What a fun, informative book. I love the threads of history weaved throughout (and found myself googling Barbie history quite often).

Thank you for providing me access to this ARC. It led me to the decision of purchasing this book for my library.

This work of fiction tells the story of the people behind the creation of Barbie, and is told in a way that makes it feel like nonfiction (in a good way). I had to go back and double check to make sure it was actually a novel and not narrative nonfiction. This was an engaging way to tell the story of the creation of Barbie, stuff it full of information, and include engaging characters.

Part of what I liked most about this read was how informative it was. I'd never considered how involved creating the first Barbie was, from trying to get the dimensions right (believe it or not, the chest started off much larger), to tailoring clothes to fit correctly, to trying to keep Barbie in her original feminist vision in the fifties/sixties eras of housewives. On top of all this detailed information, we got immersed in the lives of the creators, got to know them as characters, and the author included a fictional character who was so well realized I kept wondering why I couldn't find any evidence of her online until I read the author's note.

This work does stray into some dark topics but did so in a way that was respectful to the real people who experienced them. I'm not really a Barbie person, though we had a couple hand-me-down Barbies growing up, but I still enjoyed this read. If you like historical fiction then you'll probably love this one. Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

"Let's Call Her Barbie" by Renee Rosen is a historical fiction novel that takes you behind the scenes of the creation of the iconic Barbie doll and the visionary Ruth Handler who changed the toy industry forever. It's a perfect blend of nostalgia, ambition, and trailblazing spirit. The story captures Ruth's drive, struggles, and triumphs in a way that feels both inspiring and heartwarming. If you're a fan of Barbie or love stories about strong women shaping history, this one is a must read.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for the electronic copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers copy of Let's Call Her Barbie by Renee Rosen!

I love Barbie, and I absolutely love the history of Barbie, so I was excited to read a fictionalized version of it. About halfway through, I realized that I just wasn't super interested in this book, and then I figured out why: the actual true to life story of the Barbie corporation is interesting enough that it doesn't need to be fictionalized. I also might know too much about Mattel and Barbie already to have been surprised by absolutely anything in this book. I love the idea, but the execution just wasn't for me.

🩷𝗟𝗘𝗧𝗦 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗔𝗥𝗕𝗜𝗘
𝒽𝒾𝓈𝓉ℴ𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁 𝒻𝒾𝒸
🗓️𝙿𝚞𝚋 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝙹𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟸𝟷, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟻
🤩𝕄𝕪 𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: 𝟜.𝟝 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤! ★★★★✮

🤏𝚃𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚋𝚒𝚝...the story of Ruth Handler along with her team of “creative rebels” who developed Barbie…

🩷𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚢...Yes to this book! 👌Ruth Handler, such a force to be reckoned with in her time had this crazy idea of a woman as a doll & boy, did she get pushback for it! I love how in the book she says she was so sick of people telling her “don’t.” Don’t marry Elliott, don’t work & just stay home, don’t create a doll with boobs, etc etc. She was so tough she stood her ground & damn I just love her! 💜🩷🩵 This book includes wayyyy more than just her story too. 🙌It follows her team along with what’s happening in their lives at the time. Jack Ryan was my other fav “character” to follow.

I hope y’all will consider checking this one out & I appreciate my copy @berkleypub @reneerosen_ ℙ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕠 𝕒 𝕥𝕧 𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤!!

🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷
I have since purchased my own copy of this one because I mean, hello..it’s pink & “she’s” gonna be so cute in my pink office!

As a little girl, I spent hours playing with Barbie dolls. My aunt bought me my first Barbie, which was a Malibu Barbie doll, and I remember meeting my mom at the car when she came to pick me up and saying, "Momma, I didn't ask for her. I promise." My mom thought I was too young for Barbies and she told my aunt she didn't have time to dress Barbie dolls all day for me since I wouldn't be able to get the clothes on and off her by myself. Of course, my aunt gave me my second Barbie for Christmas that year and I was giddy. I couldn't help but think about this when the book discussed the early research testing for Barbie dolls with moms and their daughters.

Reading Let's Call Her Barbie was like looking back at that time in my life and really being in awe as an adult as to what Ruth Handler and Jack Ryan and all the other creative people went through in order to bring Barbie to life. Barbie truly was ground breaking and this book offered a well researched glimpse into what life looked like at the Mattel headquarters during that unique time. I particularly enjoyed all the details about the fashion design and how that was such an integral part of the Barbie plan.

