FRIDA KAHLO

The Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is a surprisingly popular subject for young people. This engaging essay is written as if it were a school report by a girl named Frieda and illustrated not only with reproductions of Kahlo’s own paintings but with scenes from her life imagined by the inimitable dePaola. He uses borders and backgrounds in Kahlo’s colors to intensify the text to good effect. Kahlo’s poor health, her self-absorption, her marriage to the muralist Diego Rivera are all reported as a child might actually research them, and the student’s voice is sharp and clear. Frith’s straightforward presentation of Kahlo’s passionate and unusual way of seeing the whole world in her self-portraits is commendable. If only some sort of bibliography or notes were included to aid Frieda’s fellow researchers. (Picture book/biography. 6-9)