This was cute, like a Barbie textbook in a way. I loved the use of pictures and somewhat wished they had even more. The plot informs you of the creation of Barbie as the doll and its significance to this day. It does make the point that Barbie is a fashion icon, so I wish more pictures showed different Barbie fashions. This was adorable for anyone who appreciates Barbie. If you have elementary school children they would appreciate the pictures, but might not be able to understand the written part independently (maybe bedtime-worthy?).

A wonderful book introducing the history of the iconic Barbie doll. The reader learns not only about the circumstances of the doll's creation and her first steps on the market, but also about the wider social context - how Barbie has sought to empower women and inspired successive generations of girls over the years. Of course, this is not the kind of feminism that everyone agrees with, but it was still interesting to learn about these perspectives. I also really enjoyed the beautiful photographs that enhance the whole book. I would love to have a physical copy of this book.
I highly recommend it to all Barbie fans.

I really enjoyed reading through this book, as well as looking at the accompanying images. I absolutely loved the chapter dedicated to how groundbreaking Barbie continues to be, especially with the newest Barbie that just came out. The writing was easy to digest and drew me in to keep reading about Ruth and Barbie's story. I had to knock the book down a star because I found the chapter about how Barbies were literally made to be quite boring, but every single other chapter was so fascinating and full of fun facts.

A beautiful and easy to read history of Barbie. It was amazing pictures throughout the book and would make an amazing coffee book for any Barbie lover!

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A fitting ode to Barbie! It has just the right amount of written pictures to be a light coffee table book.

I received this book as an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity.

The author has done a thorough and excellent job of telling the history of Ruth Handlers Barbie doll.

The photos included in this book make this book a fun and entertaining read.

#Barbie #NetGalley

Robin Gerber's "Barbie" details the history and importance of Barbie for girls and women empowerment.

Great time for this book to pair with the phenomenon of the new movie. I loved learning more.

This was such an interesting read! From the hype of the movie I figured I would check this one out. It was really cool to learn about Barbie's overall history. I you're a fan of Barbie in any way, I would recommend giving this a read!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC. The book is due for release this April

I’ve been a Barbie fan and collector since childhood, so it’s no surprise I loved this book. I enjoyed the in-depth look into Barbie history. The gorgeous photos were so much fun to look at - the nostalgia! Last year’s Barbie movie reinvigorated my love for the doll and this took that love a step further. Definitely recommend.

I guess I knew a lot more about the hx of Barbie than I thought, so it was the photos that drew my interest more than the text. That said, the whole work left me a little bummed out b/c Modern Barbie is so cheap, frumpy, and dull. I'm a child of the Superstar Era and my Best Day Ever (tm) was my 8th birthday where my stepmom made a special evening of just the two of us and I got my Style Magic Whitney. I still have her and she's holding up better than anything made in the last 20 years.

That difference in quality is what makes the shift from classic and click-knee dolls to the flimsy crud clogging store shelves today so jarring. It's very obvious in these photos that Barbie isn't as smart, pretty, or fun as she used to be. Mattel is jangling keys (diversity! body type!) at buyers and cutting costs everywhere they can.

And, as a quick aside, since the book didn't address this: If Mattel is sooooo proud of Fat Barbie (she's gorgeous, I love her) then why can't she wear more of the clothes? How come she can't wear any of the shoes except those cannibalized off other Fat Barbies? The last thing in the world a chubby kid needs is to go play Barbies with her friends and have a doll that like her can't share clothes and accessories with friends? How alienating is that? **BUT** I also want to point out that Fat Barbie can wear A LOT of Naughty Old Barbie's clothes. While Millie and her horse-faced pals dress in garishly patterned ugly smocks and plastic rags, Fat Barbie is in the Dance Magic dress/Happy Holidays dresses/Hawaiian Fun Bikini and having the time of her life. She shouldn't be trapped at home on Saturday nights b/c she's too big to fit into anything. That makes me think that Mattel is using her as a way to remind Big Grrrls to stay in their lane and stop polluting the visual landscape of socially acceptable skinny minnies.

My cousin always had a large amount of Barbies and all the accessories when we were growing up and to this day still collects special ones. While I played with her Barbies, I did not know any of the history. Even as an adult I only knew a small amount of Barbie history until I read this book. If you want a deep dive into Barbie history this book will check that box.

