Mission to Mars

Mr. Mena's career emerged as an illustrator, working for a variety of magazines designing covers and reinterpreting the editorials as illustrations. He proclaims, "It is a challenge to take the writer's words and transform them into a visual that would capture the reader's interest and entice them to read the article." As the Art Director for Bacardi U.S.A., he worked with marketing groups, further developing his discipline for interpreting concepts into written and visual art forms. Mr. Mena has over forty years of experience in the arts, including time as an educator. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute and Florida International University, respectively. The original version of Mission to Mars, a favorite Storytime reading for his two young boys, sat in a file cabinet for twenty-six years. Mr. Mena rediscovered the work when looking for documents in the file cabinet, instantly rekindling his passion for writing and illustration. Mr. Mena remarks "I dusted off the old book and got to work on new illustrations and further enhanced the story." Thus, Mission to Mars was reborn. "I sincerely hope this book, and the future adventures of Astronaut Bo, bring you and your family the bond and spark of adventure it brought to ours." Mr. Mena lives with his family in Pinecrest, Florida.