| Title | : | Frida Kahlo (Little People, Big Dreams, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1847807836 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781847807830 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 32 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2015 |
Frida Kahlo (Little People, Big Dreams, #2) Reviews
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Pitched as ‘perfect gifts for curious minds’, I have been curious about the Little People, Big Dreams series since their bright and colourful covers caught my eye in the bookshop. The series aims to introduce young readers to inspiring people in history, politics, music, arts, design, science, and sports, each one bringing forth the message that every exceptional achievement once started from a childhood dream.
Coincidentally the one I happened to pick up was the mini-biography on Frida Kahlo, simply because it was on eye level in the children’s corner of the local library when I was crouching down to stroke and play with the library cat (who thanked me with a purr and a good scratch).
Five minutes later I found myself scratching my head, unsure what to make of this book and somewhat troubled by the mixed feelings it left me with. I realised I am definitely don’t belong to the target audience of the series and I can only wonder how the actual audience (four to eight year old children) responds to it. Will this warm children to look out for Kahlo’s paintings? I honestly couldn’t say. I am not sure either if it is such a good idea to bring Frida Kahlo’s story to little ones gently by presenting her life in sweetly smiling pictures, adding a layer of sugar to it that almost turns that life into a fairy-tale (even if the bus accident is mentioned). Even if only slightly conscious about the untold back story behind these pictures (turbulent marriage, depressions and pain) which evidently is carefully simplified here as the content has to be appropriate for the age and the book wishes to show her resilience, strength and determination to overcome her physical predicament and explore her creativity to the fullest, I assume it would make me uncomfortable to read it together with a little one (probably because I lack the ability to apply the right filter for children). Is it wise to tell children half of a story so they can discover the not so sunny sides later themselves? As Frida Kahlo was a real person and not a fictional character, is there a risk that they would feel fooled, just like my daughter the moment we told her that Sinterklaas didn’t really exist?
In short, aware I am in the minority on a book lots of people seem to love, I am sorry to say this picture book was too cutesy to my taste to convince me and bearing in mind the wise words of George Bernard Shaw to make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself, I rather would start from a picture book showing Frida Kahlo’s paintings themselves.
Still one can hope that when this book ends up in the right hands, Kahlo’s outpouring Viva la Vida will strike a chord. -
2.5 stars. This is a series on important people's lives, aimed at young children. I only realised by reading reviews but the illustrator for this one has chosen to portray the people as thumbs with arms and legs, and a red teardrop where the nose should be. As you might expect the result is strange. The illustrations were very ugly and seemed particularly unsuited to a book about an artist. The illustrations did spoil the rest of the book which we would have otherwise rated higher.
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This is a perfect, colorful introduction to Frida Kahlo for kids. The biography is a nice way to simplify a complicated life for kids. The book has a timeline and real photos of Frida in the back. I appreciate how the author acknowledges Frida’s bus accident and pain she endured after, which was a huge influence on her artistic expression. In a lucky coincidence, I read this book to my kids right before seeing the movie Coco, which references Frida Kahlo, and my kids had the background knowledge to recognize her! -Lisanne E
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Sorry, but for me in a given picture book, text and images do have to mesh and work well enough together (or at the very least, the combination of narrative and visuals needs to be and feel somewhat compatible and natural). And with this in mind, I really cannot give more than a one star rating to a picture book where the accompanying artwork has been such that the illustrations have actually aesthetically and visually very much creeped me out, a bit harsh as an assessment perhaps, but that is indeed the sad truth about how I personally felt when I was reading Isabel Sánchez Vegara's Frida Kahlo and viewing Gee Fan Eng's brightly colourful, expressive but to and for me also completely and utterly strange and yes visually quite horrible pictures. For especially and in particular the manner in which Eng tends to render her human figures, well, they appear as much too rigidly staring, with robot-like faces and unfathomable black holes as eyes. And thus, I personally and certainly do not and cannot consider how Frida Kahlo has been depicted in this book, in Frida Kahlo, as in any way either flattering or positive, for indeed with ALL of Gee Fan Eng's humans, they do seem to present themselves as completely lifeless, doll-like, and not even really all that human in fact, but more like rigidly stylised artificial beings that visually give me the shivers and in no way come even remotely close to celebrating and paying sufficient homage to Frida Kahlo as an artist and as a living and breathing person (as aside from them wearing different types of clothing, all of the illustrated humans in Frida Kohlo have basically been visually drawn and shown by Gee Fan Eng as appearing pretty much the same, with carbon copy facial features that totally seem more like what one would consider and expect in a collection of artificially created machines, with no personal expressions, no internal moods, nothing warm or imbued with actual feeling and passion ever in any manner managing to shine through and express itself).
