Barbie is going in a new direction as we get a young adult fantasy-infused Barbie novel in Barbie: Dreamscape by Alex Aster and published y Simon & Schuster. Alex Aster has sold over 4 million copies of LIGHTLARK in the US alone and has spent over 140 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list for the series, so we are in good hands here for this story.
It will be a long book at over 300 pages and will be released in July of 2026 for grades 6 and up, so an older audience. This helps bridge the gap from younger Barbie stories into something for the older tweens. The story sounds very interesting as well as Barbie is looking to get her Fate from Swancrest Academy, but the problem is Barbie is left Fateless, the first in history. Barbie is drawn on a journey across extraordinary lands as each realm tests her.
Step out of the box and into the unexpected in this high-stakes, fantasy-infused Barbie young adult novel, from the premier voice in teen fiction.
Out of the box. Into the unexpected.
Barbie’s life is perfect. She lives in a pink-hued paradise called Heartland where everything is in order and everyone has a role to play, thanks to the mysterious and all-powerful beings who will soon assign her a Fate at graduation from the enchanted Swancrest Academy. She’s worked hard to earn a good one. Her years of endless studying and acing every challenge are about to pay off. But when the unthinkable happens and Barbie is left Fateless—the first in Heartland’s history—her carefully ordered world shatters.
Shaken and uncertain, Barbie must confront a future she never imagined: one with no clear path forward at all. Yet when a mysterious necklace begins to pulse with hidden power, she is drawn beyond Heartland’s protective mists into a daring journey across extraordinary lands. From sun-drenched shores to treacherous, ever-shifting landscapes, to shadowed forests steeped in secrets and magic, each realm will test Barbie’s courage, sharpen her wits, and awaken strengths she never knew she possessed—all while drawing her ever closer to a buried truth that could change her world forever.
A richly imagined coming-of-age tale from the premier voice in teen fiction, this is a story about defying expectations, rewriting the rules, and discovering that the greatest possibilities lie in stepping out of the box…and into the unexpected.