I really loved what the author did with the story and how so much of it seemed historically accurate. It made me want to learn more about Ruth Handler and Jack Ryan both. If you ever played with Barbies growing up, or just love a well written historical novel that offers something different, then I'd recommend Let's Call Her Barbie. It definitely was an engaging and thought provoking read for me.

I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Right off the proverbial bat you will identify with this look into the past. Toy manufacturing and marketing past. I often, and sometimes less than fondly, remember the doll craze of, you guessed it, Cabbage Patch. My daughter was just the right age for that mishegaas, craziness time. Not until the Barbie Movie phenomenon did I start having visions of making my husband certifiably nuts to find and buy that elusive toy. My now mid forty-year-old daughter gently reminded me that we had just handed down her Barbie Townhouse to a friend with grandchildren. Blasphemy. It was probably worth millions. Well not actually since it had been thoroughly played with by said daughter and two granddaughters. But you get the picture.
LET’S CALL HER BARBIE brings us back in time, pre-Barbie to television ending its night with a blank screen - actually a test pattern - after the national anthem. And now Mattel has genius folk, engineers, proffered from companies like Raytheon who previously worked on aerodynamic products. Yep it’s all there in black and white, much like our TVs were, in LETS CALL HER BARBIE by Renee Rosen.
I absolutely fell into lockstep with where this story was going. Lots of joyous memories of my own collection, vast I must admit, of all sorts of Barbie. I was about twelve when I got my first. Evening gowns were my thing. Big step from my first Tiny Tears. And that was part of the genius of Ruth Handler who envisioned a need for something other than a baby doll. Girls need to think of themselves as something more than a mommy. And thus the concept of Barbie was born.
Every page makes you smile - it’s inevitable. From concept, to shaping, to colors, to sizing. Barbie was a work of collaborative genius. This doll that girls and adult women remember as their dress up fantasy doll. Huge wardrobe. Multiple variations of the theme which was Barbie herself. Memories of the 1950’s. LETS CALL HER BARBIE is a trip down memory lane. And enlightening for those too young to remember those times.
The creation of Barbie sets the stage for an interesting and mostly candid look at corporate challenges. Individuals with different skill sets merge with those at the top of the company. Renee Rosen includes some insight into the lead folk working on Barbie and includes some other noteworthy Mattel products as well. Historically corporate board seats were filled with men. In LET’S CALL HER BARBIE we get a bird’s eye view of what it took for Ruth Handler to fill that position. It was indeed her own personal history that set her on the path that she ultimately took with Mattel and of course with Barbie. Ruth Handler had a burgeoning need to belong to someone or something. Mattel providing the vehicle. Barbie was the path to success and great wealth. Sort of a substitute for the family she was denied as a child.
LET’S CALL HER BARBIE, historical fiction is at its best. Nothing is perfect. Perfection is overrated. But the goal is to achieve and make a name for yourself. Barbie was the legacy of Ruth Handler. Truly her baby. As the story progresses you learn, through the discoveries by Renee Rosen, how many challenges each of these producers faced. How some alliances weren’t meant to be forever. And how important honesty and trust truly is, in life and in business. LET’S CALL HER BARBIE by Renee Rosen is sure to be the hot read of this season.

This was a fascinating story. Like most girls my age, I always had Barbies and enjoyed playing with them. . After the Barbie movie, I learned a little more about Ruth Handler, the visionary behind Barbie. She and her husband ran Mattel and she assembled the team that helped to create Barbie.

It was pretty fascinating to learn all the ins and outs of designing the doll, Barbie's features, and even the clothes she wore. It was a doll that hadn't been done before and there was a lot of secrecy around creating it.. Then once they created the doll it was a battle to market it, as well as all the pushback they received. It was created around the time that woman were expected to stay at home and take care of their families. I loved all of the characters, including Ruth Handler and Jack Ryan who led the team to create Barbie. The author did a great job of creating a great story of the creation of the modern-day Barbie.

Thanks to @berkley, @netgalley, and the author of this ARC

This book was everything I wanted it to be.

Ruth and her husband Elliot are the creators of Mattel. When Ruth comes up with the idea for Barbie, none of the men understand or believe in her. However, she convinces them to take the risk. After a lot of struggle creating the doll itself, Ruth, Elliot, and their designer Jack have a lot more to contend with to maintain her success.