Combined with the fact that even Isabel Sánchez Vegara's printed words, that the featured narrative of Frida Kahlo is majorly and a bit frustratingly simplistically bare bones, I have most definitely been more than a bit disappointed with and by this book. And while I guess that Frida Kahlo could perhaps somewhat work as a very basic and simple introduction to Frida Kahlo's life, the sad truth that NONE of Frida Kahlo's actual art has been reproduced (or is even in any way sufficiently hinted at with and by Gee Fan Eng in her accompanying illustrations, as even the few illustrations which do feature Frida Kahlo's artwork have the same strange facial expressions that so much bother me) this really does in my opinion not make Frida Kahlo a true introduction to the artist herself, to Frida Kahlo as a working and always striving artist (because to and for me, the majority of the book mostly just relates Frida Kahlo's struggles with her many illnesses, with her accident and while, yes, Frida Kahlo does feature the major tenets of her life, her legacy as an artist is in my opinion woefully under-represented and therefore indeed, the author's text, whilst engaging to a certain extent and interestingly, with empathy and sympathy penned contains not nearly enough about Frida Kahlo's work, is not sufficiently about her life as an artist and well, it also simply cannot erase and all that much mitigate the horrible manner in which Gee Fan Eng has shown and depicted her human figures, which at least to and for me, leave almost everything to be desired). -
Um livrinho infanto-juvenil sobre o percurso de vida de Frida Kahlo com poesia para crianças e ilustrações belíssimas, lido no âmbito do projecto #24horas1livro da Silvéria Miranda.
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Coco Chanel and Frida Kahlo are two of the subjects of Isabel Sánchez Vegara and Ana Albero’s ‘A First Introduction To…’ series of lovely little board books – clearly aimed at the younger reader (or the younger ‘read to’).
Essentially, these and other ‘First Introduction’ books are simplified versions of Vegara / Albero’s ‘My First Little People, Big Dreams’ book series. Both series’ of books provide basic but lovely introductions to the lives and achievements of inspirational women. There are plenty of somewhat predictable candidates in both series’ (and they’re none the worse for that) as well as some more interesting and somewhat unexpected choices too.
These are important, inspirational and empowering books, providing a suitable antidote to, and an antithesis of, the conversely disempowering staple literary diet of gender stereotyping and perpetuating ‘princess’ themed books aimed at younger girls. -
My local bookstore has a new amazing display of children's literature and whenever I'm around I snuck myself in a corner for a couple of minutes and read some children's lit. I'm always picking up nonfiction books because I find it fascinating how knowledge is broken down to make it digestible for kids. Furthermore, it makes me so happy to see how diverse children's books have become. The representation of POC is so much better than when I was a kid. For example, I couldn't believe it when I saw how many "biographies" there were about people outside of the US and Europe.
This time around I opted for a short "biography" about Frida Kahlo since I'm interested in her as a person and the illustrations at hand (by Gee Fan Eng) immediately lured me in. They are so intricate and different from what I'm used to.
It goes without saying that this little book isn't high in information density. We learn that Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico and stood out (due to her looks) since she was a child. Due to a bus accident, she gave up her dream of studying medicine and started painting. After her marriage to fellow painter Diego Rivera and her trip to New York, she was able to experience more with her art and showcase some of it. Due to her declining health she died before her time.
Nonetheless, I highly enjoyed myself whilst reading it (and looking at the beautiful illustrations, of course!). It's definitely an amazing book for its target audience. Kids these days are so lucky! -
This took 10 days to arrive in the mail and I finished it in less than 5 minutes. WORTH IT.
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Det er en sand glæde at opleve, at en markant og stærk kvinde som Frida Kahlo får en platform, hvorfra hun kan være et forbillede for børn i hele verden. Selvom bogen byder på indsigt og lærdom, syner den ikke af lærebog, men mest af alt af lækker kvalitets coffee table book i børneformat.
