Me, Frida

This biographies style is much different than expected. I thought it would relay more information as a painter and artist but instead it focused on how she felt small compared to her artist husband until one night she sung at a party and she was not kept as a bird on his shoulder anymore, she went home and painted a portrait of her and her husband on their wedding day and included a bird for the freedom she know felt. She made herself small in the portrait and Diego big much like society saw her and once she dumped these feelings into her art she became famous and was put into a woman's art show for her work to be shown to the world. I love the mention of Mexican culture and how she just wanted to fit in and be empowered. The colorful show more illustrations brought this book above and beyond. show less

Frida becomes very upset when she realizes that the people only pay attention to her famous husband, Diego Rivera. She feels like she is someone tiny compared to him. One day she decides to discover her new city of San Francisco and realizes that there is so much more that the world has to offer. This story encourages the reader to just believe in who they are and anything is possible. I enjoyed seeing the picture of the bird that helped build up her career and also using it as a symbol of moving onto higher and greater opportunities.

This book tells the story of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, two artists who became quite famous. But at the time of the story, 1930-1931, the two were living in San Francisco, and only Rivera was well-known. Frida felt lost at first, but started exploring her new surroundings, and finally was inspired by the beauty of the city to begin singing and painting. The text is pleasing and poetic but the artwork is absolutely gorgeous.

Allow me to gush about David Diaz, whose acrylic, charcoal, and varnish paintings on primed linen are outstanding. His imaginative renditions call to mind not only Kahlo herself, but also Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso at various periods in their artistic development. The folkloric renditions are sometimes show more dreamlike with swirling gold and stars, and sometimes more WPA-like with angles and planes. I would be very happy to have any one of the pages framed on my wall. show less

This book takes a non-traditional approach to children's biography. "Me, Frida" shows only one part of Frida's life; it focuses on her struggles and artistic beginnings in San Francisco. Amy Novesky's colorful, compelling book effectively portrays how Frida felt-- like a small woman in her husband Diego Rivera's shadow-- and presents it in an age-appropriate way. My third graders loved this book; it triggered a widespread interest and curiosity about Kahlo, her life, and art.

I think that Me, Frida is a great book. One reason is because the illustrations are extremely bright and interesting, the colors are vibrant and they are other-worldly. This provides interest in the book and I spent a lot of time looking at the pictures. The writing was another point, they even used some Spanish words like café con leche, queirda, and corridos in a context that they can be figured out by non-Spanish speakers. The plot was also great because it described Frida and Diego's excitement for the journey, Frida's troubles being away from home and then her growing into her own fame and finding her own way. So there was a conflict and interest about what may happen to Frida. Overall, the book provides foreign language and show more beautiful pictures to draw the reader into an interesting historical story about real artists. show less

This is a story about Frida Kahlo, and her journey when she moved to San Fransisco with her husband. Her husband, Diego Rivera, was a famous artist and he was very successful in San Fransisco. Frida, who was also an artist, seems to take the backseat when it comes to her husband and his fame. She's in the background at parties, and feels very lonely when she moves to America. Eventually, Frida finds her confidence and starts to find herself as a person. Leading her to success of her own, and on her own terms.

I thought this book was illustrated beautilfully, and the story was nice, but I think they made Frida seem very weak. This book made Frida seem like she only became an artist when she moved to America, when really she was an artist show more far before she even met her husband. I think the author should have made her a stronger character because that is how she was as a person. I did love how the book was similar to Frida's art-style in real life. Though this book was trying to pack a lot of information together, in a child-friendly way, it did an average job of representing who Frida was. show less

The illustrations in this book were very artistic and complimented Frida's own artistic style. I liked this stories honesty. After Frida and Diego moved from Mexico to San Francisco, the story reveals that Frida was not impressed with San Diego's skyscrapers, yet her husband Diego was impressed and felt empowered by everything he saw. The book focused a lot on Frida's unhappiness, such as her not speaking English and feeling lonely without friends, even going as far as to mention that no one ever looked at her while her husband was showered with attention due to his artistic accomplishments. Many readers should be able to relate to this story--I believe every person knows what it feels like to be left or feel lonely. It was nice to see show more her achieve her own artistic endeavors that were met with enthusiasm at the end of the story. I especially liked the last line of the book that revealed people eventually "stared at her in wonder" too. show less