1. Bibliography
Bernier-Grand, Carmen T. 2007. Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life!. Tarrytown, New York: Marshall Cavendish. ISBN978-0-7614-5336-9.
2. Plot summary
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, was born in Coyoacán, Mexico in 1907. Mexican on her father’s side and German on her mother’s, she preferred to be called by the German Frida; meaning peace. Crippled by polio at age six she would always be self-conscious of her shriveled right leg. A free-spirit and voracious reader Frida began to paint after a bus accident at age 17 left her “enclosed in a cast/it hurts a lot to laugh with carcajadas/Spinal column broken in two places/pelvis in three/ ribs in two/ right leg in seven/left elbow dislocated/deep abdominal wounds.” Married twice to her mentor Diego Kahlo, 21 years her senior, and suffering her entire life from the painful effects of polio and the bus accident, Frida Kahlo painted through her pain the beauty and degradation by outside influences of her beloved Mexico. She is remembered today as one of the greatest; most recognized painters who ever lived.
3. Critical analysis
The life of Frida Kahlo comes alive in Bernier-Grand’s free-verse poetry. Spotlighting the main turning points of Kahlo’s life; the poetry is highlighted with full-page reproductions of Kahlo’s paintings and photographs of the artist. Although she moved to the United States and painted there for many years, Frida loved Mexico and its culture. She continued, throughout her life, to paint what she saw as the American misunderstanding and exploitation of Mexican people and their culture. Many cultural markers are included in the text and in the reproductions of Kahlo’s paintings. The author uses Spanish phrases throughout to emphasize Kahlo’s life as a transplanted Mexican. Frida half-jokingly calls her mother “mi jefe” (my chief) and describes her as a “dark-skinned Tinker Bell from Oaxaca.” The paintings used in the book are vivid depictions of all things Mexican; Frida dressed in a beautiful black and gold Tehuana dress, the Mexican people themselves from peasants to the very wealthy, food, flowers, and animals native to Mexico, and the peaceful landscapes and buildings of Mexico set in contrast to the U.S. with its machinery and factories pouring smoke into the air. In one poem the author describes the difference between Frida and the American women she meets when she arrives in San Francisco; “women in slinky dresses and pert little hats/stare at my frilly skirts, my sun-shaped earrings/ the ribbons of purple light adorning my braided hair.” A 2008 Pura Belpré honor book Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life! includes a chronology of Frida Kahlo’s life and a glossary for translating the Spanish phrases used in the text to English
4. Review excerpt
Booklist Online: “As in her Pura Belpré Honor Book Cesar: Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! (2005), Bernier-Grand introduces a famous life with lyrical free-verse poems. Nearly every double-page spread pairs a well-reproduced painting by Frida Kahlo with an original poem that defines turning points in the artist’s life. Bernier-Grand’s words expertly extend the autobiographical imagery so evident in the art. A poem about Kahlo’s family tensions appears opposite a painting of a very young Kahlo, standing naked and vulnerable beneath portraits of her family. Later pages focus on Kahlo’s tumultuous marriage to Diego Rivera. The lines of poetry capture the images’ themes of anguished love with the rhythm of an obsessive chant, alternating with a colder, more rational voice: “Diego my child Diego my lover Diego my husband. / (Diego has never been and never will be anyone’s husband.) / Diego my mother Diego my father Diego my son.” Readers who aren’t familiar with Kahlo’s life will want to begin with the appended quotes from Kahlo, the prose biography, and the chronology to glean more meaning from the poems’ sometimes oblique references. As in Stephanie Hemphill’s Your Own, Sylvia (2007) and Margarita Engle’s The Poet Slave of Cuba (2006), the poems here artfully imagine a famous figure’s heart and mind and push readers to wonder how words can capture the essence of a life.”
5. Connections
Reader’s advisory read-alike suggestions:
My Name Is Gabito/Mi Llamo Gabito: The Life of Gabriel Garcia Marquez/La Vida De Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Monica Brown
The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle
Bernier-Grand, Carmen T. 2007. Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life!. Tarrytown, New York: Marshall Cavendish. ISBN978-0-7614-5336-9.
