Gimme a Call

Gr 7—10—Just weeks away from high school graduation and suffering from being dumped by her long-term boyfriend, Devi's cell phone magically downloads a time warp app after an accidental dunk in the mall fountain in this novel (Delacorte, 2010) by Sarah Mlynowski. The one person she can call is her freshman self. The "girls" name themselves "Ivy" (the older Devi) and "Frosh" (the younger). Ivy convinces Frosh to change her choices in order to revise Ivy's present life. College acceptances and the circumstances surrounding Ivy's family and friends morph continually as Ivy demands more and more modifications from Frosh. The personas of the main character plus the mercurial situations of every character in the book will probably perplex listeners. Add a basically unvoiced narration by Cassandra Campbell and confusion reigns as listeners try to sort out just who is talking, what year it is, and who is taking whom to the prom. It is also difficult to ascertain whether parts of the reading are unspoken thoughts or audible conversations. The beginning and ending of each disk is not indicated, nor is the number of each disk. Chapters are announced. For many teens, the print version is apt to be better accepted than the audiobook.—Jennifer Ward, Albany Public Library, NY