Life in Plastic, It's Fantastic! (The Good, The Bad, And The Barbie)

Stone, T. (2015) The Good, The Bad, and The Barbie.  New York, NY: Penguin Group

This nonfiction book tells the story of Barbie and her impact on the world.  The book begins with Barbie’s creator Ruth Handler.  Her parents emigrated from Poland and she was their tenth child, one of the only to be born in America.   At six months she went to live with her 20 year old sister because of a medical condition of her mother’s.  There she stayed and was raised.  She was always a strong, willful person who made it her mission to do what others told her was impossible. 

She later moved to Los Angeles with her newly wed husband, Elliot Handler. The first started a company called Elzac which made jewelry and furniture.  That fell through when Elliot and his partner Zach Zemby had a disagreement with how to run the company.  After that they started a toy company called Mattel with friend Matt Matson.  They became very successful.  After watching her own child, Barbara, playing, she noticed a trend of a preference for the paper dolls.  The paper dolls had figures, and you could put them in lots of different outfits.  So she came up with Barbie, which she named for her daughter.  It wasn’t an instant success, Barbie’s curves drew scoffs from the male dominated toy industry. By the summertime though, Barbies could hardly be kept on the shelves.

Barbie was a hit.  She had lots of fashionable clothes to choose from.  She also kept up with the times.  Barbie is always wearing contemporary fashion, and even her hair style changes to match the current day.  Barbie has had over a hundred different careers, many which were identified as “men’s” careers.  She was coveted by children all over the nation.

It’s not all glitz and glamour though.  Barbie’s “perfect” image has drawn many critics.  Some declare that her unrealistic proportions can hurt young girls self image.  Of the different ethnic dolls, some people liked them, but many abhorred them.  Many women have memories of hating Barbie and happily destroying her. Some put her through adventures that would always end in her demise. 

Nothing attracts artists like a so called “perfection”.  So there are many artists who use Barbie as their medium.  In fact, in San Francisco, there is an annual “Altered Barbie Exhibition”.  Songs have been written about her, stories, and articles as well.  Some authors attribute their story making skills to their early adventures with Barbie.  Their stories they made for Barbie to play out during play time helped amp up their creativity.

Some love her, some hate her, but in the end she is just a doll.  So how does she strike such active feelings in all of America?  It may be partially because she was always marketed as a person.  She had a life, a story, and she continued to live her story.  However one may feel about her, she has touched all of us in some way.

I never thought I would be reading a book about Barbie.  I’m glad I did though.  The author did well in making a unbiased report of everything Barbie.  She never gave her opinion, just mentioned the facts.  She also used a lot of quotes from people of many ages to show the various feelings on her.  Ruth Handler’s story was very Inspirational and I think she really should be listed up there with all of those other female role models for girls.  This was a very entertaining and informative book.

I read this book because it on the Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults list