Frida by Jonah Winter and Ana Juan

Winter, J., & Juan, A. (2002). Frida. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books. ISBN: 978-0590203203.

Annotation

Picture book biography about Frida Kahlo’s childhood, how she learned to paint, how painting saved her life, and why she kept painting.

My thoughts

Frida Kahlo was an amazing artist. I had the chance to visit the Frida exhibition at the San Francisco MOMA a couple of years ago. After seeing her amazing self-portrait paintings in person, I became more inspired by her creativity and strength so I was really looking forward to this book.

I thought that Winter's choice to illustrate Frida's childhood was interesting since I've read more about her years after the accident with mention of polio. This made this book even more relevant to the audience of young readers and made her more of an inspirational figure that children can understand and aim to emulate.

I loved the illustrations in this book. The illustrations portray story of Frida with a similar palette and that are familiar elements to Frida’s own paintings, but the style is true to Ana Juan’s own unique artistic voice. The simplicity of the story explains Frida's life in a way that kids can understand. The pictures illustrated the happiness and creativity in Frida's life.

Curricular connections

Elementary school- Art and Biographies or Spanish

Reading level/ Interest Age

Ages 4 and up.

Reviews and Awards

Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature Honorable Mention (Awards)

Author website: No official website found.

Illustrator website: www.anajuan.net/

Media: Acrylics and wax on paper.

Genre: Juvenile literature, biography