I think what fascinated me the most about this book wasn’t Barbie herself but was Ruth. She was a Girl Boss back in the 1950’s. She helped her husband and his friend create Mattel and it would never have been created nor been successful without her as the driving force. It was empowering to watch her own the boardroom and have people respect her. It was infuriating to see her get taken down because she was a strong woman as the success of the company grew.

The first half of the book was uplifting and interesting. I loved seeing them work through all of the problems of manufacturing Barbie as well as the environment of Mattel in the 50s. The second half of the book was a crush of reality. Greed and sexism taking over to destroy what could’ve continued to be magic.

Most of the characters in this book are based off of real people. There are two characters who are fictional and one of them is a secondary character. I did appreciate her as a character though because I felt like she brought some depth to the story and allowed certain aspects to be told in a way that works better on paper.

Rosen writes historical fiction so well. She stays factual while keeping it entertaining and always writes about strong women in history. I like that she’s not always writing about wars or torn times, but about women who were smart business women. I think a lot of her books would be inspirational to young women and I would love to share this book with high schoolers.

This book was so different from most historical fiction I’ve read. Rosen does a great job with modern-historical fiction and this book was another hit out of the park. Especially with the current Barbie-mania this book is fascinating.

This is an incredibly well-researched and fascinating story about the invention, creation, and marketing of what would become one of the most beloved dolls: Barbie.

Renée Rosen has penned an expertly crafted novel about the individuals who brought Barbie to life. It is filled with family drama, office politics, and even Hollywood name-dropping. While Ruth Handler and her husband founded the Mattel toy company, it was Ruth who introduced the idea of a doll that resembled a woman.

This book opened my eyes to many facts and misconceptions about the Barbie doll, such as why she has such exaggerated measurements, why Barbie appears so grown-up, and all the research Mattel conducted to develop her and her image. I found it fascinating how the designers Charlotte and Stevie created her miniature wardrobe.

I admired Ruth for her creativity, intelligence, and her prowess in the boardroom, but I also saw how it impacted her children. It was difficult to watch Ruth struggle with health issues and betrayal, which eventually would force her to step back from the work she loved.

I became so invested in this remarkable book—how these people’s lives were so centered on and also transformed by a toy— I couldn’t stop reading.

Thank you, @uplitreads and @reneerosen_ for the gifted book and ebook via NetGalley.

When Ruth Handler conceived and pitched the idea of a Barbie doll, many people, including her husband and co-founder of Mattel, didn't believe it would succeed. The idea of a children's doll with breasts and curves was preposterous in the 1950s. But Ruth trusted her vision and persevered.

Let's Call Her Barbie is a fascinating historical fiction account of Ruth Handler's and Mattel's creation that changed the toy industry forever. The book touches on so many interesting topics: misogyny and sexism, feminism and women's changing roles in the 1950s-1960s, the ups and downs of the creative process, motherhood, and even mental health. Let's Call Her Barbie is a perfect book club pick because it has so many engaging themes for discussion. This book is a must-read for Barbie fans and readers of historical fiction. I highly recommend it!

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more. I am a huge Barbie fan. The cover and title of the book is what caught my eye. I enjoyed this one.

Can an 11 ½” doll have a “coming of age”? In this case, maybe, because that’s what Rosen’s ambitious novel feels like. In the 1940s, two friends (Matt & Elliot) made dollhouse furniture from wood scraps. By 1956 Mattel boasted an Ivy League engineering and development team, led by genius Jack Ryan. When Ruth Handler, Elliot’s wife and CEO, brings a Bild Lilli doll to a board meeting, the concept of marketing a “doll with tits” that looks “like a hooker” is a huge joke to the all-male team. Only baby dolls were being produced at the time, but Ruth’s vision was bold and courageous—if boys could be given toy guns and soldiers, symbols of manhood, why couldn’t girls aspire to more than husbands and babies? A very personal feel runs through Rosen’s story of Barbie’s growing pains, and stumbling rise to fame —apart from hundreds of redesigns, the anatomically impossible, visually-proportioned female shape had to accommodate fabric thickness and textures; and individually hand-painted makeup, lacquered nails and rooting of each strand of hair is all quite mind-boggling and engrossing.

