Tanya Lee Stone's latest book, The Good, the Bad and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us, is earning raves like this one from Lauren Myracle: ""Holy belly buttons! This is no mere Barbie book. This is a how-to manual about being a girl: a strong, sparky, awesome girl, with Barbie in hand *or* Barbie in the nearest Dumpster!"Love that. Plus, it has a sly, iconic cover. I had to ask Tanya how it came about. Here she is:
"I didn't have a picture of the front cover in my head from the beginning, but once I started playing around with all of the dolls in Peter Harrigan's collection (which we used for the photo shoot), I started thinking about the BACK cover. I pictured a border of heads peering from the edge into the middle of the cover (kind of creepy). I fell in love with the Elphaba doll from Wicked, and thought the Twilight dolls were kind of cool (and again, kind of creepy). In the end, we used a great shot the photographer took of a bunch of the international dolls, in a pinwheel formation. I love it.
"My publisher did ask for my input. We talked about what image should go on the cover. Should it be a universal favorite (there really isn't one) or not? We all quickly and unanimously agreed it should be the classic 1959 original doll. [See the full original doll, right, with her striped bathing suit and signature white sunglasses in hand.]
"As soon as we knew what doll we wanted on the cover, Karen Pike, the photographer I hired to do a lot of the interior doll shots, talked with the designer about the cover concept. The team absolutely nailed it right away. I love the cover!
"The designer, who I thank on the dedication page, was fantastic throughout the whole process. She definitely took my comments to heart, even though she didn't always agree. And why would she? I'm not a designer!
"I think it's just about the most kick-ass cover I could have imagined for this book. I love the coy, sideways glance of the original Barbie. You can't tell what she's thinking--and I think that plays really well with the themes in the book. Love Barbie or hate her--which way will it go?"
Agreed! I think this cover is bewitching in the best possible way. Those pointed eyebrow arches, those wiley eyes, those pouf bangs. She's iconic.
What do you guys think?
the bad and the barbie