Ana JuanCritiques

Elena wants to be a glassblower like her dad and when she goes to ask her Dad if he can teach her he says no. Elena goes out of her way to go on a journey and learn from someone else. She goes to Monterrey and gets taught. Then comes back in disguised as a grown up to show her dad her new glassblowing skills and tricks him. This is great to show a class because of the beautiful illustrations and the hilarious story

A sweet and inventive book with nice illustrations full of surprises the kids love to pick out. A kind, brave, feisty, clever heroine.

A story about Frida Kahlo with dreamlike illustrations this is a shorts simple book. This is a great read for younger children.

This is a great book to help young children learn about one of the most influential artist from Mexico. What I love the most about the book is the art work. The illustrator, Ana Juan, does an amazing job of using Frida's unique painting style to illustrate her life in this biography. This is an easy read that helps young readers see Fridas struggles and her emotions through the use of beautiful illustrations.

Frida is a simple, but great book. Winter does a great job of discussing the more tragic events of Frida's life in a way that is accurate, but not too dark for children. The illustrations are also incredibly unique and vibrant. The book also mentions many aspects of Mexican culture and art.

Beautifully illustrated, and a charming story. I really loved the glass-blowing aspect, and magical unexpected music -- unusual and delightful.

This book was about how when someone wants to do something, if they put their mind to it, they can do it. I really liked this book for many reasons. The first reason is the language. It was in English but certain words were in Spanish. For example, "El sol blazes like Papa's furnace, and the road is long." The writing was very engaging and was very well paced. I also really enjoyed the illustrations. They were very detailed and helped to enhance the story. The last reason why I loved the book was that it pushed readers to think about tough issues. All the people in the story doubted Elena because she was a girl. Many girls in today's world are doubted just because they are female and apparently are not capable. I loved how in this story, Elena proved that to be false.

This book takes the very adult content of Frida Kahlo’s hardships and translates them into a biography for children. Frida's life had not been easy; she suffered from an illness at a young age and then a horrible bus accident in her teens. Constantly confined to her bed Frida escaped into the world of her art; drawing and painting the pain she felt instead of showing them. The illustrations of the book mirror the style of Kahlo’s own art. For the classroom, I would say that this book would be excellent to use for History.

This was a very informative version of Frida Kahlo's life filled with beautiful illustrations. It begins by sharing the story of her childhood in Mexico, and how she always felt a sense of loneliness. It goes on to describe how she fell ill and how art kept her from being lonely. Later in her life, she was in a terrible accident. Her life was quickly turned around because of art. It saved her from sadness and loneliness.

Every morning the night eater runs through the sky gobbling up all the darkness. One day he doesn't come and everyone is worried about who will take the night away in the morning.

This book takes the very adult content of Frida Kahlo’s hardships and translates them into a book for children. It focuses on how Frida channeled the emotions from each hardship into her art. I think this book would be excellent to share with a child going through their own hardship. The illustrations are very whimsical and imaginative, which is fitting for a biography about Frida Kahlo. This is also good for a multicultural addition to a class library because it is full of Hispanic heritage.

I liked this biographical book. The writing is the first thing I noticed. It doesn’t seem like a normal, informational biography. For the young audience, it seemed like it was turned into more of a story than simple facts about Frida’s life. Instead of saying something like “At age six, Frida fell ill with polio,” the story said, “All of the sudden, Frida falls very ill.” The author even mentions, “Even her imaginary friend can’t cheer her on.” In giving more emotion to the story of her life, the author does seem a bit biased and supportive toward the artist’s life, but it does make it more interesting for readers. Making the biography more of a story, it adds more plot, another aspect of why I liked this book. The growth in emotional attachment to Frida makes the suspense rise in points of the book such as when younger Frida falls sick or when older Frida gets into the accident. Overall, the message or idea is to inform readers about Frida Kahlo’s life. It was done so in a short, story-like manner to better appeal to a younger audience.

This book covers both the hard and wonderful parts of Frida Kahlo's life. She had a tough upbringing and I enjoyed that it was shown to be tough and not sugar coated, although it is not so horrible as to frighten or shock the children you are reading to. The illustrations are really wonderful and many of the characters in her paintings and her paintings are shown so one can truly see where her inspiration comes from. Because it comes in both Spanish and English ti makes a great book for an ESL classroom where students can experience both languages.

an all spanish book that discusses the life of a little artist girl.
6 book

Summary:
This simple picture book depicts the larger-than-life artist Frida Kahlo’s life, including the many tragedies she had experienced. While explaining Kahlo’s hardships, the author, Ana Juan, remains positive and upbeat, describing Frida’s unique style of painting as a way to overcome pain and sadness.

Personal reaction:
I’ve always been intrigued by Frida Kahlo. This book was refreshing because it was honest and described the hardships Kahlo faced, but didn’t dwell on them. Instead, the author walked through Kahlo’s techniques and style and explained how art brought Kahlo through these tragedies.

Classroom extension:
1) Frida Kahlo is one of many popular artists. First, divide the class in groups of four, providing an iPad, markers, and poster board to each group. Then, have each group research an artist and create a poster promoting the artist for a gallery event. Encourage each group to include photos of the artist’s work on their posters. Then, have the groups present their posters and hang them around the classroom.

