Urrea,
L.A. (2010). Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush. El Paso: Cinco Puntos Press.
Paperback | $17.95 USD | ISBN: 978-1933693231| 64 pages | Young Adult, Grades 10 & up
Mr. Mendoza is the self-proclaimed graffiti king and conscience of Rosario. No one likes graffiti combined with a conscience of any kind. Mr. Mendoza tells it like it is, but he does so with a paintbrush and in a way that many townspeople feel is offensive. His advice and candor is unwelcome. He will write on animals, walls, and even (dead) people. This graphic novel written by Latino writer Urrea combines a bit of magic and realism in the form of a comic. The narrator of the story is a young boy who is just learning about all of the wonderful things life can offer you. He is a typical teen that gets in some trouble when Mr. Mendoza catches him where he shouldn’t be. Mr. Mendoza is there to paint it all and to offer his opinions, chastisement and advice in the process.
The town of Rosario is falling apart – the cathedral is crumbling and the walls are covered with graffiti. There are plenty of ugly things to observe there and plenty of citizens that don’t want to face the ugly truth, but Mr. Mendoza continues to paint his messages. He catches the narrator peeping at the girls by the river taking a dip. He brandishes the narrator and his friend with labels and criticizes them, but never uses obscenities. People find him to be too bold and obtrusive to their lifestyles that they want to live. Then one day he announces via his paintbrush that he is going away to his funeral. The townspeople are intrigued. They all show up in the town square to see what will happen. And Mr. Mendoza begins to paint. He paints stairs and begins to climb them. He climbs so high into the sky. No one knows what he is doing. No one knows where he went. Then he disappears so high in the sky. The next day it rains and the stairs are gone.
I would recommend this book for an older teen audience and all young adults. Though Urrea does not use any obscenities in his story, there are plenty of references to sex and also some nudity in the drawings. Because the story is based on a real life town in Mexico it can help readers gain an understanding about the lives of teens growing up in Mexico and their struggles with poverty. Christopher Cardinale illustrated the graphic novel. To do so Cardinale went to the actual town to get a feel for what it really looked like. The scenes in the story provide the reader with realistic images of the town. According to Urrea’s website the town of “Rosario” is the real-life “Tres Camarones,” which is the town in his famous novel Into the Beautiful North.
Writer Luis Alberto Urrea is a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame. He was born in Tijuana, Mexico and has a Mexican father and American mother. He is the author of 13 books and has won countless awards for his other publications of poetry, fiction and essays. Many of his works depict small towns in Mexico (like Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush) and deal with immigration as well as the poverty of the town. Urrea attended the University of Califonia at San Diego and also attended graduate school at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Urrea currently lives with his family in Naperville, IL, and he is teaches creative writing at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Read more about him on his personal website at http://www.luisurrea.com/.
Paperback | $17.95 USD | ISBN: 978-1933693231| 64 pages | Young Adult, Grades 10 & up
Mr. Mendoza is the self-proclaimed graffiti king and conscience of Rosario. No one likes graffiti combined with a conscience of any kind. Mr. Mendoza tells it like it is, but he does so with a paintbrush and in a way that many townspeople feel is offensive. His advice and candor is unwelcome. He will write on animals, walls, and even (dead) people. This graphic novel written by Latino writer Urrea combines a bit of magic and realism in the form of a comic. The narrator of the story is a young boy who is just learning about all of the wonderful things life can offer you. He is a typical teen that gets in some trouble when Mr. Mendoza catches him where he shouldn’t be. Mr. Mendoza is there to paint it all and to offer his opinions, chastisement and advice in the process.
The town of Rosario is falling apart – the cathedral is crumbling and the walls are covered with graffiti. There are plenty of ugly things to observe there and plenty of citizens that don’t want to face the ugly truth, but Mr. Mendoza continues to paint his messages. He catches the narrator peeping at the girls by the river taking a dip. He brandishes the narrator and his friend with labels and criticizes them, but never uses obscenities. People find him to be too bold and obtrusive to their lifestyles that they want to live. Then one day he announces via his paintbrush that he is going away to his funeral. The townspeople are intrigued. They all show up in the town square to see what will happen. And Mr. Mendoza begins to paint. He paints stairs and begins to climb them. He climbs so high into the sky. No one knows what he is doing. No one knows where he went. Then he disappears so high in the sky. The next day it rains and the stairs are gone.
I would recommend this book for an older teen audience and all young adults. Though Urrea does not use any obscenities in his story, there are plenty of references to sex and also some nudity in the drawings. Because the story is based on a real life town in Mexico it can help readers gain an understanding about the lives of teens growing up in Mexico and their struggles with poverty. Christopher Cardinale illustrated the graphic novel. To do so Cardinale went to the actual town to get a feel for what it really looked like. The scenes in the story provide the reader with realistic images of the town. According to Urrea’s website the town of “Rosario” is the real-life “Tres Camarones,” which is the town in his famous novel Into the Beautiful North.
Writer Luis Alberto Urrea is a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame. He was born in Tijuana, Mexico and has a Mexican father and American mother. He is the author of 13 books and has won countless awards for his other publications of poetry, fiction and essays. Many of his works depict small towns in Mexico (like Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush) and deal with immigration as well as the poverty of the town. Urrea attended the University of Califonia at San Diego and also attended graduate school at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Urrea currently lives with his family in Naperville, IL, and he is teaches creative writing at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Read more about him on his personal website at http://www.luisurrea.com/.
