Frida

Author: Jonah Winter
Illustrator: Ana Juan
Award Won:ALA Notable Book, Américas Award Honor Book
Date of Publication: 2002
Age recommendation: ages 5 to 8
Group represented: Frida Kahlo and her family

Frida is a picture book about the life of Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican artist. The picture book uses more pictures than words on each page to tell her story. The pictures are bright and very imaginative;they really add a lot to the story. The pictures make children interested in Frida and her life and because she was an artist it is important to have artistic pictures in a book about her.
The book mainly recaps how Frida got involved in being an artist and where she learned her skills. Her father was an artist and photographer and taught Frida to be the same. She developed her love of painting when she was feeling down. Two major life changing events happened to her. When she was 7, she got Polio and was in bed for several months, she did a lot of art work then. When she was 18, she got in a terrible bus accident and was in the hospital for a while and did a lot of work while she had to be in bed. She came to depend on art work as a friend when she was not able to do anything else. After the accident she could never walk normally again, she always needed a cane. She went on to creative many pieces of art in her life.

The most obvious use of the book would be to talk about the artist Frida Kahlo and study some of her work. She is an artist of another culture, not originally from the United States, so children could also take some time and learn of her culture. Photos of her work could be shown to the class and perhaps some art work could be done by the students.

Another use of the book would be to talk about people with disabilities overcoming odds and following their dreams.

The book could also be used to talked about how art work and music can be a therapy for some. It is helpful to express yourself creatively.