Ruth’s innovative vision grows with the politically changing times as the story moves into the ´60s and ´70s; women’s discontent with being overlooked and ignored; Vietnam protests; the moon landing (Barbie launched Mattel into the stratosphere four years earlier); and the sexual revolution and objectification of the female body, resulting in a barrage of hate mail. Rosen deep dives into the psychology of driven business execs, Ruth’s inability to exert control in the home, and family and business relationships pivotal to Mattel’s success. Jack Ryan’s sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll lifestyle did feel overworked at times, but understanding Jack is crucial to grasping how Barbie stayed on track as a treasured feminine icon, while new designers tried to subvert and sexualise her. I’ve never owned a Barbie, but was deeply invested in this extraordinary story.

Let's Call Her Barbie was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, and sadly, I found it to be just okay. While I enjoyed learning more about Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie, and how Barbie came to be, I didn't care about the storylines of the other people at Mattel, such as playboy engineer Jack Ryan. While I understand there were other people involved in Barbie's success along with Ruth, I felt these personal storylines, such as Jack sleeping his way through the Mattel office, took away from the actual story of Ruth & Barbie. I would have preferred the book to be from Ruth's POV. However, this is my opinion, and while the book wasn't my favorite, I still think it was interesting to learn the backstory of Barbie, and other Barbie fans may enjoy the book more than I did.

I was hoping this book would be a good read in having played with Barbie dolls as a child; but was disappointing for me. I found myself several times going to Google and finding out the facts that relation to the Barbie and Ken dolls. Also I was ok with the story of Ruth and her family. I did not like the Jack Ryan part of the story. If the author had just had skimmed over his womanizing and lavish parties, I might have been ok. As to the sexual content in the book; I understood when it related to the dolls but Jack's storyline I thought it was not necessary. I kept thinking is this about Barbie and Ken or is this a Mad Men show.

Let's Call Her Barbie is a historical novel about the creation of Barbie in the 1950's and spanning behind the scenes at Mattel into the 1960's and '70's. Barbie was envisioned by Ruth Handler, one of the owners of Mattel, and toy engineer Jack Ryan put Ruth's vision into toy form. This story is largely about them. Ruth is a visionary business person and a born sales person who runs Mattel with her husband Elliot. Despite this, she has a hard time being taken seriously because she is a woman. Jack is an engineering genius who works successfully on Barbie and other toys; he is also an unstable womanizer. (He reminded me a bit of Don Draper from Mad Men.) The book also tells the story of a young fashion designer, Stevie, who works on Barbie's iconic fashions. Ruth, Elliot, and Jack were real people but Stevie is fictional. Interestingly, I found her to be the most sympathetic character!

I wanted to read Let's Call Her Barbie because I grew up with Barbie dolls, I love fiction about Mid-Century life, and I am interested in retro pop culture (i.e. Mattel and toy history). This novel more than fulfilled my expectations based on these interests, and I would recommended it highly to anyone who has similar retro interests.

Ruth was ahead of her time!
I absolutely loved learning more about the origins of Barbie and how she came to be, particularly the fashion history. Recommending this book to all my friends.

Barbie is having a moment! While I was never a Barbie girl myself, I heard an author interview on the Thoughts From a Page podcast and I knew I wanted to learn more about Barbie's backstory. I'm always intrigued with that side of how small ideas become big ideas - especially ones that change the world! I don't have a business brain and I'm not a marketing guru, but somehow stories like this always catch my attention.

The actual development of Barbie was fascinating to me and Rosen gives us all the details. Barbie is 1/6 the size of a regular human, but creating clothes that would fit her properly and still show off that figure proved to be challenging. The right plastic that the doll was made out of caused a lot of trouble, and even Barbie's hands had to be shaped just right so the clothes would go on and off. While Barbie's figure caused quite a lot of controversy, it was never about her looks that motivated her creator (Ruth Handler), it was giving girls a way to imagine a future for themselves. This was the 1950s, so girls were basically aspiring to be stay-at-home moms, but Ruth wanted them to know they could be anything they set their minds to! It's actually quite inspiring, despite the outrage from the women's movements.

Unfortunately, as seems to be the case with all things related to Barbie, there are several men involved that just can't help but to steal the show. Jack, another co-creator of Barbie, was a wild card. What started off as a great relationship, eventually turned into a lot of trouble. In interviews, Jack would claim the credit for Barbie and erase the work that Ruth put in. It was disheartening how the success of Barbie became overshadowed by Jack's desire for attention.

But true to her true nature, Ruth rose above the scandal and drama that engulfed Mattel and started another successful company creating prosthetic breasts for breast cancer survivors. Barbie and Ruth were incredible women who changed the world when men dominated and I'm really glad this book was brought to my attention.