• Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press
• Release Date: Jun 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781933693231

Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush

Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush reviewed by John McMurtrie (sfgate.com)

Authors of short stories are lucky if they get their work published, never mind have it adapted into graphic novels. But that's the good fortune that has befallen Luis Alberto Urrea - granted, not just any short-story writer but the author of the acclaimed true-life account "The Devil's Highway" and the novel "The Hummingbird's Daughter." "Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush" (Cinco Puntos Press; 64 pages; $17.95 paperback) is a captivating rendering of Urrea's tale of an eccentric old artist whose sly graffiti-as-social-commentary is found throughout a Mexican village, leaving townspeople scratching their heads about its meaning. The illustrator Christopher Cardinale's muted earth tones and beautiful woodblock style mix fantasy with gritty reality; children and adults alike will be beguiled by this book.