Author: Renee Rosen
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2025
Pages: 432
Rating: Highly Recommend
Synopsis: When Ruth Handler walks into the boardroom of the toy company she co-founded and pitches her idea for a doll unlike any other, she knows what she's setting in motion. It might just take the world a moment to catch up.
In 1956, the only dolls on the market for little girls let them pretend to be mothers. Ruth's vision for a doll shaped like a grown woman and outfitted in an enviable wardrobe let them dream they can be anything.
As Ruth assembles her team of creative rebels - head engineer Jack Ryan who hides his deepest secrets behind his genius and designers Charlotte Johnson and Steve Klein, whose hopes and dreams rest on the success of Barbie's fashion - she knows they're working against a ticking clock to get this wild idea off the ground.
In the decades to come - through soaring heights and devastating personal lows, public scandals and private tensions - each of them will have to decide how tightly to hold on to their creation. Because Barbie has never been just a doll - she's a legacy.
Review: Barbie was a hot topic when I was a pre-teen. I had graduated from baby dolls, and my friends were starting to play with Barbies. I wanted one in the worst way, and my conservative mother was a not a fan. My dad was heavily involved in the volunteer fire department and each year they had a children's Christmas party. At the time, the department's membership was staggering and everyone had children. On the day of the party, we would walk in to the main hall and there would be stacks of gifts arranged in front of the stage. They were wrapped according to age so if there were 50 children age 10, there would be 50 gifts wrapped in the same paper. It was impressive to my young eyes when you consider they bought gifts for infants to 12 years old, I believe.
As you may have guessed, the year I was dying for a Barbie doll, I got one at the fire department Christmas party. I had circumvented my mothers and gotten the only gift I remember truly wanted that year. (I have since thanked the ladies who did the shopping all those years ago).
The book combines my Barbie memories and a topic that is relevant three decades later - leadership. Leadership is top-of-mind for me right now in my professional life. I just attended an intense two and half days of leadership program in St. Petersburg, Florida. My supervisor also started a leadership book club with several of us at work. I reviewed our first book, Multipliers.
Other Renee Rosen Novels
What the Lady Wants
Windy City Blues
