Book Review: Gimme A Call by Sarah Mlynowski

Gimme A Call
by Sarah Mlynowski
Magic in Manhattan

Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0-385-73588-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-73588-X
Publication Date: April, 2010
List Price: $17.99

Review: Romance, suspense, and great, enjoyable characters. Are these all aspects of books you love? If so, then Gimme a Call is for you! I can guarantee that you will love it. This remarkable book is by Sarah Mlynowski.

When this book starts, 18-year-old Devorah Banks, or Devi, is at the mall. After all, who doesn't love the mall? She's sitting at the fountain, listening to her voice mail from her boyfriend, Bryan, when all of a sudden her phone just slips out of her hand and into the fountain. Devi sighs, rolls up her jeans, and goes in. After finding it, she tries to turn it on, or call someone, or text someone. As the phone comes alive with the push of the send button, it turns on. As Devi tries to call someone, her phone calls her own number- 3 and a 1/2 years ago! Devi sees this can work to her advantage: she can keep her friends, drop Bryan first so he can't break her heart, and generally make her life better. As a freshman Devi (nicknamed Frosh) and senior Devi (nicknamed Ivy) make plans, Ivy's life changes in ways she never thought were possible. Some of the things Ivy tells Frosh to do are try to win the lottery, cheat to try to get into better colleges, and even crazier things! As for her colleges, she gets accepted to UCLA, Hofstra, and Harvard (and at one point, Heken, a school for juvenile delinquents). Another small detail is the batteries in Ivy's phone are running out! She can't charge it, and she can't put in a new battery. With this detail in mind, Ivy's phone..dies.

Gimme a Call is a really good book, and I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the plot because it never repeated itself. Also, the storyline was really original because the whole calling-your-younger-self thing has never really been used before, so it was new to me. I liked how Ivy and Frosh tried to change their lives, but then in the end everything turned out pretty much the same it had been in the beginning, except for a few small fine points! I also liked the characters, because they were funny, made me laugh, and most of them seemed like people I would want to be friends with. Another thing that I enjoyed was how at the end a senior Frosh finally accepted how she and Bryan were going to be, and how they all finally got to prom. One thing I didn't like was how in the end, they didn't tell you how college Ivy turned out. I really wanted to know that part, and I was disappointed that the author didn't tell the reader more about it. In addition, I liked how Ivy still got into a good college. Also, I really hope there's a sequel to Gimme a Call, or the author writes more books, because it has become one of my top favorite books. All in all, Gimme a Call is a great book that I could read over and over again.

Review written by Emily (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of Gimme A Call for this review.

Have you read Gimme A Call? How would you rate it?