Alex Aster on Writing Barbie World’s First-Ever YA Book, Sending Her ‘Lightlark’ Movie Producers ‘Really Smart’ Fan Casts

Home Film News Aug 21, 2026 2:17pm PT Alex Aster on Writing Barbie World’s First-Ever YA Book, Sending Her ‘Lightlark’ Movie Producers ‘Really Smart’ Fan Casts By Jennifer Maas Plus Icon Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer @jmaasaronson Latest Alex Aster on Writing Barbie World’s First-Ever YA Book, Sending Her ‘Lightlark’ Movie Producers ‘Really Smart’ Fan Casts 12 minutes ago ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ TV Series Sets Netflix’s ‘Shadow and Bone’ Creator Eric Heisserer as Co-Showrunner 4 hours ago How an Indie Studio Convinced ‘Naruto’ Creator, TV Tokyo to Let Them Make Franchise’s First Official Digital Cards App (EXCLUSIVE) 1 day ago See All Mattel Press/Vic Yuen/Abrams Books BookTok sensation Alex Aster stepped away from the worlds of her bestselling “Lightlark” and “Starside” novels this week to celebrate the debut of her new book, which is based on IP that predates her works by more than six decades: Barbie. Author Aster, who has now released 10 titles over the past six years, was brought on by Mattel to write “Barbie Dreamscape,” the first-ever YA series based on the beloved doll. And Aster says she was given creative freedom to do what she wanted with everyone’s favorite pick icon from the start, including deciding what other members of Barbie’s world to include. Related Stories CBS Sets 'Daughters of 9/11' Special for 25th Anniversary of Sept. 11