Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #183470 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

Amazon.com
Beset by one shattering ordeal after another, world-renowned painter Frida Kahlo always managed to channel her anguish into creativity. Frida, by Jonah Winter and illustrator Ana Juan, is an exquisite and playful glimpse into the artist's life and work. Filled with the folk art icons of Frida's Mexican culture--monkeys, devils, smiling skeletons, and sympathetic jaguars depicted with acrylics and wax on paper--the book describes, in short streams of text, the feisty, irreverent, fierce nature of the artist. One especially memorable illustration, based on one of Frida Kahlo's own paintings, shows Frida herself caught in a tangle of thorns against a mournful blue night sky. The text reads, "After the accident ... her body will hurt, always." Author and illustrator's notes add background information, but this stunning book from the author of Diego, about famed Mexican muralist (and husband of Frida) Diego Rivera, is a spectacular, lush introduction to an inspiring woman and her art. (Ages 5 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly
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.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grades 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 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful art by Frida Kahlo
At school my whole class read this book for read aloud! It was a very good book. Frida was very good at art. She had five sisters but it seamed like they didn't pay attention to her! She was always lonely and she was bored.But atleast she had Imaginary friends to comfort her. One day she got in a horrible bus accident! Read this book to find out how Frida turned out after her pain. Reccomended for people who may want to learn how to turn pain into beauty.

Beauty from Pain
More than once, creating art saved Frida Kahlo's life. Even though she had five sisters, she was almost always lonely and sad. When she was infected with polio and she was very sick, even her imaginary friends couldn't cheer her up, but painting and drawing rescued her. Most of her life, she was in heart-breaking pain after being in a horrible bus accident. Read this book to find out how art saved her once more. Recommended for people who want to learn how Frida Kahlo turned terrible pain into beautiful masterpieces.

Spanish Version
I own the Spanish version of this book, and I love it. So do all my students - I teach Preschool Spanish (ages 3-6). My 5 year old daughter is an artist and she loves the vivid colors and imaginative characters that follow Frida through her life. The children I teach do not know Spanish, but they are able to look at the pictures and understand the story. They regularly request this book and enjoy looking for the 'spooky' characters.