by Robert Walch

Celebrate Children’s Book Week, May 11-17, by purchasing a few new books for reading aloud to your child or grandchild. Here are some suggestions.

The Number Garden (Bloomsbury, $16.99) by Sara Pinto features bold artwork and “gates” that young readers can flip open to discover how two little rabbits are preparing their summer garden.

This sturdy board book also provides “number” practice for preschoolers as they find garden tools, sunflowers, seed packets and other items to count. As children peek behind each gate they will find pictures of all the gardening goodies as they accumulate in the garden. By the story’s conclusion readers will have discovered 78 items!

Another picture book uses different-size pages to tell the story. The Odd Egg (Simon & Schuster, $15.99) by Emily Gravett is about a group of birds that all lay their eggs and then await the hatchlings.

Since Duck does not have his own egg to hatch, he goes out and finds the biggest egg he possibly can. All the other birds think he’s being silly but, as you will see, Duck gets the last laugh as what emerges from his egg is a real surprise.

The author uses quarter- and half-size pages to reveal what each egg holds, from the small robin’s egg to the much larger owl and flamingo eggs. But when Duck’s egg begins to crack, you’ll need to turn almost a full page to see what emerges.

Intended for children ages 4-8, The Odd Egg will elicit a few laughs when the youngster turns the final page of this clever picture book.