PIGEON, PIGEON

While her parents eagerly point out the more spectacular animals at the zoo (``Lion, lion!''), a little girl goes her own way, enjoying smaller creatures (``Look! Spider'') and amusingly paralleling the adults' observations (``Watch the chimp climb.'' ``Up, up, squirrel''). The parents are oblivious, or perhaps just laudably unconcerned; but they're available for comfort when the tiger's roar is too loud, and they're accepting when they finally get a direct response (``Touch the elephant's trunk.'' ``No!''). Mildly funny, with a sensible message to parents in the purely childlike behavior. Karas's artfully artless soft pencil and solid color illustrations are just right. The very simple text makes the book suitable for beginning readers. (Picture book. 2- 7)