Today I am sharing with you one of the books that we looked at for Women's History Month. Each year I try to read books about women we have not explored yet. Our first post this year about the Thinking Girls Treasury of Real Princesses shared many new to us women. It was also our official post for the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Women's History Month Series. I also like to expose Hazel to different artists and this book does that. (A few years ago I introduced her to Georgia O'Keeffe for Women's History Month.) I will admit I did not know much about Frida Kahlo before reading this book. The book is Frida Kahlo by Isabel Sanchez Vegara and illustrated by Gee Fan Eng. It is part of the Little People, Big Dreams series.
Frida was born in Mexico in 1907. As a young girl she had an illness that made her leg very skinny and later was injured in an accident. To pass the time in bed she began to draw pictures and she got better at them as the days passed. She started by drawing her foot and then began using a mirror to draw self portraits. After she was healed she decided to show her work to a famous Mexican artist, Diego Rivera. He loved her work as well as fell in love with Frida. The two were married. He encouraged her artwork. She had a show in New York City which caused quite a buzz and when the show came to Mexico she was sick in bed. Her paintings are known for their distinctive Mexican colors and symbols. She did not become famous internationally until after her death.
This story is about the life of a strong woman. She overcame two life crippling obstacles but chose to see beyond them and push herself to do what she wanted. She taught herself how to draw and paint and kept doing it until she mastered it. Her life is a true inspiration for women everywhere and this book brings that inspiration to young children! The story is easy to follow and see what an amazing woman she was and the pictures are fun and have an artist style to them. Overall we liked this book and hope you will check out this story. To see some of Frida Kahlo's work check out the Frida Kahlo Foundation: The Complete Works.
What women are you looking at this month?
