Bild-Lilli


Book Description

Barbie doll and fashion doll collectors everywhere will be thrilled with our exciting new title devoted to Bild-Lilli, the comic character that inspired teenage fashion dolls. Created in 1952 by Bild Zeitung newspaper cartoonist Reinhard Beuthin in Hamburg, Germany, the seductive, fashionable Lilli was not originally designed for children. However, her quick popularity prompted the production of the Lilli doll, which eventually led to the creation of the American Barbie doll by designer Ruth Handler. Collector Books is pleased to present our first book devoted to Bild-Lilli, complete with over 650 detailed color and b/w photos. There are close-ups of the many different faces of these unique hand-painted dolls, now worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars in the collector's market. Hailed by many as 'the doll that started it all,' Bild-Lilli dolls are shown loose as well as in the plastic cylinders in which the dolls originally came, with miniature versions of the newspaper for which Lilli was named. Lilli's faces and hairstyles, accessories from other manufacturers, and a complete look at the 1950s decade, particularly in Germany, are included in this comprehensive collectors value guide. REVIEW: This book chronicles Barbie throughout her first 30 years of production, and provides an entertaining look at the way she changed over that period of time.




Timeless Toys


Book Description

The book Why Didn't I Think of That! includes the passage "If a toy has magic, when people see it they say, 'Oooh! What is that?' . . . It appeals to the kid in everybody." That same kind of magic captures "the kid in everybody" when they pick up Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them. Timeless Toys represents one of the finest documentaries and displays of modern toys ever written. Author Tim Walsh, a successful toy inventor himself, reveals a world of commerce, toys, and wonder that is equally fun, fascinating, and nostalgic. Readers of every age and background will find it impossible to pick up this book, turn a few pages, and not become spellbound by its insightful stories and the personal memories that the text and 420 brilliantly colored photographs bring forth. Slinky, Lego, Tonka trucks, Monopoly, Big Wheel, Frisbee, Hula Hoop, Super Ball, Scrabble, Barbie, Radio Flyer Wagons: All of these and many, many more are featured in this fascinating tome, along with the toys' histories, insider profiles, and rare interviews with toy industry icons. It's simply magic!




Barbie's Queer Accessories


Book Description

This book discusses the history of the Barbie doll and at the cultural reappropriations of Barbie by artists, collectors and especially lesbians and gay men.




Parenting for the Digital Age


Book Description

From how to deal with cyberbullying to the strange, true stories behind Barbie and G.I. Joe, media insider Bill Ratner takes an inside look at our wired-up world in a fascinating book—part memoir, part parenting guide—for the digital age. Landing his first job in advertising at age fourteen, Ratner learned early that the media doesn't necessarily have our best interests at heart. His career as one of America’s most popular voiceover artists and his life as a parent and educator gives readers a first-hand look at the effects of digital media on children and what you can do about it.




Eureka!


Book Description

The fascinating inspirations behind common inventions and creations- from Barbie to Sweet and Low to Mt. Rushmore. The slinky was born aboard a World War II ship. The Barbie doll was inspired by a German sex toy. Weight Watchers began with a Jewish housewife in Queens, New York. Eureka! explores the fascinating stories behind these famous creations and many others-from blue jeans to the Taj Mahal to Mickey Mouse-detailing the relationships between inspirations and their inventors. Readers will delight in the intriguing-and sometimes surprising-origins behind the ideas that have shaped the world.




Rejuvenile


Book Description

Once upon a time, boys and girls grew up and set aside childish things. Nowadays, moms and dads skateboard alongside their kids and download the latest pop-song ringtones. Captains of industry pose for the cover of BusinessWeek holding Super Soakers. The average age of video game players is twenty-nine and rising. Top chefs develop recipes for Easy-Bake Ovens. Disney World is the world’s top adult vacation destination (that’s adults without kids). And young people delay marriage and childbirth longer than ever in part to keep family obligations from interfering with their fun fun fun. Christopher Noxon has coined a word for this new breed of grown-up: rejuveniles. And as a self-confessed rejuvenile, he’s a sympathetic yet critical guide to this bright and shiny world of people who see growing up as “winding down”—exchanging a life of playful flexibility for anxious days tending lawns and mutual funds. In Rejuvenile, Noxon explores the historical roots of today’s rejuveniles (hint: all roads lead to Peter Pan), the “toyification” of practical devices (car cuteness is at an all-time high), and the new gospel of play. He talks to parents who love cartoons more than their children do, twenty-somethings who live happily with their parents, and grown-ups who evangelize on behalf of all-ages tag and Legos. And he takes on the “Harrumphing Codgers,” who see the rejuvenile as a threat to the social order. Noxon tempers stories of his and others’ rejuvenile tendencies with cautionary notes about “lost souls whose taste for childish things is creepy at best.” (Exhibit A: Michael Jackson.) On balance, though, he sees rejuveniles as optimists and capital-R Romantics, people driven by a desire “to hold on to the part of ourselves that feels the most genuinely human. We believe in play, in make believe, in learning, in naps. And in a time of deep uncertainty, we trust that this deeper, more adaptable part of ourselves is our best tool of survival.” Fresh and delightfully contrarian, Rejuvenile makes hilarious sense of this seismic culture change. It’s essential reading not only for grown-ups who refuse to “act their age,” but for those who wish they would just grow up.




