The major drawback to Gwynne's chucklefest over the vagaries of language is the discrepancy between the audience who will enjoy his ingenuous visual humor and those who will understand the words or expressions he is punning.

Youngsters will be amused by a plant draped with firearms, but will they understand--or even want to understand--the difference between pistols and pistils? And what percentage of the four-year-old population is going to crack a smile at the picture of a girl sewing banners and the accompanying text: "In Sunday School they say when you are bad you should do pennants"?

So with younger kids you can expect this book to generate little interest--or a lot of questions, and therein lies its strength: as a provocation to delve into the suppleness of language and the joys of wordplay. Older kids who can be convinced to give it a look are often delighted.

A LITTLE PIGEON TOAD is one of three books by Gwynne about verbal misunderstandings; the other two are A Chocolate Moose for Dinner and The King Who Rained. Other titles that illustrate the curiosities of language include Jon Agee's book on oxymorons, Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp?, and the works of Marvin Terban, such as In a Pickle and Mad as a Wet Hen.