Frida Kahlo And Her Animalitos by Monica Brown Illustrated by John Parra

 

Title: Frida Kahlo And Her Animalitos  

Author: Monica Brown

Illustrated: John Parra

Genre: Biography, Non-Fiction, Picture-book, Cultural

Major Award: 2018 Pura Belpre

Ages: 4-8 Years Old

Summary:

This book is based on the biography of a Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo in this story is a little girl who grew up to be one of the most famous painters of all time. She lived with many pets. She had two monkeys, a parrot, three dogs, two turkeys, an eagle a black cat, and a fawn. As the book speaks on behalf of her pets, the author does a great job in describing Frida's personality by making personal connections with her pets, as she develops into an artist. Frida Kahlo grew up as well in a blue house in Mexico City with her mom, dad, and sisters. Frida would always spend time as a little girl with her father, and her father who was a photographer showed Frida how to look at the world through curious eyes. In fact, Frida's father also taught her how to paint finishing touches on his photographs. Ever since then, Frida loved to paint. Even, when Frida got ill at the age of six and got into a terrible accident at the age of eight teen, she would use her imagination and curious eyes through her art. When, Frida got married to Diego Rivera, he made a pyramid for her animals to roam freely. Whenever, Frida painted, her pets would give her company. Her pets were like her children, friends and inspiration. Nevertheless, Frida would always be painting for every occasion. She even painted herself with her animals.

Book Evaluation:

1) I would recommend this book to my class because it speaks about the real life of Frida Kahlo and I believe the kids would enjoy this. I also, believe it's a great book for the children to learn about Frida Kahlo's life story. 

2) I would recommend this book to the Pre-Kinder to Third grade level.

3) I would use this book in the unit of Art. I would have the students create their own art, where their art would describe their own personalities.