The Poetics of Tenderness


Book Description

The Poetics of Tendernessa literary-critical essay on love, grounded in the developmental theory of the British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott and shaped by recent work on the neurobiology and anthropology of love. Itmaintains that sexual love is not merely an artifact or “invention” of culture, but a vital manifestation of the culture-making power itself. Calling upon Andreus Capellanus, Plato, Schopenhauer, Freud, William James, Hardy, Dreiser and Fitzgerald, D.H. Lawrence and Tom Stoppard, among others, the book’s aim is to turn the discussion of sexuality around--to substitute for ideas and figures of violence and predation which have dominated our sexual imaginary for more than four decades much older and more durable associations of sex and love with care, affection, beauty, memory, worthiness, and ideality. It argues for a resurrection of tenderness, and holds out the possibility that even where anything goes love may yet be a source of sweetness and light, that mutual respect, equity, justice and decency in the spheres of sex and love will more likely flow from compassion and sympathy than from anger, fear, suspicion, mistrust, resentment, and bitterness. Close readings of two widely read novels, Dickens’ Great Expectations and Nabokov’s Lolita, preside over the discussion, exploring these authors’ distinctively detailed and probing accounts of love’s unfolding in particular social, cultural, historical and psychological settings.Both novels proceed from deep within the authors’ interior life; both novels release love from its normally deep entanglements with intimacy and isolation, compatibility and incompatibility, social place and social possibility, inspiring in their narrators a prolonged introspective inquiry into an all-consuming preoccupation which ultimately restores them to the moral order.




The Esther Mantle


Book Description

What You Do Next Will Rewrite the Future As the enemy ruthlessly advances his demonic assault on this generation, are you praying for change that never happens? For victory that never comes? We live in critical, twisted times where wickedness is celebrated and truth is reviled. Yet from the Book of Genesis onward, God has revealed His supernatural solution to an increasingly upside-down world: supernaturally empowered women. Like Queen Esther, we're up against abhorrent evil that demands a response, and what we do—or don’t do—next will change the course of history. Driven to see a generation of Esthers mantled for such a time as this, prophetic intercessor and advocate Christy Johnston empowers you to identify and embrace your pivotal role in this urgent moment in history, arising with supernatural boldness, power, and truth that prevails over the demonic destruction of our day. With contagious passion, prophetic insight, and Spirit-filled wisdom, Christy reveals how to: Recognize your Kingdom position and influence. Reject the demonic narratives redefining sin and morality. Raise a standard of truth for generations to come. Thwart the enemy’s tactics to deceive and disciple this generation. Become the agent of transformation your sphere of influence is desperate for. Bring prophetic solutions that heal and restore. The King’s scepter has been extended toward you. Now is the time to approach the throne of grace with confidence, seizing this prophetic moment and overthrowing the tyranny of evil in our day.




HowExpert Guide to Doll Collecting


Book Description

If you want to learn about the history of dolls, caring for and storing your dolls, starting a collection, buying, selling, and collecting collectible dolls, doll knowledge for collectors, and joining the doll community, then check out HowExpert Guide to Doll Collecting. The first toy ever made was the doll! Today doll collecting is the world’s largest hobby. Dolls remind us of our favorite childhood moments, a time in history that we are most fond of, and even a beloved art style reflected through the doll. HowExpert Guide to Doll Collecting can lead you through the stages of doll collecting. Whether you are starting a collection or adding on to one, there is a wide variety of dolls to choose from. These include ceremonial dolls, bisque dolls, rag dolls, and paper dolls, to the beloved characters like Strawberry Shortcake, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Barbie. Finding that doll that brings out your love for collecting is the easy part. In this book, you will learn the proper care for dolls, doll lingo, how to spot a replica, and tips on keeping a logbook. We even took a peek at the history of haunted dolls. The tips in HowExpert Guide to Doll Collecting will show doll enthusiasts just what they need to know to become doll collectors. Check out HowExpert Guide to Doll Collecting for learning about the history of dolls, caring for and storing your dolls, starting a collection, buying, selling, and collecting collectible dolls, doll knowledge for collectors, and joining the doll community! About the Author Charlotte Hopkins is a freelance writer from Pennsylvania; she is an author of nine books, including her children’s books, featuring Pixie Trist and Bo, and her “365 Days” series. She wrote the book, From the Dark Tunnel, about surviving child abuse, under the pen name Tori Kannyn. She was also published three times in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, the Shadows & Light Anthology, and Authors for Haiti. She has released a line of journals and logbooks under “Kannyn Books.” She is also a collector of several items. Her first collection was keychains. She also collects penguins, wooden boxes, miniatures (including miniature books), journals, and pens. She just started collecting Magic 8 Balls and Pen Cups. She has a fondness for writing, photography, astrology, history, museums, and everything purple! HowExpert publishes how to guides by everyday experts.




You Don't Own Me: How Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie's Dark Side


Book Description

“A hair-raising account of a Barbie Dreamhouse-size Jarndyce and Jarndyce.”—Jill Lepore, The New Yorker This provocative work spotlights the legal battles between behemoth Mattel and audacious MGA over incredibly successful toys and the ownership of an idea. Law professor Orly Lobel deeply researched this riveting story, interviewing those involved, to draw attention to the contentious debate over creativity and intellectual property. She also explores female images and how we market cultural icons, from the doll that inspired all-American Barbie to the defiant, anti-establishment Bratz—the only doll to outsell Barbie in any year.