2. Plot summary
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, was born in Coyoacán, Mexico in 1907. Mexican on her father’s side and German on her mother’s, she preferred to be called by the German Frida; meaning peace. Crippled by polio at age six she would always be self-conscious of her shriveled right leg. A free-spirit and voracious reader Frida began to paint after a bus accident at age 17 left her “enclosed in a cast/it hurts a lot to laugh with carcajadas/Spinal column broken in two places/pelvis in three/ ribs in two/ right leg in seven/left elbow dislocated/deep abdominal wounds.” Married twice to her mentor Diego Kahlo, 21 years her senior, and suffering her entire life from the painful effects of polio and the bus accident, Frida Kahlo painted through her pain the beauty and degradation by outside influences of her beloved Mexico. She is remembered today as one of the greatest; most recognized painters who ever lived.
3. Critical analysis
The life of Frida Kahlo comes alive in Bernier-Grand’s free-verse poetry. Spotlighting the main turning points of Kahlo’s life; the poetry is highlighted with full-page reproductions of Kahlo’s paintings and photographs of the artist. Although she moved to the United States and painted there for many years, Frida loved Mexico and its culture. She continued, throughout her life, to paint what she saw as the American misunderstanding and exploitation of Mexican people and their culture. Many cultural markers are included in the text and in the reproductions of Kahlo’s paintings. The author uses Spanish phrases throughout to emphasize Kahlo’s life as a transplanted Mexican. Frida half-jokingly calls her mother “mi jefe” (my chief) and describes her as a “dark-skinned Tinker Bell from Oaxaca.” The paintings used in the book are vivid depictions of all things Mexican; Frida dressed in a beautiful black and gold Tehuana dress, the Mexican people themselves from peasants to the very wealthy, food, flowers, and animals native to Mexico, and the peaceful landscapes and buildings of Mexico set in contrast to the U.S. with its machinery and factories pouring smoke into the air. In one poem the author describes the difference between Frida and the American women she meets when she arrives in San Francisco; “women in slinky dresses and pert little hats/stare at my frilly skirts, my sun-shaped earrings/ the ribbons of purple light adorning my braided hair.” A 2008 Pura Belpré honor book Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life! includes a chronology of Frida Kahlo’s life and a glossary for translating the Spanish phrases used in the text to English
4. Review excerpt
Booklist Online: “As in her Pura Belpré Honor Book Cesar: Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! (2005), Bernier-Grand introduces a famous life with lyrical free-verse poems. Nearly every double-page spread pairs a well-reproduced painting by Frida Kahlo with an original poem that defines turning points in the artist’s life. Bernier-Grand’s words expertly extend the autobiographical imagery so evident in the art. A poem about Kahlo’s family tensions appears opposite a painting of a very young Kahlo, standing naked and vulnerable beneath portraits of her family. Later pages focus on Kahlo’s tumultuous marriage to Diego Rivera. The lines of poetry capture the images’ themes of anguished love with the rhythm of an obsessive chant, alternating with a colder, more rational voice: “Diego my child Diego my lover Diego my husband. / (Diego has never been and never will be anyone’s husband.) / Diego my mother Diego my father Diego my son.” Readers who aren’t familiar with Kahlo’s life will want to begin with the appended quotes from Kahlo, the prose biography, and the chronology to glean more meaning from the poems’ sometimes oblique references. As in Stephanie Hemphill’s Your Own, Sylvia (2007) and Margarita Engle’s The Poet Slave of Cuba (2006), the poems here artfully imagine a famous figure’s heart and mind and push readers to wonder how words can capture the essence of a life.”
5. Connections
Reader’s advisory read-alike suggestions:
My Name Is Gabito/Mi Llamo Gabito: The Life of Gabriel Garcia Marquez/La Vida De Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Monica Brown
The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle
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