Gimme a Call, by Sarah Mlynowski, is an amazing book about a 17-year-old girl, Davi, being able to communicate with her 14-year-old self. After dropping her phone into a magical fountain at the mall, it turns into a phone that’s only able to make calls to the past. One day, our 14-year-old, innocent Devi, is sitting at the lunch table with her friends, when she receives a call from a 17-year-old girl who tells her it’s Devi from the future. She doesn’t believe at first, but the older Devi finds ways to prove that she is telling the truth. After a great adventure these “two” have together, Davi learns things that she hadn’t known before.

This book is a fun read and has compelling character development. Although, something bigger could have been done with the idea of time travel, the book didn’t disappoint me. Devi, the main character, is a relatable teenage girl; she is carefree, she is serious, and also very emotional. She is just like me and every other teenager. The book is very relatable because we, as teenagers, often try to go back and fix every mistake we’ve made, not realizing how important they are for our growing process.

Devi tries so hard to keep her young self from falling for the guy that breaks her heart. Many girls can relate to this situation. The way Mlynowski describes Devi’s life makes teenagers think, “Yes, that has happened to me.” The main character experiences pain, joy, regret, anger and finally realizes that her life is perfect the way it is and that she shouldn’t change a thing.

This book teaches how you shouldn’t want to change your past because it will change your whole life and nothing will be the same. For example, the old Devi gives her young self the lottery numbers so she will win. She does, and whenever she comes back from school, she realizes that her mom isn’t with her dad anymore and her life isn’t as happy as it was before. She realizes that changing her past was not a smart decision.

Gimme a Call is a book you can learn a lot from. Life has ups and downs and the author tells the reader that that’s how it’s supposed to be. Mlynowski has written many other books concerning teenage girls and their everyday problems. Some of her popular titles include Ten Things We did, Bras and Broomsticks, Frogs and French Kisses, among others.