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Gimme a Call

Review

Gimme a Call

In Sarah Mlynowski’s latest young adult novel, GIMME A CALL, 18-year-old Devi Banks thinks she is given a golden opportunity when she has a freak accident with her cell phone. After dropping it into a fountain at the mall, the phone calls only one person --- herself. At age 14. Senior year Devi is in agony over a recent breakup with Bryan, her boyfriend throughout high school. She devoted all her time and energy to him, and after the separation finds herself alone with no friends, no boyfriend, and an acceptance letter to a crummy college nicknamed “Stupid State.”

After her phone starts malfunctioning, Devi has to convince both versions of herself about what happened. “Hah --- maybe I did just call my freshman self by accident. Yeah, right. Not possible. My neck begins to tingle again. What is up with that? Maybe I’m not such a good judge about what’s possible and what’s not. I never thought it possible that Bryan and I would break up. So who knows what’s possible? Maybe I did make a wish. Maybe it did come true. Maybe I did call myself in the past. Maybe I can keep calling myself in the past…Maybe I’m losing my mind.”

Finally, with some more phone calls between the two Devis, an exchange of information, and a couple of experiments, future Devi gets through to her 14-year-old self that it really is her --- past and future. And now is the time to make changes. First up? Bryan. If she had never dated Bryan, she would’ve spared herself the heartbreak. “The breakup. The breakup that breaks your heart. That’s what I want to save her from. I want to wrap her up in a fuzzy coat of denial and protect her. ‘You fall in love with the wrong guy,’ I say carefully…Don’t go out with Bryan Sanderson.”

Senior year Devi also has a lot of other requests for her freshman self. She wants her to overload in extracurricular activities so she can get into a better college. She wants her to study, study, study. She wants her to remain close to her friends and bond more with her parents. But will freshman year Devi listen to senior year Devi? And what happens when her future self becomes a too-demanding control freak?

GIMME A CALL is a highly entertaining, humorous, and fun read that will leave you flying through the pages and glancing curiously at your own cell phone from time to time. The light fantasy and time-traveling elements add a truly unique twist --- not to mention that both the protagonist and antagonist are the same character!

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Reviewed by Kristi Olson on October 18, 2011

Gimme a Call
by Sarah Mlynowski

  • Publication Date: April 27, 2010
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
  • ISBN-10: 038573588X
  • ISBN-13: 9780385735889