Review by Booklist Review
Ages 4-8. "Drawing saves her from being sad. . . . Instead of crying, she paints herself crying." This picture-book biography of Frida Kahlo is about the great Mexican painter who transformed her childhood illness and catastrophic injury into art. While the quiet words tell of the struggle with polio that kept Kahlo bedridden for months ("That's when Frida teaches herself how to draw") and of the bus accident that left her always in pain, brilliantly colored, acrylic illustrations, in Mexican folk-art style, show the imaginary animals and mythical creatures that kept her company. One powerful double-page spread is like a fairy tale with the young maiden caught in the thorny branches of a tree spreading across the night sky. The author's note at the end refers to Kahlo's marriage to Diego Rivera, but the focus here is on her youth and her roots. It's great that there's no heavy message. It's the magic realism that shows and tells the richness of the inner life that makes the painter strong and beautiful. --Hazel RochmanReference Books Bulletin
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Winter, who brought the Mexican muralist vividly to life in Diego, focuses on Diego Rivera's bride, Frida Kahlo an accomplished artist in her own right in this striking picture book-biography. With a spare narrative more akin to poetry than prose, the author touches on important events in his subject's childhood Frida's loneliness and the polio that kept her bedridden for months, as well as a bus accident, at age 18, that nearly killed her. He then shows how, each time, art helped her to transcend her injuries ("She turns her pain into something beautiful") and to unleash her magically surreal vision of the world in paintings ("In museums, people still look at them and weep and sigh and smile"). Juan, a Spanish fine artist and New Yorker cover artist making her children's book debut, creates artwork bursting with saturated color and infused with Mexican folk art motifs that also influenced Frida's own style. Floating figures, fantastical creatures and celestial bodies with human features cavort across the pages. Ana transforms Frida herself from a solemn, moon-faced child with uncompromising eyebrows (her well-known physical trait) to a woman whose gaunt features hint at both strength and inner struggle. One particularly breathtaking image shows the artist floating against a night sky, eyes closed and arms crossed on her chest in a death pose, held in the grip of a tree's thorny, gnarled branches ("Her body will hurt, always"). An outstanding introduction to an influential artist. Ages 4-10. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-This picture-book biography of the Mexican-born artist captures the essence of her difficult life and her triumph as a painter. Written in present tense, the story has immediacy, and the magnificent full-page acrylic illustrations cry out with emotion, as is befitting the work of a passionate artist. Kahlo, often lonely, had an active fantasy life, fueled by her creation of an imaginary friend and her exposure to the work of her artist father. Stricken with polio at age seven, she turned to drawing as her solace; years later when a bus accident nearly claimed her life, art again distracted her. While the simply told yet poignant story is inspiring, the true strength of this book lies in Juan's incredible illustrations. Their brilliant colors and expressionistic style convey the sense of daring and the excitement that Kahlo demonstrated both in her zest for life and in her splendid work. Figures familiar to the artist from Mexican folklore abound and their playfulness as they dance from page to page underscores the woman's artistic spirit. Her story is sure to be an inspiration, particularly to youngsters who see life differently from their peers and who dare to express these differences in artistic ways. A bold, successful attempt at incorporating the feel of the artist's own style into an explanation of her life.-Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary) This lavishly illustrated short biography argues that the seeds of iconic painter Frida Kahlo's genius were planted during her childhood-and what a childhood. Born in Coyoacán, Mexico, in 1907, Kahlo was stricken with polio at age seven, resulting in a shrunken leg and a limp, and was nearly killed in a bus accident at age eighteen, leaving her in chronic pain. Both episodes led to periods of isolating bed rest that proved opportunities for Kahlo to develop and hone her extraordinary drawing and painting skills. Art also became an outlet for her loneliness and grief ("Instead of crying, she paints pictures of herself crying"). Winter consistently manages to convey much with a few well-chosen words, and the illustrations are appropriately awash with traditional Mexican folk-art motifs and characters. Especially pleasing are Juan's surreal, Kahlo-like touches. In the book's final image of Kahlo, one of the black birds swirling overhead has settled on her face, its wings her famously linked eyebrows. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A picture-book homage to the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, whose indomitable spirit has become a revered icon for struggling women artists. The truncated text outlines her life in a simplistic style, relating her childhood illness and the almost-fatal school bus accident that left her in constant physical pain. It was her painting that saved her, becoming her imaginary friend. Instead of crying, she painted pictures of herself crying. The account ends with a description of her paintings as "exvotos": "magical scenes with words at the bottom, scenes of accidents with angels coming to the rescue. They are prayers for people who are sick." Neither her marriage to Diego Rivera nor her death is included. Like Kahlo's art, the illustrations are strikingly stylized. Done in acrylics and wax, they convey a surrealistic sensibility, using six traditional Mexican characters as a motif (e.g., skeleton, devil, jaguar) and portraying them as Kahlo's companions. The artwork lends an air of theatricality (her infamous eyebrows are depicted as the wings of a black bird) with the text scripting that effect: "She paints what she sees in her head-on top of what she sees with her eyes." The enticing cover depicts Kahlo as a child riding on a red bird while she is painting red birds in the sky. Explanatory notes from both author and illustrator provide context and import, citing biographical details and an artistic style that is a tribute to her. Her popularity has increased significantly in recent time-but who is the audience for this book? Certainly, the picture-book format can serve as an introduction to this exotic artist for young children, and kids may be intrigued by the unusual figures and inherent drama. But it is more likely that older readers may develop an artistic curiosity and appreciation for this woman's provocative work. (Picture book/biography. 6-10)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
