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?