“On the right, the Frida Diego loves, / the Frida wearing the Tehuana clothes he likes, / the Frida whose heart is whole, . . . ” (from “The Two Fridas”). Poet Carmen T. Bernier-Grand explores the life of artist Frida Kahlo in probing poems written in Frida’s first-person voice. The result is an arresting, emotional portrait in words. The poems are arranged chronologically in the order of significant events in Kahlo’s life, from her childhood and relationship with her parents, to the bus accident when she was a young woman that left her seriously injured and in chronic pain, to her relationship with and two marriages to painter Diego Rivera, in which she found both healing and hurt. This captivating volume includes reproductions of many of Kahlo’s paintings, arranged to visually relate to images and events referenced in the poems. (Age 11 and older)

Through powerful poems, Carmen Bernier-Grand paints a biographical portrait of the artist Frida Kahlo. The poems depict her parents, her battle with polio as a child, the tragic bus accident that resulted in numerous operations, and her two turbulent marriages to Diego Rivera. The poems are interspersed with Kahlo's own artwork. Author's notes at the end, a chronology of the artist's life, and a glossary provide more detailed information. 2008 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People NCSS-CBC, 2008 Pura Belpré Honor Book, 2008 ALA Notable Book. nlh

"Wearing the white huipil with the lavender tassel,

hiding my amputated leg in red-leather boots,

I wheel the wheelchair to the Blue House studio

that Diego so lovingly built for me.

I dip the brush in blood-red paint
and, embracing life with all its light,
I print on a watermelon cut open--like I am--

¡Viva la vida!--

a hymn to nature and life."

Frida Kahlo, a native of Mexico, is described here in biographical poems accompanied by her own artwork. Both text and images reveal the anguish and joy of her two marriages to muralist Diego Rivera, her life-long suffering from a crippling bus accident, and her thirst for life, even as she tasted death. Her favorite motto was: ¡Viva la vida! (Long live life!)

Back matter includes excerpts from Frida's diary and letters, a prose biography, a chronology of the artist's life, a glossary of Spanish words, sources, and notes.