THE ROBBER BABY

Inspired by her grandfather's tales of ``the wondrous tricks and transformations of the Greek gods and goddesses,'' a well- loved author known for her simple books for the very young achieves with astonishing grace her goal of making these stories appealing ``to children as young as I was when I first heard them.'' Lucid and lively, her 15 chapters present the major gods and goddesses plus several of their interactions with mortals (e.g., Echo, King Midas, Actaeon); with judicious pruning and admirable tact, Rockwell manages to suggest the myths' earthier underpinnings without being explicit, yet without subverting their deeper meanings. Neatly capturing the text's artful balance between significance and playfulness, her illustrations (half a page or so on every spread) are quite splendid: The sturdy, vigorous stylized figures are limned with calligraphic elegance and enhanced with light, rich colors; decorative underlining bars add a gracious touch of formality, while the tightly structured compositions are dynamically self-contained. A fine, disarmingly approachable introduction; a real achievement. Note; pronunciation guide. (Nonfiction. 5-10)