Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos

Written by Monica Brown, Ph.D.

Narrated by Adriana Sananes

The fascinating Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is remembered for her self-portraits, her dramatic works featuring bold and vibrant colors. Her work brought attention to Mexican and indigenous culture, and she is also renowned for her works celebrating the female form.

Brown's story recounts Frida's beloved pets - two monkeys, a parrot, three dogs, two turkeys, an eagle, a black cat, and a fawn - and playfully considers how Frida embodied many wonderful characteristics of each animal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media Audio
• Release date: Aug 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781974919758

Reviews for Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This unusual biography talks about the life of artist Frida Kahlo by using her pets as an entry point. Kahlo had a large number of pets, including cats, dogs, deer, turkeys, monkeys, etc. These constant companions kept her company when she was confined to bed with illness or injury and became the subjects in many of her works when she took up painting as a result of being bedridden. As the author of this book introduces each pet, she uses them to describe Kahlo as well. For example, the fawn has deep watchful eyes as young Frida learns to be observant while going on outings with her photographer father. Later in life, the monkeys can be mischievous just as Kahlo and her friends at school could sometimes instigated a small amount of trouble. And so on.This style of biography is atypical, but I think it is very fitting for the target audience of young children. Rather than introducing dull dates and random events, the reader becomes fully immersed in Frida's world. By the time she becomes an artist, the reader can see all the influences and steps that lead up to that decision. An author's note at the end provides more factual details and helpfully includes a list of several of Kahlo's artworks featuring her pets for those who want to explore this artist's paintings more.I'm not well enough versed in art to successfully describe the illustration style for this book. The people and animals seem flat rather than three-dimensional, but there are so many bright colors and details on each page spread that the illustrations still manage to jump off the page and catch the reader's eye. While they are clearly their own style, the illustrations do seem to pay homage to Kahlo's art.

[mayravasquez-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a great book for students of any age, from Kinder +. The book describes Frida as her pets. The author uses the pets to describe how Frida was and how they helped her. This is a great book because it can be an introduction to a role model or books that tell about a person.