★ 06/16/2014
Readers will recognize Morales’s (Niño Wrestles the World) handmade Frida Kahlo doll from Kahlo’s self-portraits—Morales’s doll has the same haunting beauty and direct gaze, and she wears the same Mexican peasant clothing. In a series of composed photographs, Frida gazes at her pet monkey—another handmade creation—who slips the artist a key. The key opens a locked box, which holds a marionette, a jointed skeleton. Spare, lyrical text is set in English and, in fainter type, in Spanish, and each page turn reveals a new word or phrase. “Juego/ I play,” Frida says, manipulating the marionette while the monkey sits on her shoulder. Now a paper cutout, Frida is shown dreaming, rescuing an injured fawn, then awakening, restored to doll form, as her husband—a plump, affectionate Diego Rivera—gives her a kiss on the cheek. “¡Vivo!” she says. “I live!” Frida is presented less as a historical figure than as an icon who represents the life Morales holds sacred; Frida lives because she loves and creates. A detailed biography is included. Ages 4–8. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy, Charlottte Sheedy Literary Agency. (Sept.)

In this exploration of the imagery of artist Frida Kahlo, brief two- or three-word sentences provide dreamlike narration, and mixed-media images follow Frida as she discovers and opens a bright yellow wooden chest, releasing a fantasy in which playfulness leads to a knowledge, love, creativity, and ultimately, to her embrace of life.” —BCCB

“Morales artistically distills the essence of the remarkable Frida Kahlo in this esoteric, multigenre picture book.” —Booklist

“*There have been several books for young readers about Frida Kahlo, but none has come close to the emotional aesthetic Morales brings to her subjects . . . an ingenious tour de force.” —The Horn Book, STARRED REVIEW

“This luminescent homage to Frida Kahlo doesn't hew to her artwork's mood but entrances on its own merit . . . Visually radiant.” —Kirkus Reviews

“*Kahlo's unusual life story, background, and art have made her a frequent topic of biographies. Morales's perception of her creative process results in a fresh, winning take on an artist who has rarely been understood . . . Morales's art and O'Meara's photographs take this book to another level.” —School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

“STARRED REVIEW Frida is presented less as a historical figure than as an icon who represents the life Morales holds sacred; Frida lives because she loves and creates.” —Publisher's Weekly

★ 08/01/2014
Gr 1 Up—Kahlo's unusual life story, background, and art have made her a frequent topic of biographies. Morales's perception of her creative process results in a fresh, winning take on an artist who has rarely been understood. The author uses strong verbs to give Kahlo voice: "I see (Veo)"; "Sé (I know)." Kahlo is depicted as a self-possessed woman with a drive to create. Her artistic process has room for others to participate, though—love, imagination, and dreams are closely entangled in her art. In the illustrations, Diego Rivera is shown creating alongside his wife. While the artistic process seems magical to readers, Kahlo knows what she is searching for. Each spread has just one or two words on it, both in English and Spanish. The text floats on the page, with the Spanish in a lighter color, adding to the ethereal, dreamlike feel of the book. Morales's art and O'Meara's photographs take this book to another level. Created with stop-motion puppets, paintings, and digital elements, these are amazing works of art themselves. The puppets are lifelike, resembling Kahlo (with her unibrow) and Rivera accurately. They are surrounded by the animals Kahlo loved, including vibrant feathered parrots, a monkey, and dog. Throughout the book, Kahlo goes searching for inspiration and finds it all around her. Morales incorporates many of the hallmarks of Kahlo's art into her own. The artist wears silver, open-hand earrings and multicolored dresses. She plays with a skeleton puppet on these pages and imagines herself soaring, freed from her fragile body. Morales's note in both English and Spanish describes her connection with Kahlo. A resonant title that can be used anywhere Kahlo's art is studied. It will also be admired in bilingual collections.—Susan E. Murray, formerly at Glendale Public Library, AZ

Reviewing an audiobook of less than 20 words is a difficult task—even one featuring the colorful Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Adriana Sananes’s narration of this book in both English and Spanish is precise, her pacing leisurely, her voice quiet. She’s the quintessential unobtrusive narrator. Given that author/illustrator Yuyi Morales won a Caldecott Honor Medal for her illustrations, how much better it would be to have this recording as a read-along. Poring over the book while listening will make this book much more vivid for young listeners. A short biography of the artist concludes the production. For the audio-only production, this is the meat of the experience. A.R. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

2014-07-29
This luminescent homage to Frida Kahlo doesn't hew to her artwork's mood but entrances on its own merit. Adults will recognize Kahlo's signature eyebrows, but readers of all ages will be caught immediately by the bewitchingly bright colors and detailed photographs. Morales makes her figures from steel, polymer clay and wool, and the illustrations come together with acrylic paint, digital manipulation and O'Meara's dramatically angled photographs of the scenes. Kahlo has the thin, posable arms and stiff legs of a fashion doll, with earrings, a necklace and flowered dresses. Her vibe is contented curiosity as she and her monkey explore a box and find a skeleton marionette. A second thread shows Kahlo as two-dimensional (possibly doll-Kahlo's dream?), rescuing a wounded deer; doll-Kahlo then includes the deer in a self-portrait. Vivid textures and high-saturation colors enthrall. However, the text (in English and Spanish) is platitudinous and vague: "I realize… / that… / I feel / And I understand… / that I love / And create / And so… / I live!" It would be impossible (and undesirable) to translate the violence, pain and anger of Kahlo's work for an audience this young; these illustrations, while including some of her visual motifs, don't even try. The final spread is downright festive. Morales' author's note (also in English and Spanish) provides a brief biographical sketch that makes clear the artist's profound effect on her.Out of context, visually radiant; as an introduction to Kahlo herself, almost irrelevant. (Picture book. 3-6)