VIVA FRIDA
YUYI MORALES
INTRODUCTION
"Viva Frida" is a Caldecott Honor book. It is about Frida Kahlo and unusual artist. The book describes how her artwork was affected and how much pride she holds. The book has few text, but many detailed illustrations. The text is in both spanish and english. The text describes Frida's life as a artist. There is a lot of nature and color involved in the book. At the end of the book there is some background information about Kahlo.
About The Book
The first thing you notice when you open the book is how much bright colors there is. The art can be considered folk because there is a lot of culture involved. The text being in Spanish, the color utilized, and even her wardrobe. The reader is able to see the dress texture in the illustrations. It can also be considered realistic because it involves Frida Kahlo. There is animals involved as well which can be determined as surrealism except they are not doing anything out of the ordinary. The pages go across the page as if it is just one whole picture. There is no borders or spaces it is all just illustrations. I think the author was trying to show the bigger picture. The book can be considered informative because there is not really a theme or any lesson learned. It is more for information or even just entertainment. The text and illustrations work together to provide an understanding of Kahlo's culture. The text is has the english phrase bolded and the Spanish phrases in the background in a lighter color. I think this brings your attention to the multiple languages included. Some artistic mediums that were used are stop motion puppets, digital manipulation, and acrylic paints to create the illustrations. The mediums used helped illustrations to be realistic and really bring out the colors.
Conclusion
"Viva Frida" is a perfect book for any age. I think any reader would enjoy this book. It is easy to follow along. The illustrations are so detailed that there could be more than one point of view. It is one of those books that you can stay on the same page for a while and still feel like it wasn't enough time to identify all the details. There are many different times when this book would be perfect to read. It can also be used to explain diversity or even different art elements. It can also be used in a Spanish class to learn about cultures and languages. I think overall this a great book and I understand the reasons why it won the Caldecott award.
Sources
Yuyi Morales, Marjorie AgosÃn win Pura Belpré Awards. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2016, from http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2015/02/yuyi-morales-marjorie-agos-n-win-pura-belpr-awards
Viva Frida - The Horn Book. (2014). Retrieved February 11, 2016, from http://www.hbook.com/2014/10/blogs/calling-caldecott/viva-frida/#_