Book #14

Much Ado About Mean Girls by Ian Doescher

Power struggles. Bitter rivalries. Jealousy. Betrayals. Star-crossed lovers. When you consider all these plot points, it's pretty surprising William Shakespeare didn't write Mean Girls. But now fans can treat themselves to the epic drama--and heroic hilarity--of the classic teen comedy rendered with the wit, flair, and iambic pentameter of the Bard. 

It’s amazing how gifts can show you how much you are seen. I love Shakespeare, and I love Mean Girls, but I didn’t know how much I was looking for a crossover of the two. My friend knew, and it’s these types of friends you need to hold on to.

Doescher does an excellent job of bringing the Plastics to life as though he were the Bard. It’s interesting to note how many Shakespearean norms are actually in the film, most notably the asides and extended metaphors.

I just had so much fun with this. Doescher makes the play easy to imagine on stage (can someone please arrange for this to happen?), and ensures Shakespeare is adapted to the modern reader whilst still being faithful to old Will. And all those famous lines transformed into words that definitely, absolutely, could’ve been spoken in one of his plays? So fetch.

Student 22: 
Would that we could be friends, as we have been
Back, once upon a time, in middle school.
Would that I could create a luscious cake,
Whose recipe doth call for smiles and rainbows,
Which we would feast upon, and happy me.
Damian:
She doth not even go here!


Mean Girls in iambic pentameter. I honestly could not ask for anything more.