FRIDA won the Notable Award from the American Library Association and the silver seal of the Pura Belpre Honor Book.
It tells the story of Frida Kahlo who was a native of Mexico. Her story is told in biographical poems along with her artwork.
She had a traumatic life, which is reflected in her artwork. She had polio as a child and her right leg shriveled then she got into a horrible bus accident when she was young. The handrail pierced her hip bone and she had multiple broken bones. Then her husband had an affair with her sister and he asked her for a divorce.
She got pregnant and her baby died in the summer and then her mom died in September. Frida said she paints her pain.
She had a pet fawn and painted pictures for family and friends. One of her artworks was done on glass and the Louvre bought it: it was a self-portrait in which Frida was framed by birds and flowers.
It may be classified as a picture book but, I think it is so beautiful, it could easily be a coffee table book for children and adults to enjoy.
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6 comments:
I just saw this at our local bookstore and almost picked it up!
I appreciate the emotion behind her paintings, but a lot of her images are too disturbing for me to really enjoy looking at. I'd probably like a selection of her work that's appropriate for a picture book.
I think it's good to be disturbed sometimes, especially with art. She definitely had some power in her paintings, thats for sure. Great stuff.
Thanks for the information, Kim. I didn't know much about her.
Adrienne: A lot of her paintings have mutilations in them - but not in this book.
My daughter studied Frida in school so this was something we both shared.
Carmen T. Bernier-Grand is going to come speak to our SCBWI group in April - so I'm looking forward to that too.
Wow. What a story. The book looks intriguing and what a life!
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