Following My Paint Brush

"I am an artist, but I wasn't always one," opens this autobiographical picture book, told from Devi's first-person perspective and written by Wolf. Devi describes a simple, rural Indian childhood, working in a rice field with her mother, going to market, and doing cleaning work. Change comes through an encounter with a painter, who encourages Devi's interest in art, as she learns how to hold a brush and paint, while never having learned how to read or write. Set against plain white backgrounds, Devi's artwork, in the Mithila style of eastern Indian folk painting, vibrates with bold reds, yellows, and greens. The focus of Devi's artwork is her immediate environment%E2%80%94religious imagery, trees, pottery, fish, and children at play%E2%80%94her delicate linework adding complexity and texture to the mural-like tableaus. Ages 8%E2%80%93up. (July)