Review: Barbie Dreamscape

(Note: This is not a novelization of the 2023 Barbie movie.)

Barbie lives in a perfect village in Heartland. Yes, it’s pink. Birds braid her blonde hair every morning. She goes to the perfect school and sees her perfect friends. She always gets high scores on her school tests. Then she does the same thing again the next day. Her life is perfect. Except …

Barbie doesn’t remember her mother, because she died while Barbie was so young. She was killed while defending the village from terrible creatures. A statue of her stands in the school, decked out in full armor. (Maybe the cover gives you a clue as to whether Barbie will end up wearing it.)

Robin, the Headmistress of their school, took Barbie in and raised her like a daughter. Otherwise, Barbie would be like the other orphans. Other orphans?

And her school has a mean girl. Barbie has no idea what she did to offend her, but she always has it in for her. Barbie’s assessment is: “She sucks.”

So we have these subtle clues that Barbie’s village is not perfect. But she is looking forward to Boxing Day, their equivalent of high school graduation. Each student will find out his or her Fate, that is, a lifelong vocation. This is determined by the Fates, whom the villagers never see. They believe the Fates are never wrong. Barbie is glad she doesn’t have to make her own choices. “The Fates are going to tell me.”

On Boxing Day, she touches her mother’s statue and says, “I love you, Mom.” Then her best friend tells her what just happened to her. She walked into a third floor room, and glitter rained down on her. The walls announced her Fate. And most importantly, there were accessories! She then went to a window where the village applauded.

As Valedictorian, Barbie goes last. Excited, she walks into her room. No glitter. She backs up and tries again. Still nothing. No Fate displayed on the walls. No accessories. She goes to the window. The village gasps at her lack of accessories.

This has never happened before. Barbie now has to make choices. When she sees a map of Dreamland, a necklace her mother gave her draws her towards it. Is that where the Fates are?

And so begins a fantasy odyssey.

I’m not afraid of buying a pink book

But I don’t want to be seen reading it

I’m surprised to learn that Barbie Dreamscape is the first Barbie novel. The author, Alex Aster, had to be very successful to be chosen to write it. (She is the author of The Lightlark Saga, among others.) This is a coming of age story, but Barbie has to go on a quest to accomplish it. This is obviously not on a level with Homer’s Odyssey, but more intense than Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

Barbie is meant to be a Young Adult novel, but middle schoolers could easily read it. I think the climactic events would be disturbing to middle schoolers—not in the sense of being too intense, but that age group would have a harder time handling betrayal by a loved one. Also, coming of age stories are meant for Young Adults—Barbie goes from being a naïve teenager to an adult through her trying odyssey.

The motto on the back of the book is: Dream Big. Fail Hard. Get Back Up Again. This is especially true when Barbie falls into Rock Bottom, a dark place that ends up being miles deep. A person there tells her, “Rock Bottom is a pretty solid place to start a new life.” So, is the story really about a physical Rock Bottom? You’ll have to read it and see.