Jeg skriver meget mere lige her:
https://bookmeupscotty.blogspot.dk/20... -
* I was sent this for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review *
This series aims to inform children about some interesting people who had big dreams and show them that these dreams can be achieved if you try. This particular book focuses on Frida Khalo who I new a fair bit about going into this book. I think if you want to read this then you need to know it's a children's illustrated book and it just scratches the surface, giving you the most important and well-known facts about the person's life. I enjoyed this still, but if you already know about the focus person then it's not as informative.
These books are also all illustrated with lovely artwork and full page spreads. The artwork of this one was vibrant and bright which works really well to tell the story of Khalo (who painted vibrant paintings herself) and I enjoyed this as a whole book. 3*s, recommended if you have children! -
I know from previous classes and other research about Frida Kahlo, that her life was crazy and so were her paintings. I thought that maybe a children's book wouldn't be so intense. The entire book is super cute with illustrations and facts about Frida's life. However, there are two parts of the book that I think are too intense for an easier read book. There is a scene in which Frida gets into a car accident. Her body is laying in the street with blood everywhere - that for me was unexpected and disturbing for the age considered for this book. The other example is the inclusion of one of her paintings in the story. It was illustrated with two women holding hands with their hearts coming out of their chests, blood everywhere and a valve from each woman is connect to the other. It was too much for a child to be reading and there could have been any other painting chosen for this book and it would be much more appropriate. Because of the rest of the book is cute, I would have hard time deciding what age should read this if read at all.
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Frida Kahlo was een vrouw die vanaf haar jonge jaren veel te verwerken kreeg. Ze kreeg kinderverlamming toen ze zes jaar was en op haar achttiende jaar werd de bus waarin ze zat aangereden door een tram. Een stuk stalen leuning drong haar lichaam binnen door haar linkerzij en kwam er langs haar onderlijf weer uit. Haar ribben en bekken waren gebroken, haar slechte been was op elf plaatsen gebroken, ook haar ruggengraat was op diverse plaatsen gebroken en haar voet was verbrijzeld.
Na haar ongeluk moest ze maandenlang in bed blijven en om iets te doen te hebben begon ze haar eigen voeten na te tekenen. Op deze manier werd ze afgeleid van de pijn die ze had. Haar moeder hing spiegels op in haar slaapkamer en zo kon Frida zelfportretten maken.
Lees mijn recensie hier verder:
https://graaggelezen.blogspot.com/201... -
It's a simplified version of Frida's life and a nice way to introduce non fiction picture books to kids. I enjoyed it more than my daughter did but I recon she will see more value in it in a couple of years.
I also appreciated the underlying message of achieving one's dreams no matter where you started. We're happy to have this book on our shelves. -
I like this series and as a Kahlo fan I had to have this volume. It's written in a language which isn't pretentious (unlike Rebel Girls) so it actually is for kids. I just think a bit more info in it would help.
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I liked it. Then again, I love Frida Kahlo. It was quite amusing that all the people looked like thumbs.
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⭐⭐⭐
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3.5/5 ⭐
"Pensaron que yo era surrealista, pero no lo fui. Nunca pinté mis sueños, sólo pinté mi propia realidad."
Pensé que el libro de Frida Khalo de esta serie de libros "Pequeña & Grande" iba a ser uno de mis favoritos y el que mas me gustara, las ilustraciones de estos libros no me gustan y también creo que la historia que cuentan es muy corta se que esta dirigido mas a un publico infantil pero alargarlo un poco mas no afecta tanto.
Frida Khalo es la pintora mas destacada de la historia del arte mexicano y uno de los grandes iconos artísticos del siglo XX. Gracias a sus cuadros-personales y femeninos- y a su asombrosa personalidad-independiente y rebelde-, Frida logro superar la enfermedad y el accidente que marcarían su vida. Un ejemplo de lucha y valentía que hoy sigue inspirando a millones de mujeres.
Frida fue algo más que dolor y angustia. Quiso ser fiel a su arrolladora personalidad y se convirtió en una artista llena de vida. Su pintura es fiesta, color, sangre y vida. Fue una luchadora que decidió ponerse el mundo por montera y una mujer apasionada que no se conformó con estar a la sombra de su gran amor, el pintor Diego Rivera. Frida decidió vivir con intensidad, tanto las desgracias como las alegrías que le deparó la existencia.
