Amazon reviews trash Barbie computer engineering book

A slew of critics has taken to the retail site to call the book, which depicts Barbie as needing the help of men to deal with computer issues, sexist.  (Updated)

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Considering all the pieces of Barbie content that exist in the world targeted to young ladies, it’s a wonder that more don’t fail as miserably as the book, “I Can Be a Computer Engineer.”

The lessons the book tries to convey is that anyone can work in the male-dominated technology field. What it succeeds in teaching us is that projects can fly off the rails and miserably fail even with the best intentions.

The book was featured in a Pamie.com post and picked up traction on Reddit for its horrible message: That Barbie is terrible with a computer, needs men to come fix her problems, and has no idea what a computer engineer does. Since then, reviewers have been trashing the book on Amazon.

The story starts with Barbie designing a computer game “that shows kids how computers work,” she tells Skipper. “You can make a robot puppy do cute tricks by matching up colored blocks!”

Not exactly what a computer engineer does, but go on.

“Your robot puppy is so sweet,” says Skipper. “Can I play your game?”

“I’m only creating the design ideas,” Barbie says, laughing. “I’ll need Steven and Brian’s help to turn it into a real game!”

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