Any easy to read book with Sooo many sketches, old ad pics, the plethora of Barbie creations (how and why)over the years, boundary breaking stories, and how the art world adopted her, this has something for everyone.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

“The genius of Barbie has always been that she is what her fans make her.” This quote perfectly encapsulates Robin Gerber’s book, as well as Ruth Handler’s concept for the Barbie doll. As a lifelong Barbie fan, I loved this detailed look into the history and legacy of the Barbie doll! I could go on and on about my own experiences with the Barbie brand, but I enjoyed learning about the creation of the doll, how the Barbie brand has evolved over the years, and everyone who has played a role in the life of Barbie. If you’ve been enjoying the nostalgia of Barbie since the 2023 movie, this is the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I love Barbie. I was not the most popular little girl around when I was young, but I still had plenty of girls coming over to my house to play Barbies. I had a ton of them and we woud go outside and line them up on the sidewalk all the way down our street. Over the years my son became a Barbie fan as well. Now he is an adult collector. We went to the Barbie movie together. So its not shock that I am obsessed with this book! 80% of the wonderfulness of this book are the beautiful pictures of Barbie and her friends over the years as well of pictures of her creator Ruth Handler and others. I really enjoyed the story about how Ruth set upon creating this world changing doll brand. I liked this book so much that I plan on buying a physical copy as a coffee table book that I can share with my son.

I loved playing with Barbie's when I was younger, watched the old animated Barbie movies and loved the recent Gerwig adaptation.
This book brilliantly takes you through the history of Barbie and the social impact she has had at each stage as well as what spurred the changes. Well written and with beautiful images throughout,

Are you or anyone you know a Barbie fan, especially after that the movie came out? Then I think this is a book for you because here we have a perfect book for Barbie lovers.

In this book we get to to know more about her history and her legacy combined with beautiful pictures.

If I ever get the chance to buy this book I will do it because it would be a great coffee table book and a chance for me to learn my daughters about Barbie and look at the pictures together since my oldest loves Barbie.

This is a book that I would love to have a physical copy of to keep on my coffee table. Barbie was a big part of my childhood and I enjoyed reading this informative writing. I would recommend it to any Barbie enthusiast.

I’ve been trying to learn more about Barbie and her legacy since watching Greta Gerwig’s incredible movie and this book is a great source for it. Love the images!

Thank you for the opportunity

Very good book about the history of Barbie. With lots of pictures to draw you in, and even a scheme of how the Barbie head is made! Although, I do think this book would be recieved better if it had been published last summer, during the Barbie craze.

I read this with my ten year old daughter and we both loved it. Lots of information on the history of Barbie with gorgeous photos and the timeline at the end was a nice touch.

Thank you Netgalley, Robin Gerber and Quarto Publishing.

As a colossal Barbie fan as a child, I jumped at the chance to enjoy this informative and insightful look into the phenomenon that is the cultural icon that changed the face of children's toys. This is packed with insights into the history and psychology of the Barbie doll, which I expected, however I didn’t expect to be so inspired and enamoured with Ruth Handler. She championed her idea and remained true to her conviction that this mass market doll would both appeal to the young girls of the time with the gap in this market for a toy that would be designed for their desires, but also tap into their imaginations with an aspirational glamourous "everywoman". I knew before reading this that Mattel has always been conscious of evolving the Barbie persona to reflect the changing times and empowerment of the audience - it seems unlikely that the first owners of the original Barbie doll would ever have imagined that there are options available in every career imaginable for Barbie (I had no idea there was an architect edition to be honest). With the images bringing the history and evolution to life, one of the joys of this book is obviously seeing all the iterations of the doll across time (and trying to spot ones I had owned), how the marketing has changed to reflect the changing population and fashions.

As the movie addressed the current public perception of Barbie as less than stellar and various backlash throughout history, I wondered if this book would also confront this - I did feel that this was not addressed explicitly, perhaps understandably, but this does make this quite a one sided reflection.

Above all, the weaving through of anecdotes of how perennial superfans have engaged with the doll makes this memorable read very much more about how the pop culture icon is more than just a doll and holds a place in people's hearts as well as history. The nostalgia made this a really joyful read that hopefully appeals to many.

Thanks NetGalley for this advanced reader copy.