Brooke's Pick: Let's Call Her Barbie by Renee Rosen

Including a readers guide and exclusive vintage Barbie photos, a bold new novel shows how Ruth Handler, along with head engineer Jack Ryan and designers Charlotte Johnson and Stevie Klein, created a doll like no other.

Barbie is an icon, known the world over, and Renee Rosen has done us a service bringing the fashion doll’s story to life in her new novel, Let’s Call Her Barbie. With a history as scintillating as this one, it makes you wonder why no one has yet tackled the topic of Barbie from a historical fiction standpoint, but thanks to Rosen, readers can now enjoy the fascinating story of how Barbie came to be.

Told in an episodic style with short punchy chapters highlighting the pivotal moments in Barbie’s history, Let’s Call Her Barbie brings to life both a doll and an era. Rosen’s multi-perspective writing captures the essence of the ‘50s, ‘60s, & ‘70s, inviting readers to walk the halls of Mattel and listen in on the meetings that brought Barbie forth into the world.

With Ruth Handler at the helm, inspired by the Bild Lilli doll she saw in Germany, and Jack Ryan, her brilliant but chaotic engineer by her side, Ruth has a dream of creating a doll that little girls will not mother, but rather aspire to be. With a doll as popular as Barbie has been through the decades, you might be surprised to learn that she was initially not well-received, and Ruth’s dream of Barbie almost never got off the ground.

Let’s Call Her Barbie tells the story of the doll’s tribulations and triumphs, as well as those of the people who worked on her behind the scenes. This is an engrossing period piece, perfectly capturing the mood of a movement, and the history of a doll that would change the world of toys forever. - Brooke, Public Relations Librarian