Alex Aster Played Make-Believe with Her Barbies as a Child. Now She’s the Author of the First-Ever Barbie Novel (Exclusive)

Alex Aster played make-believe with her Barbies as a child. Now she’s the author of the first-ever Barbie novel: ‘Barbie: Dreamscape.’ In collaboration with Mattel, this marks the NYT Bestseller’s first IP project

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New York Times bestselling author Alex Aster has released the first ever Barbie novel in collaboration with Mattel, Barbie: Dreamscape

Aster grew up crafting some of her first stories with Barbie dolls, and her younger self “would never believe” she would be tasked with writing a Barbie novel

Barbie: Dreamscape is available now, wherever books are sold

Forget the paper towel Barbie clothes, Alex Aster now has an entire novel’s worth of Barbie-inspired imagination to share with the world.

The New York Times bestselling author, widely known for her young adult romantasy series Lightlark and her enemies-to-lovers romance Summer in the City, is taking a break from love to explore all things self-discovery in her newest novel Barbie: Dreamscape. Out now, this release marks Aster’s tenth published book and Mattel’s first-ever Barbie novel.

“My six-year-old self that used to create stories for my Barbies would never believe that I would be asked to write the Barbie book. Never,” Aster tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview ahead of the novel’s release. “It was such a dream of mine to even have one book out, and the fact that this is my tenth published book is truly insane.”

Tasked with bringing a Barbie adventure to life, Aster reflected on what the childhood toy meant to her growing up and how the lessons she learned through Barbie still apply to her life today. “Now, at 31 years old, looking back, I can see how important Barbie was to my creativity,” she says. “When you’re a kid, you don’t have the same fears that you get as an adult. You make things because you love them. You don’t know anything about failure or shame, or anything beyond ‘I’m doing this because I love it.’”

It’s this childlike wonder that Aster tried to tap into when creating Barbie: Dreamscape for her readers.

Barbie: Dreamscape also marks Aster’s first book where the main character didn’t come directly from her own imagination. While Aster’s book is the first Barbie novel, it follows a long line of Barbie-centric stories, including the hit 2023 Greta Gerwig live-action movie Barbie.

And while that was a bit daunting, Aster says Barbie’s impressive history was actually a blessing in disguise.

“I think when you put any type of limitation on a project, whether it’s a character or even a brand, it does seem like it might be limiting, but for me, it actually kind of gave me more inspiration and more creativity,” she says. “I took a lot of inspiration from Barbie and the [Mattel] products. Even some of the worlds [in Barbie: Dreamscape] are inspired by some of the new products that didn’t exist when I was a kid. I was able to go to Mattel and play with the different toys and see the merchandise they had.”

Courtesy of Alex Aster

The project was also such a success thanks to Mattel’s “laissez faire” partnership, the author adds.

“I really pride myself in having a lot of control over not only the book, but the cover, because I have such a close connection with my readers. I truly love them,” says Aster. “And so, that scared me a little bit. But from the first meeting, it was so clear that Mattel was completely open to everything, and I had full freedom to write whatever I wanted.”

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In addition to visiting Mattel and taking ideas from the products, Aster also got a lot of inspiration from the old Barbie computer games, like Barbie as Princess Bride, and the old animated movies. She even went back and rewatched a few during the writing process. Her favorite? The 2002 Barbie Rapunzel.

“That magical paintbrush... I truly believed that unlocked so many doors in my mind,” she says. “It’s really easy to forget how much something had an impact on you until you go back and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s where I learned to love telling stories! Where I thought of endless possibilities and I would make my Barbie’s dresses with paper towels.’”

Alex Aster/Instagram

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Created for readers as young as 12 years old, Barbie: Dreamscape is an adventure-filled, self-discovery novel that Aster hopes everyone — no matter their reading level — can appreciate and learn something from. “Even if you’re opening it up kind of sad, you could close it and feel happy and hopeful,” she says. “That’s the book that I wanted to write for this project.”

Barbie: Dreamscape is available now, wherever books are sold.

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