Barbie: All Dolled Up: Celebrating 50 Years of Barbie

Barbie: All Dolled Up: Celebrating 50 Years of Barbie

About the book: Barbie™ All Dolled Up is a dazzling celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Barbie™ doll. Fully illustrated and featuring three-dimensional replicas of rare memorabilia, this unprecedented book truly brings Barbie to life in full-color, and fabulous style. With the full support of Mattel, the publication of All Dolled Up is a highlight among nationwide Barbie events and marketing initiatives being staged for the anniversary.

In five decades, the influence of Barbie on girls and the world of fashion has never faded. Now devoted collectors, baby boomers reminiscing about the doll’s classic beauty, moms still dreaming of the pink Corvette of the ’80s, and children just discovering her will relive the magic of Barbie through key eras in her development—her debut in 1959, the Mod Era of the late ’60s, the big, bold ’80s, the Totally Hair ’90s, and up to today. Original doll packaging, Barbie comic books, designer’s sketches, and an official fan club membership card and welcome letter are among the rare Barbie ephemera that have been reproduced. The narrative combines historical detail with contributions from moms, daughters, and fashion celebrities including Diane Von Furstenburg, Christian Dior, Versace, Armani, Bob Mackie, and Vera Wang. It’s Barbie doll’s birthday and no one wants to be left out of the party!

Our Take: As everyone is well aware Barbie is an icon in American culture, as well as around the world.  Every little girl wants one.  One of the first memories that I can recall is getting my first Baribe..it was so long ago, but I can recall exactly what she looked like. To my delight I open up this book and find pictures of all the Barbies I had as a youth. Then I saw photographs of the Barbies all of my older sisters had too (that I played with in secret..shhhh don't tell!). This book was a blast from the past to say the very least.  It takes us through her history from conception all the way to her 50th birthday.  The book does that and it gives us little pieces of history in the flesh including a copy of the membership card, and letter you would have received in 1964 had you joned the official Barbie fan club.

One of the really nice attributes of this book is that its hardcover with a dynamic dust jacket.  As to it's presentation,  I really liked is the scrapbook feel that it has.   The Barbie tribute is full of vibrant images and a quirky layout that keeps you flipping through this truly entertaining book, until the very last page. The book is sturdy enough to allow your kids to check it out, and still makes a wonderful coffee table book.

I would highly recommend this to every Barbie fan....not to mention any mother who had one of these dolls as a child and would love to sit down with her daughter and show her all the dolly's mommy had as a youth.  I've never seen my daughters face light up quite so much as when we pull this book out.  Its a gem.

-Holly, BookLegion

How to buy: Amazon.com or the Running Press Site

The Mammoth Book of the Mafia Book Review

The Mammoth Book of the Mafia Book Review

About the Book: Can’t get enough of The Godfather and Goodfellas? Enter the underground world of organized crime. Get true accounts from the mouths of prominent former Mafiosi and others who have infiltrated the hidden world of organized crime: the American Mafia, the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the Camorrah, 'Ndrangheta, and Sacra Corona Unita. This fascinating compilation contains accounts from the likes of Richard Kuklinski, Frankie Saggio, Joey Black, Albert DeMeo, and Donnie Brasco.

Our Take: Forget about it!  Who doesn't love the mafia?!  Ok, correction...what guy doesn't love the mafia?  We all do.  I can't explain it...but its just true.  In accordance with this universal fact we all have seen the Godfather trilogy..we all tuned in to see the Sopranos.   

We're going to be spotlighting a book on the Godfather here on Book Legion later this week, in fact.   The Mammoth Book of the Mafia isn't the Godfather.  This isn't some work of fiction, this book has real accounts from real mobsters!

The Mammoth Book of the Mafia gives you insight into the REAL world inside the mob.  The good and the bad.  It scrapes away the glamour, so that you can see the real people and real situations that are going on behind the scenes.  Anyone that is really interested in the mafia or organized crime in general will love this book.

Where to Buy: Amazon.com or the Running Press Website

The Batman Vault Review!

 






Book Review: The Batman Vault!
Publisher: Running Press
Written by: Robert Greenberger and Matthew K. Manning

You can purchase this title online today!

Courtesy of our network site www.legionsofgotham.org



Our take: The same company that brought us the Dc Vault releases a much better edition with the Batman Vault.  I was skeptical about these titles when I first heard about them.  I mean how do you really fit a character with 70 years of history into one book.  The answer?  You don’t.  You don’t even try.  What you do instead is make a hardcover scrapbook of sorts.  This book has a ton of information in it.  A lot more than I anticipated.  We have the benefit of writers Robert Greenberger, former Dc Comics editor, and our pal Matthew K. Manning, a very popular writer for Dc Comics.  The book is full of tidbits and inside information that you don’t hear everyday.



You can see from the pictures that every chapter includes a plastic sleeve that has pull-out memorabilia.  From reproduction coloring book pages to production art, you get a great variety of stuff to look at.  There are even some looks at very rare art.



I know that titles like this come off to fans like a gimmick…and it is, but its a gimmick that works.  As a fan, I treasure this title.  I can only hope that every major Dc Comics character will get their own vault treatment.

We should most certainly see them for Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern.  I highly recommend picking this one up.  It’d make a fantastic gift for yourself or anyone on your Xmas list!

Check out this great youtube video look at the book!

The DC Vault Book Review

 





The DC Vault: A Museum-in-a-Book with Rare Collectibles from the DC Universe by Running Press

Written by Martin Pasko

Purchase this book today on Amazon.com HERE>>

Synopsis:  In 1935, popular culture was forever transformed when DC Comics published the first book of “all new, all original” comic material. To the delight of millions of readers everywhere, the modern comic book was born, and from its pages came leaping an exhilarating cast of characters.

Now The DC Vault unlocks DC Comics’ most fascinating secrets and deeply buried treasures, presenting a colorful array of historic and never-before-published memorabilia, including early sketches, covers, memos, press materials, and much more. From a working reproduction of a 1942 Junior Justice Society of America decoder, to a series of Public Service Announcements starring Superman and Batman, to the original pencils and inks for Wonder Woman #63, this dazzling chronicle contains more than 25 plastic-encased archival pieces for readers to pull out and examine—all while learning about the artists, writers, and world-famous super heroes that make up the DC Universe. Whether you’ve been collecting Superman comics since the ’40s or have just discovered the amazing Sandman saga, you’ll revel in this vibrant treasury!

Review: Nothing is quite so magical as history.  It shows us where we’ve been and where we have yet to go.  With the DC Vault book Running Press has provided DC Comics fans with a classy and worthwhile representation of Dc history.

The trip through history is made ever so fun with props, postcards and cut outs from the past decades of Dc Comics history.  Many of these are items you’d never otherwise see, and the book is full of tidbits and stories from the eras gone by.   The golden and silver ages of comics are something that fans treasure and this book is an essential for any serious comic book fan.

This set is so magnificent that you’ll want to leave it on the coffee table as a discussion piece.  Beware of your children, though!  The fun colors, images and cut outs in the book will serve as a tempting target for trouble!   Keep this one on a high shelf and resist the temptation to let your children play with it…unless you can afford to buy two copies!

Rating: 5 out of 5 bats!

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