One of the first volumes in a now long-running series of biographies for children, this one begins with Kahlo’s childhood in Mexico, where she experienced illness and injury, but didn’t mind being different. “She liked to dress differently, too,” the book tells us, showing her wearing a man’s suit and tie in a family portrait (based on this photo). While recovering from the injury, she taught herself to draw. Later, she and her drawings impressed the artist Diego Rivera, and they married, although they had “ups and downs”—an age-appropriate allusion to the difficulties of their marriage and each of their affairs.
Through her work, Kahlo expressed her feelings, the book continues, and her works were shown in the U.S. and Mexico. “Nothing could stop her from painting,” we learn, “not sickness, pain, or heartache.” She taught the world to “‘Viva la vida’ … ‘live life.'”
The mention of her gender creativity is enough for me to include the book in this database of LGBTQ representation. While the book itself does not discuss her sexuality beyond mentioning her marriage to Rivera, her known bisexuality is enough for me to also tag this review that way, if only to help people find the book.
Available as a board book or standard hardcover picture book.
