A lushly painted picture book about the artist Frida Kahlo during her time in San Francisco with her husband, Diego Rivera. Figuring a pink bird on most pages as muse and symbol of the quiet, newly married Frida, Diaz’s brilliant charcoal-and-acrylic paintings trace young Frida’s feelings about the move, her first away from Mexico. The brilliant spreads chronicle the dramatic sunrises of the city, crisp blue days in the redwoods and the welcome reds of Chinatown. Frida's depicted as balancing a cane to indicate her lifelong infirmities, her long skirts and decorated hair remind the reader of her Mexican roots and the relative size of Rivera and Kahlo changes to show how Kahlo was feeling about herself. This story, though, one of an artistic Cinderella, begs for more information. Alas, the wan author’s note and the lack of a timeline or bibliography leave young readers with little more than a snapshot of this artist. Though Kahlo’s full, complicated, enigmatic life asks for a more mature audience (see Carmen T. Bernier-Grand’s excellent Frida: Viva la Vida, 2007), this serves as a passable introduction. (Picture book/biography. 6-10)
