Frida

Starred review from December 10, 2001
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.

March 1, 2002
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

Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2002
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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)