THE NUMBER GARDEN

A sweetly goofy companion to The Alphabet Room (2003) uses the same lift-the-flap format. From “one sun” to “twelve stars,” each opening places the numeral and written number on the left-hand page and the object(s) counted (both drawn and written) against a white garden gate on the right; lift the gate to see the increasingly zany garden. From a deceptively calm beginning, two rabbits arrange three lawn chairs, wield four garden tools, grow five sunflowers and so on. The orange-shirted rabbit is all industry, digging, planting and watering; its purple-shirted companion is not, playing with the hose and gooning around with the (seven) gnomes in cheerfully antic fashion. Not for beginning counters, the fine lines and busy compositions will be most enjoyed by preschoolers—and their grown-ups. (Novelty/picture book. 3-5)