También es un icono feminista (o por lo menos para mi como feminista lo es), una artista libre y a pesar de las limitaciones que tenia su cuerpo. Frida contrajo poliomielitis a la edad de 6 años y fue victima de un accidente de trafico a los 18 años, que la dejo discapacitada. Sin embargo, gracias a su pintura pero también a su escritura, su forma de vestir, su estilo inconfundible, a lo largo de los años Frida se ha convertido en un modelo a seguir que ha influido en artistas, músicos y diseñadores.
Como ya dije las ilustraciones no me gustaron, creo que no le hacen justicia a un libro de Frida Khalo, sin embargo la intención de hacer este tipo de ediciones es buena para que las niñas y adolescentes vean que las mujeres también pueden cambiar el mundo a pesar de que solo vean hombres en la mayoría de las industrias del mundo.
Yo se que hay mas mujeres que como Frida convertirán un gran sueño en una gran historia. -
A very simple picture book biography of artist Frida Kahlo.
There are several other picture book biographies of Frida available now, and of all of them, this is my least favorite. It has the least information of all (it leaves out LOTS of facts, but the most glaring is that she and Diego Rivera's marriage didn't last...and in this it seems like he was always there to support her which is misleading, even the note in the back doesn't clarify this or many other things for that matter). The illustration style is weird. It almost looks like the author dressed up thumbs and used them for models of people. My recommendation would be to go read Viva, Frida or even better, Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos instead.
Notes on content: Frida's bus accident is illustrated with her lying in a pool of blood. -
I love this new "Little People, Big Dreams" series. All feature a different woman in history, her achievements, and biographical information you might not already know.
Though the series have the same author, the illustrators vary and also seem to be in touch with the personal style of the individual being featured in the biography. Just take a look at the covers of this as well as the Coco Chanel bio to see the stylized differences.
A beautiful series telling genuine stories about weirdos and outsiders who made a name for themselves because of their authenticity and determination. Can't wait to read them all. -
Little People, Big Dreams is a new series imported from Spain.
"In this new series, discover the lives of outstanding people from designers and artists to scientists. All of them went on to achieve incredible things, yet all of them began life as a little child with a dream. "
I like how they seem to be picking people that may not be the go-to subjects for biographies. These just seem like simple biographies to introduce young readers to these people. I wasn't a fan of the illustrations for the Frida Kahlo bio. The books include a timeline and photos. -
Se que es un libro para que niños/as/es conozcan quien fue pero siento que debio ser narrado de otra forma o que las mismas ilustraciones nos contara y eso no paso
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This is the second book in a great series for children, biographies of women from all over the world. This one has great drawings of Frida Kahlo, and tells the story of her life.
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Wirklich nett gemacht, nur mit fehlt eines ihrer echten Bilder.
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Excelente mini biografía de Kahlo para los más pequeños de la casa.
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A delightful way to introduce my niece to Frida - to the point she knows the story now, and paired it with her visit last year to see a painting in Melbourne, and today's viewing of photo exhibition in Bendigo. We read this again, on the way, at the 2.5yo's request!
Covering some of the key events of Frida's life, this introduces Frida's polio, injuries from the bus accident, her painting, and her emotional 'ups and downs'.
Has sparked an interest in a young mind, which is a delightful outcome as her aunt! -
This book is so cute! A biography for children, this book tells the story of Frida Kahlo from her childhood illness then car accident to her marriage and career in art. The illustrations are rather odd, but likeable, with Frida being the only character to have eyebrows and everyone looking like a thumb.
Frida's trademark eyebrows make this a natural addition to my eyebrows shelf.
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This was adorable! The illustrations were lovely and bright, and it’s a nice introduction for younger kids into Frida’s life I might get some of the others in the series cause the little illustrations are just SO sweet
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZtbh... -
Segundo libro de esta saga de libros para niños, para que puedan conocer de manera grata sobre la vida de diferentes mujeres que hicieron historia porque lograron a ser diferentes a los demás, en este caso le toco a Frida Kahlo.
A pesar que se dice que el lugar que nació Frida que fue en Coyoacán, también hubiese preferido que se agregará que dentro de México se tratará, estás relatando una historia de forma infantil para pequeños, ellos no saben dónde quedan "Coyoacán". -
Ya me había leído una biografía de Frida, así que si esperaba más de este pero no sucedió :c
