan.