THE STORY OF ZACCHAEUS

Figley comically dramatizes the story of the rich, despised sinner who changes his ways after Jesus chooses to stay at his house. She sticks to the old story, found in Luke 19:1-10, but her tone is anything but biblical. For instance, where the Bible states that ``he was little of stature,'' Figley writes, ``A tall man Zacchaeus was not. In fact, he was very short. He had to have his clothes cut down to his small size. He had to stand on a stool to reach things on the top shelf. And sometimes Zacchaeus got lost in a crowd.'' Smith captures the action in thick applications of gouache that make the scenes as blocky as woodcuts; her brightly garbed cartoon characters have funny expressions on their faces and further leaven the tale. The story has a moral, but in this version the message takes a backseat to the slapstick delivery. (Picture book. 4-8)