Here's Barbie

    This was the first Barbie book and what helped shape Barbie. It gave her a full name which has stuck to this day and gave lore to her relationships with Ken and Midge. It consists of seven short stories.

Barbie be my Valentine

    Barbie is new in town and excited for the valentines dance. It's a costume dance and Barbie goes as Cinderella, hoping to meet her prince charming. Once their Barbie dances with a boy who trips and they both fall down in front of everyone. Barbie feels embarrassed and it puts her in a sour mood. Her heel has also broken making her unable to dance for the rest of the night. Despite her bad attitude ken, dressed as prince charming, is determined to become friendly with her. After warming to him he asks her to dance and after she tells him about her heel situation he suggests she get her gym shoes from her locker. 

Barbie's Big Prom

    Barbie's cousin comes to visit and attend Barbie's prom. However when she arrives Barbie is surprised to see she's become very beautiful and glamorous. Ken seems to notice too and the two of them are always sneaking off. Barbie is upset until at the prom she finds out they had been sneaking off to plan a surprise for her. 

The Easter Hat

    In this play Barbie is working at a rest home. While discussing the upcoming Easter celebration with an elderly woman she kindly gives Barbie her old Easter hat to wear in the parade. The hat is outdated and Barbie already has a new hat she wants to wear. Unsure what to do, and not wanting to hurt the woman's feelings, Ken suggests they gather their friends and put on a private parade for the woman while dressed in old timey clothing. It's a big success and frees Barbie to wear her new hat in the real parade. 

The Size 10 Dress

    When Barbie's unfashionable schoolmate Bertha decides to have a glow up she models herself after Barbie; dressing like her, doing her hair like her, joining Barbie's after school activities, and even trying to steal Ken's affections. Barbie uncomfortably stays quiet until Bertha copies Barbie's sewing project: a yellow, size 10 dress that Barbie had custom designed. 

The Michael Tree

    When ornaments go missing from the school's Christmas tree Barbie and Ken investigate and find that a little boy named Michael has been stealing them. His mother is off having a baby and the boy wants to decorate a Christmas tree to welcome his new sibling home. Barbie and Ken work to help decorate the family's house and make Michael's wish come true 

Mirror Mirror Crystal Ball

    After Barbie's friend Jody has her fortune told at a fair she makes astrology her entire personality, forcing it onto her friends, refusing to interact with people that don't have a compatible zodiac with hers, and reducing her friends personalities to their zodiac descriptions. Barbie and Jody's friendship is almost destroyed by this hyper fixation until a new boy arrives at school and Jody almost misses his romantic interest due to misdetermining his zodiac sign 

Captain Hooten's Return

    Barbie accepts an invite from her aunt to spend a month on the Maine seaside. Unfortunately the resort they stay at turns out to be a gloomy old isolated house. It is owned by Ms. Hooten who inherited it when her brother, Captain Hooten, was lost at sea along with his crewmate John Metcalf. Two children staying there tell Barbie they've seen Captain Hooten's ghost at night. Barbie brushes off the whole idea of ghosts but when she sees a mysterious figure in black out on the dunes at night she becomes curious. Barbie goes searching for traces of the mysterious figure the next day and is surprised when they pop up in the distance. But they quickly run away when Barbie calls to them. That night she stays up to spot the figure again and sees it heading for the house. She catches it trying to sneak into the kitchen and finds it's actually a girl, the orphaned daughter of John Metcalf who ran away from an orphanage. Ms. Hooten takes the girl in and Barbie solves the mystery. 

    It's hard to judge this book appropriately as it is for children. Oh course a lot of the books I read were written for children, such as Nancy Drew, but this one is for a younger audience. So it was hard to keep my interest and for me to finish some of these stories. I am also not a fan of short stories in general so I didn't look forward to reading these if I'm being honest.

    The one I liked the most was Captain Hooten's Return which is the longest out of the seven and does the best at setting up a story. If that one had been a full book I think I would have enjoyed it quite a bit.