Viva Frida

Starred review from June 16, 2014
Readers will recognize Morales’s (Niño Wrestles the World) handmade Frida Kahlo doll from Kahlo’s self-portraits—Morales’s doll has the same haunting beauty and direct gaze, and she wears the same Mexican peasant clothing. In a series of composed photographs, Frida gazes at her pet monkey—another handmade creation—who slips the artist a key. The key opens a locked box, which holds a marionette, a jointed skeleton. Spare, lyrical text is set in English and, in fainter type, in Spanish, and each page turn reveals a new word or phrase. “Juego/ I play,” Frida says, manipulating the marionette while the monkey sits on her shoulder. Now a paper cutout, Frida is shown dreaming, rescuing an injured fawn, then awakening, restored to doll form, as her husband—a plump, affectionate Diego Rivera—gives her a kiss on the cheek. “¡Vivo!” she says. “I live!” Frida is presented less as a historical figure than as an icon who represents the life Morales holds sacred; Frida lives because she loves and creates. A detailed biography is included. Ages 4–8. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy, Charlottte Sheedy Literary Agency.