Viva Frida

My favorite time of year has just passed - the announcements of the ALA Media Awards!  I love those few days before the awards are announced, when all over the United States librarians, bloggers, children and adults who love children's books are buzzing about their favorite titles.  Authors and illustrators are hoping their phones will ring at some ungodly hour of the morning.  Mock lists are popping up all around the Internet.  And then I love those days after the winners are announced, as those lucky authors and illustrators who have gotten the phone calls retell how it happened and how they felt, and we all rejoice with them.  I haven't heard how Yuyi Morales felt when she got her phone calls, announcing her as the winner of a Caldecott Honor Award and the Pura Belpre Illustrator Award.  But this book, Viva Frida, is a work of art and magic, and I am thrilled to share it with you!

I will tell you right up front that I was lucky enough to discover Viva Frida this summer, through my reviewing assignment from School Library Journal.  Ordinarily, I would never try to review a book on my blog that I had already reviewed for SLJ.  However, once I read this one, and saw how gorgeous it was, I wanted to write about it here.  It also fits so nicely with my interest in books that represent the Hispanic culture.  And once I knew that SLJ editors agreed with my assessment that this was a truly special book, I had to ask for permission to write about it.  I was so happy that SLJ agreed!

And I intended to write about it long ago, but as often happens around here, other books shouted more loudly than this quiet, dreamy stunner.  I even set it aside two weeks ago, to try and get a review written ahead of the awards I knew it would earn.  That obviously didn't happen either!  But it hasn't been forgotten, and I am taking the opportunity to celebrate it now.

You can tell from the woman gazing serenely from the cover of Viva Frida that this book is about Frida Kahlo. Many of the hallmarks are present in that initial shot - her monobrow, her bright, festive clothing, the knowing gaze, papel picado, and updone hair.  The cover image is of Frida, alone and isolated, on a background of scattered flowers.  But while she is alone, her eyes meet the reader's gaze, and you can tell that her secret life comforts her.

The magic starts right from the cover illustration.  By the way, I want to thank Roaring Brook Press for including the list of media Yuyi Morales used in creating this title.  There is no way I could have guessed at all of the techniques she used, including: "stop-motion puppets made from steel, polymer clay, and wool, acrylic paints, photography, and digital manipulation."  Those of you who are regular readers of my blog know that I am fascinated by the art used  to create books, and this one is no exception.  The cover model of Frida is a puppet, but again, her gaze is so human, so present.  It is uncanny.

I am really going to try not to describe every page to you in this post.  It's difficult because they are so layered, so glorious.  It is also difficult not to want to describe each page's illustrations because that is where so much of the plot takes place.  For example, the title page shows Frida's desk, with a sketch, little stoppered bottles, an unfurled piece of leather and brushes. Also, just peering over the top edge of the desk is an inquisitive monkey, holding out a silver key in an enticing manner.  The monkey could be stealing the key off the desk, or holding it out for Frida to take.  Regardless, it is there that the "story" begins. 

As I mentioned before, the story line is primarily conveyed visually.  The text is bilingual, and comprised of "I statements" about Frida and her drive to create.  It is spare, with only two or three words per double-paged spread.  The text draws you into Frida's mind, heart and soul.  "I play/I know/I dream."  The text is poetic, and floats in space visually, leaving the reader plenty of room to admire the result of Frida's creativity.  The English words are in a heavy black font, with the Spanish equivalent hovering above in a ghostly gray or white.  The effect is dreamy.


To add to the text are Morales' illustrations.  For those of us familiar with Kahlo's life story and artistic themes, the book is instantly recognizable.  Diego Rivera is shown working in his overalls, sharing an artistic space with her.  As Frida explores her own creativity, you see her animals surrounding her, playing with her.   At one point, she and that endearing monkey get out a skeleton puppet to play with, as that monkey tangles in the strings.  Halfway through the book, at the moment when the text reads "Sueño= I dream", the art changes.  In the first half, the illustrations are clearly realistic representations of Frida's life.  Frida and Diego are puppets and their studio space and actions are clearly based in the tangible world.  But as soon as Frida begins to dream, things shift.  Frida's eyes are closed, and her animal companions stare transfixed at painted versions of Frida soaring above her own dreaming head.  As the pages continue, more and more of each spread is created through paintings.  The soaring Frida sees a fawn whose leg has been pierced by an arrow.  She swoops down to rescue it, and of course it returns to her "real life" with Frida, to become part of her menagerie.

In one of the last spreads, Frida says "que amo = that I love".  It is my favorite picture - Frida's eyes are closed in contentment, Diego kissing her on the cheek while the animals also look on in adoration.  And because Frida loves, she also creates, something that is so engrained in her soul, in her personality.  Frida is creativity.

There is an author's note at the end of the book, called "My Frida Kahlo".  It is written in both English and Spanish.  I love this author's note because I think it brings Kahlo's deeply thematic, layered work to life for young readers.  Morales admits "When I was younger, I often found her paintings tortuous and difficult to understand."  That simple statement allows readers to realize that admiring someone's art doesn't mean you always have to understand it.  Morales gives some basic facts about Kahlo's life and art in this note before showing how much Frida Kahlo inspired her: "Did she know how many artists she influenced with her courage and her ability to overcome her own limitations?"

Another thing I love about this book is its flexibility.  For those who know nothing about Kahlo's life, it can stand as poetry, as a self-affirmation.  It can be shared with young readers as part of an art appreciation unit, or during Hispanic Heritage or Women's History Months.  But for the older reader in a high school art class, or for someone who has studied Frida Kahlo's biography, the book really shines. There are so many layers to the art included here, so many things to discuss in the words and pictures I could go on and on.  It is so lucky for all of us that Yuyi Morales chose Frida Kahlo new life here.  It is magic you'll never forget.

Viva Frida.  Yuyi Morales; photography by Tim O'Meara.  Roaring Brook Press, 2014.

sent by publisher through School Library Journal

De Colores

The Mexican folk song "De Colores" is popular and has existed since the 16th century, according to David Diaz's picture book.  It has always been a favorite song of mine.  As a middle and high schooler, my parents participated in a series of Catholic retreats called Cursillo.  And as part of the Cursillo community, my sister, brother and I were...coerced into helping out with a small part of the retreat.  And during the time we were there, we sang "De Colores" over and over and over again.  Its infectious rhythms and joyous themes are part of the reason it has continued to live on in Hispanic culture.  In fact, just today I saw it on Disney Junior, as part of "A Poem is...", retold by Jessica Alba.  It is joyous and just plain fun to sing or say.  In this picture book version, David Diaz captures the joy, peace, love and harmony of the song's spirit.

From the cover illustration, it is obvious what this book is about - there are seven people on the front cover, all with their heads tipped back in song.  On each subsequent page, stanzas of the song are printed in Spanish, then translated into English.  I always appreciate the difficulty of translating music and poetry into another language - here Diaz has to be very careful to not only bring across the intent of the words, but he must also adhere to the musical structure as well.  It's very tricky, but Diaz does it beautifully.  The words flow nicely and can be sung to the same tune.

The chorus "Y por eso los grandes amores de muchos colores me gustan a mí" is translated to "And a bright love has found us with peace all around us that makes our heart sing".  That joyful feeling of peace, love and happiness is evident throughout this book.  On many pages, the human characters are floating through air.  They seem weightless - gravity doesn't apply to them.  And I mean gravity in both senses of the word.  They soar through the air, serene, content, free of burdens or worries.  These people bask in the "the bright love (that) has found us."  The sky behind them is a pure, rich cerulean blue with some hazy clouds to break up the expanse.  As the song continues, each of these human characters embraces that bright love.  This love is shown through the large hearts that begin to cover each character's torsos.  By the end of the book, the people are firmly on the ground, in a large circle, arms around each other and each with the love in their hearts visible on their shirts.

Part of the song that I love in Spanish is when the verses imitate the barnyard birds.  They have a charming onomatopoeia all their own.  For example, when the rooster sings "canta el gallo con el quirí, quirí, quirí, quirí, quirí".  The words are fun to sing and a little tongue-twisting.  What I also like about using the Spanish is that it is so different from our "cock-a-doodle-doo", yet the Spanish word still has some of the familiar rooster crow to it.  By the way, if this starts a conversation about animal sounds in different languages, the website Bzzzpeek is a fun way to compare animal sounds around the world.

Although I've talked briefly about the illustrations, I want to describe my favorite illustration to you.  It depicts the verse "de colores es el arco iris que vemos lucir/bright with colors the rainbow brings joy with the glory of spring".  Across two-thirds of the page, an enormous rainbow spreads.  The colors are more pastel than primary, with a chalky texture to them.  As is true throughout the book, texture is fundamental here.  Four figures are placed across the page.  Each one could be taken for either an angel or a beautiful flower.  Their faces are surrounded by halos of golden yellow petals alternating with different, repeating design elements on each halo.  They have green petals poking out from their shoulders, representing wings.  The angel/flowers' faces have warm, beatific smiles.  Two are clearly relishing the warmth of the sun with eyes closed.  It is a perfect embodiment of "De Colores" - with peace, bright love and happiness.  I love the joy in this particular illustration.

Even the endpapers in this story are purposefully included in Diaz's artistic vision.  The front endpaper shows the world on one side.  It is seen from the evening sky, a peaceful blue color.  Some stars twinkle and the moon slumbers with a contented smile.  It is a lovely scene.  This scene is static, though you don't notice that until you see the back endpaper.  On that page, the design is the same, with Earth on one side and the slumbering, beatific moon on the other.  But now the globe is surrounded by characters from the book (with their hearts still visible) holding hands and encircling Earth with love.  A perfect ending.
This book includes a brief page of information on the folksong and the sheet music for the song as well.  The page of information goes on to explain that there are multiple versions of this folksong.  The version that I grew up with included an İOlé! at the end of each verse.  It added some vibrancy to this joyous folksong.  I love this picture book version of De Colores, so I'll just end with an İOlé!

De Colores = Bright with colors.  Pictures by David Diaz.  Marshall Cavendish, 2008.

borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library

Diego Rivera

I know I have said before how important I think Hispanic literature is for children, and I've brought your attention to several books (including The Cazuela the Farm Maiden Stirred).  I find that there isn't always a lot of attention brought to these books, and I want to make sure I do my part.  That's why I was so excited to see Diego Rivera on my Cybils Non-Fiction Picture Book nomination list.  I had also seen it mentioned previously on some of my regular blogs, but hadn't been able to get my hands on it.  So when it finally landed in my mailbox as part of the Cybils, I was thrilled!!  And then it won the Pura Belpre Award for Illustration in the ALA Youth Media Awards announcements.  And now I can't wait to share it with you!

This book is not your traditional biography, and Duncan Tonatiuh shows a deft, sure hand while describing Rivera's life.  He chooses to focus almost exclusively on Rivera's artistic life in this book, so there is no mention of (or place for) his equally famous wife, Frida Kahlo.  It's an interesting counterpoint to Me, Frida, which I reviewed here last year.  However, Tonatiuh find a way to include detail about Rivera's interests and life without overwhelming the reader.  The text is brief and clear.  Young readers will have no problem following the line of thought.  One of the things I admire most about Tonatiuh's writing  is the way he defines artistic styles within his text.  The definitions are concise, natural and contextual.  For instance, "There he learned the classical way to paint, which means his finished paintings looked very realistic, almost like photographs." (p. 2)  The tone keeps this accessible, so readers won't stumble over unfamiliar terms.

But what makes this book feel very fresh and intriguing is indicated in the subtitle: His World and Ours.  After the biographical part of the book, Tonatiuh asks readers to imagine what Rivera would find culturally significant and inspiring in today's society.  This question requires those readers to not only look critically at our society, but to apply what they have learned previously about Diego Rivera as well.  What interested him in his own society?  This takes passively learned knowledge to the next level.  It also makes the book applicable to any grade child or almost any classroom.  It's just as useful in a social studies unit as an art classroom or a history lesson on Mexico.  This book is incredibly flexible.

Then Tonatiuh takes this concept up another notch.  He compares our society to Rivera's paintings in side-by-side comparisons, cleverly positioning contemporary people to seem like those from the past.  After all, as he notes, "Diego's murals teach us about the past.  But they also show a better future for common people." (p. 28)  This is a textually strong book, and it also has great informative back matter.  It includes a well-written glossary, an author's note with expanded biographical information, bibliography, and a list of places you can see Rivera's work, both in and outside of the United States.

I haven't really talked about the illustrations so far in the review, but rest assured that the Belpre Award for Illustration is well deserved here (he also won a Honor in 2011).  Tonatiuh does an amazing job of echoing Rivera's style without abandoning his own artistic leanings.  His faces are perfectly rounded, with sharp lips and sloping noses.  As you can see from the cover image above, Diego Rivera is perfectly recognizable in the foreground, even though it is done in Tonatiuh's own style.  In the author's note, he describes how both he and Rivera were inspired by ancient Pre-Columbian and Mayan art.  It is fascinating to see how well Rivera's style melds with Tonatiuh's own.  A final piece of back matter that I found very useful is the Inspirations piece.  There is a list of page numbers for the illustrations in the book, along with the murals or paintings that Rivera did that inspired Tonatiuh's illustrations.  He includes the size of the murals, yet another way of emphasizing the enormity of Rivera's imagination and work.

