William Shakespeare’s Get Thee Back to the Future!
Pop Shakespeare Series (Book 2)
Paperback | Kindle Edition | Audiobook
Written by Ian Doescher
Illustrations by Kent Barton
Inspired by the work of Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, and William Shakespeare
Quirk Books
Release Date: April 23, 2019

We all know the story. An earnest teen, who just wants a new truck to take out his girl, his dad to stand up to his boss, and to rock out at a show, gets caught up in his wacky scientist friend’s scheme to steal some plutonium so he can time travel. Things go awry when said teen (Marty) gets sent back in time instead and lands in all sorts of hot water. His mom has a crush on him, he has to train his dad to stand up for himself, and the town bully (boss in the future) is on his case. He also accidentally almost erases himself from existence. With the help of the “Doc” from the past, Marty must right the wrongs and get Back to the Future! But what happens when you put the most famous writer of all time’s stamp on it?

A delightful mix of ’80s fun and loquacious language. Check out more on William Shakespeare’s Get Thee Back to the Future! by Ian Doescher here below.

Ian Doescher, author of such wonders as William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Mean Girls and William Shakespeare’s The Force Doth Awaken, has done it again. He began his journey with all things Star Wars, but is now branching out into other pop culture iconic movies. His love for Shakespeare is apparent in this ’80s mashup, an homage that is true to Back to the Future and to the bard.

The Shakespeare/Zemeckis/Gale mix is such fun as we bounce around the familiar tale in lovely blank verse. I could actually hear Michael J. Fox when I read Marty’s lines. Doescher finds a way to make Shakespearean language cool once again with this novel. There are a ton of other pop culture references and readers will enjoy finding them. I’m sure I didn’t catch all on the first read. Huey Lewis’s soliloquy is a poetic discography. And look at this verse:

“The pow’r of love, O ’tis a curious thing:
It changeth hawks into a gentle dove,
It maketh one man weep, another sing,
More than a feeling: ’tis the pow’r of love.”

The book contains these special bonuses too:

– Sonnet 1.21: Get Thee Back to the Internet

– Reader’s Guide: For those who need a Shakespearean brush-up

– Afterword: This section gives you a glimpse into Doescher’s train of thought as he thought about and wrote this. He snuck acrostics in there, changed the Marty character lines around as if this would really go to the stage, and so much more.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the trilogy. And I would love to see Baz Luhrmann make this movie. Kids would love Shakespeare if they got to read some of these as an introduction to Shakespeare.

“Whither we go, we have no
need of roads.”

This book is highly recommended.

In the iconic film by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, teenaged Marty McFly travels back in time from the 1980s to the 1950s, changing the path of his parents’ destiny . . . as well as his own. Now fans of the movie can journey back even further””to the 16th century, when the Bard of Avon unveils his latest masterpiece: William Shakespeare’s Get Thee Back to the Future! Every scene and line of dialogue from the hit movie is re-created with authentic Shakespearean rhyme, meter, and stage directions. This reimagining also includes jokes and Easter eggs for movie fans, from Huey Lewis call-outs to the inner thoughts of Einstein (the dog). By the time you’ve finished reading, you’ll be convinced that Shakespeare had a time-traveling DeLorean of his own, speeding to our era so he could pen this time-tossed tale.

Follow me on Twitter!