LET'S CALL HER BARBIE by Renee Rosen - Review

 


I grew up playing with and collecting Barbie Dolls. I SO wish I had saved them. Vintage Barbie dolls now are worth a ba-zillion dollars, plus they hold so many memories.

Bestselling author, Renee Rosen has written the definite, well-researched book about how the eleven and a half inches tall doll, became a legacy, LET'S CALL HER BARBIE (Berkley).

In the world of toy dolls in the 50s there were dozens of baby dolls, peeing dolls, whining dolls, dolls of every kind, except a doll that let young girls know they could become anything they wanted to be when she grew up. Enter Ruth Handler, of Mattel who saw the German Bild Lilli doll while travelling in Switzerland and knew this is what the American market needed.

The first Barbie debuted at the New York toy fair in March 1959. Mattel sold 300-thousand Barbies that year and the sales skyrocketed from there. Barbie dolls started being designed and taking jobs in male-oriented fields like an airline pilot, NASCAR driver and going into space. Barbie has been part of the American zeitgeist starting in1960 when she became a tennis player paving the way for Title IX.

LET'S CALL HER BARBIE is an incredibly interesting story you won't to miss. Who knew there was so much history behind a plastic doll.


Renee Rosen is a USA Today bestselling author. Her novels include Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl, The Social Graces, Park Avenue Summer, Windy City Blues, White Collar Girl, What the Lady Wants and Dollface as well as the young adult novel, Every Crooked Pot.

 

She is a native of Akron, Ohio, and a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C. She now lives in Chicago and is at work on a new novel.

 

Renee frequently visits book clubs (either in person or via Zoom) and is available for speaking engagements. For more information feel free to email her using the contact form.

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