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readergirlz is a literacy and social media project for teens, awarded the National Book Foundation's Innovations in Reading Prize. The rgz blog serves as a depot for news and YA reviews from industry professionals and teens. As volunteers return full force to their own YA writing, the organization continues to hold one initiative a year to impact teen literacy. All are welcome to "like" us on Facebook!

Showing posts with label the good the bad and the barbie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the good the bad and the barbie. Show all posts

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Cover Stories: The Good, the Bad and the Barbie by Tanya Lee Stone

barbie.jpg
Tanya Lee Stone's latest book, The Good, the Bad and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us, has earned three stars from the publishing world and 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.1959 Barbie.jpg

"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?"

Read the rest of Tanya's Cover Story at melissacwalker.com. And hear more about the book at I Heart Daily!