An upbeat, inspiring biography of a gifted and forward-thinking designer.
During a period of segregation, Black fashion icon and designer Zelda Wynn Valdes (1901-2001) revolutionized the industry.
As a girl, Zelda loved the “soothing hum” of her grandmother’s sewing machine. She caught the fashion bug early, surprising her grandmother with a beautiful dress she’d designed and sewn by herself. To fulfill her passion, she first worked in her uncle’s dress shop mending and stitching while designing dresses on the side. Her dresses became so popular that she opened “the first Black-owned” boutique in New York City; she served “women of all colors, shapes, and sizes.” As a Black woman, however, Zelda was “cut right out of haute couture” due to racism and sexism. But she persisted by working hard, and she eventually made dresses for celebrities such as Aretha Franklin, Josephine Baker, and Ella Fitzgerald. She designed costumes for the Dance Theatre of Harlem and transformed the field by dyeing ballerinas’ tights to match their skin colors, bringing “a rainbow to the stage.” Zelda mentored other Black artists who wanted to work in fashion, always keeping in mind her dream of “making people beautiful.” Lewis’ cheerful illustrations evoke vintage fashion magazines, chock-full of sketches of bold patterned dresses. In a graceful touch, retro-style endpapers match dresses on both Zelda and her grandmother; one of the patterns also serves as the background for a spread splayed with magazine accolades (“Show Stopping!”) that Zelda received.
An upbeat, inspiring biography of a gifted and forward-thinking designer. (more about Zelda, sources) (Picture-book biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781665918299
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist.
Frida Kahlo’s strong affection for and identification with animals form the lens through which readers view her life and work in this picture-book biography.
Each two-page spread introduces one or more of her pets, comparing her characteristics to theirs and adding biographical details. Confusingly for young readers, the beginning pages reference pets she owned as an adult, yet the illustrations and events referred to come from earlier in her life. Bonito the parrot perches in a tree overlooking young Frida and her family in her childhood home and pops up again later, just before the first mention of Diego Rivera. Granizo, the fawn, another pet from her adult years, is pictured beside a young Frida and her father along with a description of “her life as a little girl.” The author’s note adds important details about Kahlo’s life and her significance as an artist, as well as recommending specific paintings that feature her beloved animals. Expressive acrylic paintings expertly evoke Kahlo’s style and color palette. While young animal lovers will identify with her attachment to her pets and may enjoy learning about the Aztec origins of her Xolo dogs and the meaning of turkeys in ancient Mexico, the book may be of most interest to those who already have an interest in Kahlo’s life.
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4269-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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