Haunted by a Paintbrush: A True Story, by Al Price

This is one of my “I Wish Someone Would Put It Back in Print” titles. It’s a roughly 30 page children’s book, slim and simple, illustrated with black and white art. But it’s interesting. Unique. And I find it inspiring. Al Price was born to a sharecropper, sent to an orphanage after his father died, was eventually adopted, wanted to be a musician, and then a doctor, and then an artist, served in the Army, became an Army artist, got out, and then got hurt and couldn’t use his right hand. So he learned to paint left-handed, and was better than before. There is a photograph of him in his Chicago studio, posing with one of his paintings. It’s a little book with heart, what you might call a 'you can do it, I know you can' book.

Haunted by A Paintbrush: A True Story, by Al Price with Margaret Friskey, Childrens Press, Chicago, 1968. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-14864.

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