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Barbieland : the unauthorized history / by Hitt, Tarpley,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.The secret history of Barbie and what Mattel has done to keep her on top. For nearly seven decades, Mattel billed Barbie as the first adult doll -- a revolutionary alternative to the baby dolls before her, which had treated little girls as future mothers rather than future women. But Barbie was no original. She was a knockoff: a nearly identical copy of a German doll now erased from the narrative in favour of Mattel's preferred version of history. It was Barbie's first secret but far from her last. In Barbieland, journalist and The Drift editor Tarpley Hitt exposes the long-hidden backstory of the world's most famous doll. After snuffing out her predecessor, Barbie climbed to the throne of global girlhood and stayed there, fending off rivals with a mix of strategic marketing, government influence, ruthless litigation, and covert tactics worthy of a classic spy novel. This lively, authoritative ride through the underbelly of American business pulls back the curtain on the corporate titans, cultural influencers, and toyland rivals who shaped this icon's world -- from flawed founder Ruth Handler to convicted Wall Street fraudster (and improbable Barbie saviour) Michael Milken to the Bratz doll empire, which once put the brand on life support. Along the way, Hitt delves into the stories of the eccentrics and autocrats who brought Barbie to life through sheer force of will: a pair of ex-Nazi toymakers, a toy mogul friend of J. Edgar Hoover's, a swinging missile designer turned Barbie executive married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Mattel's mid-century Freudian marketeer, who saw the doll as a psychosexual skeleton key to controlling the American mind. Through investigative reporting, global archival research, and interviews with key players from across the Barbie extended universe, Barbieland lays bare the unseen -- and so often absurd -- work that made Mattel a multibillion-dollar business and turned Barbie into an institution: a symbol as synonymous with American soft power as Coca-Cola and McDonald's french fries.
Subjects: Barbie (Fictitious character); Mattel, Inc.; Barbie dolls; Barbie dolls; Feminism.; Popular culture.; Toy industry.;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Everybody says it's everything : a novel / by Aliu, Xhenet,1978-author.;
"Growing up in Connecticut with their adoptive mother, Jackie, twins Drita and Petrit (aka Pete), had no connection to their Albanian heritage and knew nothing about where they came from. Their American lives were all about the Barbie doll that Drita wanted from the mall, and roller skating at the local rink. The twins were as close as could be. But in their teenage years, their paths diverged; Drita was a good girl with good grades and good manners who was going to go to a good college, Pete was a bad boy who had a baby with an addict and was going nowhere fast. Even their twinhood was not enough to keep them together. Fast forward to their twenties: Jackie has suffered a stroke, and Drita has abandoned her graduate study at Columbia University to move home and take care of her mother, giving up all her dreams for the future in the name of family obligation. She hasn't heard from Pete in three years. Then Pete's girlfriend Shanda and their son show up unexpectedly without him, and Drita discovers that he's fallen in with a guerrilla group of Albanian immigrants in the Bronx supplying the war in Kosovo with weapons and fighters. She becomes determined to bring him back into the family-but what she learns about their Albanian roots and Jackie's past threatens to tear them apart for good"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Adoptees; Families; Guerrilla warfare; Kosovo War, 1998-1999; Secrecy; Siblings; Twins;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Flashback to the... chill 2000s! / by Cruz, Gloria.; Rebar, Sarah.;
In the 2000s, Juicy Couture velour sweatsuits and trucker hats were all the rage, American Idol was the show to watch, social media sites like Facebook and YouTube were launched, and a little thing called Y2K threatened to shut down the world! Kids will love learning about what was cool in the aughts, from popular toys like Bratz dolls to must-see TV like Dora the Explorer and The Powerpuff Girls--not to mention off-the-wall food trends like Heinz green and purple ketchup, popular fashion like Uggs, and technology like Netflix DVDs. Lighthearted illustrations, photographs of the fashion and fads, and approachable language introduce young readers to all this and more hallmarks of the chill decade.
Subjects: Readers (Publications); Two thousands (Decade);
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Don't turn out the lights : a tribute to Alvin Schwartz's scary stories to tell in the dark / by Maberry, Jonathan.; Horror Writers Association.;
The funeral portrait / by Laurent Linn -- The carved bear / by Brendan Reichs -- Don't you see that cat? / by Gaby Triana -- The golden peacock / by Alethea Kontis -- The knock-knock man / by Brenna Yovanoff -- Strange music / by Joanna Parypinski -- Copy and paste kill / by Barry Lyga -- The house on the hill / by Micol Ostow -- Jingle jangle / by Kim Ventrella -- The weeping woman / by Courtney Alameda -- The neighbor / by Amy Lukavics -- Tag, you're it / by N.R. Lambert -- The painted skin / by Jamie Ford -- Lost to the world / by John Dixon -- The bargain / by Aric Cushing -- Lint trap / by Jonathan Auxier -- The cries of the cat / by Josh Malerman -- The open window / by Christopher Golden -- The skelly-horse / by T.J. Wooldridge -- The umbrella man / by Gary A. Braunbeck -- The green grabber / by D.J. MacHale -- Brain spiders / by Luis Alberto Urrea and Rosario Urrea -- Hachishakusama / by Catherine Jordan -- Light as a feather, stiff as a board / by Margaret Stohl -- In stitches / by Michael Northrop -- The bottle tree / by Kami Garcia -- The ghost in Sam's closet / by R.L. Stine -- Rap tap / by Sherrilyn Kenyon -- The garage / by Tananarive Due -- Don't go into the pumpkin patch at night / by Sheri White -- Pretty girls make graves / by Tonya Hurley -- Whistle past the graveyard / by Z Brewer -- Long shadows / by James A. Moore -- Mud / by Linda D. Addison -- The tall ones / by Madeleine Roux.Featuring stories from R.L. Stine and Madeleine Roux, this middle grade horror anthology curated by New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry is a chilling tribute to Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. A life-size baby doll that stalks its prey. A flesh-hungry ogre who jingle jangles when he walks. A haunted house just dying for a visitor. What do all these things have in common?LSC
Subjects: Children's stories, American.; Horror tales.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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