His artistic style for this book is unusual and thoughtful.  On the back of the title page, it is noted "The artwork in this book was hand-drawn, then collaged digitally."  This is a fascinating combination, especially in light of the historic influences on both of their work.  For instance, on a set of book shelves, most books are hand-drawn.  But then there are also a few, scattered about, that are clearly "real" books.  These help add depth and texture to the illustrations.  Sometimes the collaged parts are immediately visible in framing elements; sometimes they are more subtle, such as the hair of one of the figures.  The collaged elements also help draw a connection between ancient and modern society.

All in all, this book cannot be missed.  Its unique combination of artistic styles and its ability to bring a historical figure into today's society is phenomenal.  It is also a valuable book for schools and classrooms.  Do yourself a favor and investigate this one.

Diego Rivera: His World and Ours.  Duncan Tonatiuh.  Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2011.

given by publisher for review in conjunction with Cybils.



The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred

Seems like I have quite a few picture books to blog about - get ready for some posts on great books, both old and new!  And in the pipeline is another Alice book blog and some nonfiction picture books too, so there's a lot to look forward to this fall!

I think you can tell by now that I have a fondness for Hispanic authors and stories (If you haven't thought about that before, there's reviews here and here.  I've lived in San Diego and the Phoenix area, so I am definitely interested in talking about these books and seeing them succeed.  So I'm here to introduce you to one of the books that has already been mentioned as an outstanding picture book this year.  I'm hopeful it will at least win a Pura Belpre award, if not a Caldecott, too!

The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred is set up in a cumulative rhyme pattern.  I know preschool and primary grade teachers salivate when they hear that a new book is written in a cumulative pattern.  At my old library, we put together themed boxes of books for teachers.  We dreaded seeing "cumulative books" on the request slip.  There is no easy way to search for these books since there isn't really a subject heading.  You would have to rely on web bibliographies or your own memory to find these books.  For those of you who might not know what a cumulative book is, it's a book that is constructed like the nursery rhyme "The House that Jack Built", where things are added on with each stanza, but the stanza is primarily a retelling of everything that's come before.  It's always worth mentioning when a book works successfully in this pattern.

It begins, of course, with the farm maiden, who is leaping on the title page as she begins the stirring.  Each page introduces both an animal and the ingredient they are adding to the pot in English (the majority of the text is in English).  On subsequent pages, the animal and the ingredient are incorporated into the text in Spanish.  Vamos uses the text itself to emphasize the Spanish words - each noun is at the end of a line, formatted in bold, larger text.  It draws your attention to the Spanish vocabulary.  For non-Spanish speakers, there is a certain amount of comfort in the fact that they have already seen the word in English.  That way parent can point to the animal or ingredient when it is repeated in Spanish.  Also included for non-Spanish speakers is a glossary with pronunciations located at the end of the story.
Speaking of the end of the story, once all of the animals (and a farmer) have added their ingredients to the farm maiden's pot, they have made a traditional Hispanic dish, arroz con leche.  All the animals, farm maiden and farmer enjoy it together in what the jacket flap calls "a bilingual celebration of community and food".  It truly is a celebration, and all of them have given their time and work to make this delicious dish.  Vamos has also included a recipe for arroz con leche (good to know for schools or families who like to present a book and then cook together).

But as much fun as the rhyme is, the illustrations take its exuberance to a higher level.  Lopez chose warm yellows, browns, oranges and reds that evoke a desert landscape.  There is so much to look at in these illustrations for viewers.  There are animals everywhere, interacting with each other in funny ways.  The goat wears a large chef's hat as the cow gives him instructions as the farm maiden milks her.  As the arroz con leche cooks to its finale, all the animals peer longingly into the pot.  The farmer and farm maiden's clothing and home add to the rustic feel of this book.  Everyone is happy to work together and equally happy to eat up their hard work.  Texture is drawn into the illustrations with swirls, dashes and dots.  However, Lopez also uses the background texture of the grained wood he created his paintings on to good effect.  He is expert at evoking smell, movement and emotion in his art.
This book is luscious and highly recommended.  I only hope the committees appreciate this as much as I do!

The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred.  Samantha R. Vamos; illustrated by Rafael Lopez.  Charlesbridge, 2011.

borrowed from Lewis & Clark library