2) Frida mainly painted self-portraits. Giving students watercolors, allow them to create their own self-portraits.

Frida- Is a creative book over the appreciation of art history and Mexican culture and art. A good read for a cultural themed lesson or over elements of painting and art. I would recommend this story but I will say that finding an extension activity may be challenging. A informative read.

Frida is the story of Frida Kahlo, the hispanic artist most famous for her self-portraits. The story tells of her life and her hardships struggling with disability and friendship. This is a good story to teach students hope, perserverence, and nothing stopping you from following your dreams.

This book taught me a lot more about Frida that I did not know about. I enjoyed reading it and thought the illustrations were wonderful.

Frida by Jonah Winter was a visually pleasing biography. I enjoyed this book so much because of the Illustrations and the text. The Illustrations were beautiful. They enriched the story in three ways. First, by following the story line. For example, on page four the author states how often Frida was lonely even though she had six sisters. On this page Frida was sitting alone and her sisters and mother were far way in the back of the room. This visually showed Frida’s loneliness. Second, by adding elements from Frida’s famous artwork in the book. On page 17 the bed from Without Hope is represented. Finally, incorporating her Mexican culture. On page six, the moon has long black hair with the ribbons that are white, green and red. These are the colors from the Mexican flag. I enjoyed the text in this story because of the placement. The pages in this book are very busy with different elements of art. The author placed the text to flow with the illustrations so the page isn’t overwhelming to look at. For example, on page 26, the text in placed on Frida’s pallet. If you were to remove the pallet the text would be in a pallet shape. The main message of this story is being creative and following your dreams and keeps hope alive.

Delicious illustrations. This is a story about a creature whose responsibility is to eat the night away so that there is sun on earth. The moon criticizes him, alluding to the fact that he's getting fat, and he decides not to eat the night anymore. Of course, the unpleasant consequences of never-ending night on earth leads him to decide that he has a very important job and gets back to it. I could relate!

I have the tendency (very immature, actually) to quit if someone doesn't like what I'm doing. I can learn from the Night Eater.

I loved Elena’s Serenade. It was a great story about a little girl who wanted to become a glass blower, but her dad wouldn’t let her because she was a girl. Therefore, she disguised herself as a boy and left home on a journey to become a glass blower. One thing I really enjoyed about the story was its message. Though it is a fictitious story, it shows that girls can do anything boys can do and defies gender stereotyping in the types of jobs people have. Also, I enjoyed the illustrations. I can’t tell what medium was used to create the illustrations, but I loved the detail and bright colors throughout them because they really enhanced the story. Finally, I loved the emphasis on Hispanic and Latin culture. Elena lives in Mexico, so the setting and culture is different than what many students in America know, so this book would definitely help broaden their horizons on it.
I would recommend this story for early readers K-2 because it’s a fun and heartwarming story with beautiful illustrations that young kids would love to hear in a read aloud.

Jonah Winter strikes again with this beautiful book about the life of Frida Kahlo. This book provides both English and Spanish elements which are a great multicultural inclusion for readers. In addition the illustrations were perfect and reflected those of Frida herself, as well as depicting parts of her life perfectly, and that iconic unibrow.

Elena wants to become a glass blower in Mexico like her father but she is constantly told she is too small. She goes on a magical journey and finds herself where all of the great glassblowers are. She meets many exotic animals along the way.
Students can learn about another culture, living your dreams.

K-3

In my opinion, this is a great multicultural book that addresses gender stereotypes and cultural aspects of Mexican heritage. The expressive language is clear and engaging for readers. The writing is paced well and the events are organized nicely in chronological order. Spanish words are used in the story, which gives it ethnic features. For example, the book reads, “In Mexico the sun is called el sol, and the moon is called la luna. I am called Elena.” Students who originate from Mexico will love that this book contains words from their native language. Students who do not speak Spanish are able to learn terminology in a foreign language. The main character, Elena, is very relatable and well developed. Elena is determined to be a glassblower, even though her father states that girls cannot have this job. Readers who are unfamiliar with glassblowing can learn something new about Mexican heritage. Even if they have not experienced glassblowing, the situation that Elena faces is still relatable to some females. They may have also been rejected from a task due to gender. Elena’s strong willed personality allows her to run away from home and practice her passion. She is given a chance to blow glass and she creates glass stars and butterflies, which the men cannot do. She returns home and is rewarded for her skills. The illustrations are gorgeous; desert colors with scratches and splatters of ink perfectly depict the mood and style of the text. The book pushes readers to broaden their perspectives of the roles of gender. You can do anything if you set your mind to it. I really enjoy Elena’s determination to succeed at glassblowing. It teaches children an important lesson on following their dreams. The big idea of this story is that individuals should follow their passion, regardless of gender stereotypes.

I liked this book. The main idea was to give children information about the artist Frida Kahlo and her life. I really enjoy how the text is incorporated into the pictures. For example, there is a picture of her holding a paint palette, and the words are on the palette instead of just randomly on the page. Another reason I like the book is that there are very few words on each page. This won't confuse children and make it easier for them to stay focused. I also like how the book is written in present tense. One sentence says "all of a sudden, Frida falls very ill". It makes the children feel like they are with Frida at that point and time so they can really relate to her as if she is one of their friends.