*School Library Journal Best Book of 2019!*
*Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2019!*
*A Junior Library Guild Selection*
"The third-person narrative perspective is as accessible as it is literary. Perkins, who was born in Kolkata, India, knows how to write fiction about serious issues such as trauma, healing, identity, cross-cultural service, and social justice. Her inclusive, diverse characters leap off the page with distinctiveness and relatability. Unique and refreshing." —VOYA, starred review
"Simple prose belies complex themes around faith, service, personal identity, and trauma, and Perkins adroitly threads carefully balanced perspectives throughout the story and draws readers’ attention to cultural bias. This timely, realistic story filled with lots of heart yet devoid of a pat ending is sure to capture readers’ interests and spark contemplative conversations around global issues and activism. A must-have for teen and new adult collections." —School Library Journal: XpressReviews, starred review
"Mitali Perkins (You Bring the Distant Near) expertly explores personal identity, faith, trauma and ethnocentrism, cleverly using a dual narrative to depict Kat's and Robin's individual points of view. Perkins also uses the teens' experience in Kolkata to highlight the way many view service when done in cultures other than their own. Forward Me Back to You respectfully tackles heavy issues with a poignant, honest and refreshing outlook. —Shelf Awareness, starred review
"A budding romance, a richly evoked setting, and beautiful intergenerational relationships pepper this story . . . a surprisingly sweet and delicately plotted novel . . . Perkins' present-tense prose and the use of stage direction–like notations about scene locations work to give the book an ethereal tone, a dreamy contrast to the grit and sadness that the characters endure, and more reflective of the overall message of hope, connectedness, and love."
—Booklist
"In fast-moving prose that is layered with emotion—rage, grief, dismay, hope, vulnerability, love—Perkins’s novel pulses with heart and questions of identity as well as talk of faith, prayer, God, and social justice." —Publishers Weekly
"Perkins (You Bring the Distant Near, 2017, etc.) celebrates Christian faith, superheroes, and Kolkata life through the interleaved perspectives of sympathetic and earnest protagonists and in simple language that speaks straight to the heart. A hymn to faith, friendship, and social justice, sung by gentle men and strong women of many colors and ages." —Kirkus Reviews
"What both protagonists face as survivors of different traumas are thoughtfully represented in Perkins’ considerations of a setting where adoption and sex trafficking go hand-and-hand and in her convincingly reflective teenage perspectives." —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
02/20/11
Perkins’s latest follows alternating protagonists: brown-skinned Kat, a superhero-obsessed, tough-as-nails regional jiujitsu champion and California girl with a single, white-skinned mother; and India-born superhero enthusiast Robin, adopted by wealthy white parents in Boston. After Kat fights off an attempted sexual assault by a popular athlete at school, her mother sends her east to stay with a family friend’s great-aunt, Grandma Vee. Kat is angry at the world (at her mom for sending her away, at the “wolf” who attacked her), but when Grandma Vee asks Kat to visit with her friend Robin at her Christian church’s youth group, she reluctantly complies. Soon, Kat gets pulled into a trip to fight human trafficking and serve victims in Kolkata—Robin’s birthplace. While in India, Robin takes on his birth name, Ravi, and the two face their demons, meet family, make friends, and find the best inside themselves called upon. In fast-moving prose that is layered with emotion—rage, grief, dismay, hope, vulnerability, love—Perkins’s novel pulses with heart and questions of identity as well as talk of faith, prayer, God, and social justice. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)
★ 05/17/2019
Gr 9 Up-Interweaving the stories of two teens from differing socioeconomic backgrounds, this novel authentically depicts the stark realities of confronting trauma and navigating self-discovery. Sixteen-year-old Katina King is a Brazilian jujitsu champion and scholarship student who attends a prep school in Oakland, and is emotionally struggling in the aftermath of a sexual assault. Thinking that her biracial identity marks her as Other in her school, Katina feels unsupported by her peers as she processes her trauma. Eighteen-year-old Robin Thornton was adopted from a Bengali orphanage by two wealthy white Americans but can't seem to find his place in their world. Beyond his love of cars and superhero films, Robin does not connect much with anyone or anything around him. Hoping that a change of environment will heal Kat, her mother sends her to Boston to finish out the rest of the school year. There she befriends Robin at a Christian youth group where both teens decide to travel with their pastor to Kolkata during summer break to work with young survivors of human trafficking. Kat hopes to teach the young women martial arts and empower them to fight back and Robin (who shifts back to his birth name, Ravi) searches for his birth mother. Simple prose belies complex themes around faith, service, personal identity, and trauma, and Perkins adroitly threads carefully balanced perspectives throughout the story and draws readers' attention to cultural bias. VERDICT This timely, realistic story filled with lots of heart yet devoid of a pat ending is sure to capture readers' interests and spark contemplative conversations around global issues and activism. A must-have for teen and new adult collections.-Lalitha Nataraj, Escondido Public Library, CA
Narrator Soneela Nankani delivers a powerful performance of two teens who are on a path to healing and self-discovery. Kat King has just survived an attempted rape, and now even her physical strength as a jujitsu champion isn’t enough to make her feel safe around men. Nankani captures Kat’s fear, anger, and desperate compassion as she works to help other survivors during a summer service trip to India. Robin Thornton is an average high schooler, except that he was adopted from Kolkata by his two white parents. The service trip is the perfect chance for him to discover who he is, and Nankani portrays his hope and awkwardness as he tries to merge his current life with the culture he left behind. Nankani effortlessly switches between American and Indian accents throughout this thoughtful audiobook. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Narrator Soneela Nankani delivers a powerful performance of two teens who are on a path to healing and self-discovery. Kat King has just survived an attempted rape, and now even her physical strength as a jujitsu champion isn’t enough to make her feel safe around men. Nankani captures Kat’s fear, anger, and desperate compassion as she works to help other survivors during a summer service trip to India. Robin Thornton is an average high schooler, except that he was adopted from Kolkata by his two white parents. The service trip is the perfect chance for him to discover who he is, and Nankani portrays his hope and awkwardness as he tries to merge his current life with the culture he left behind. Nankani effortlessly switches between American and Indian accents throughout this thoughtful audiobook. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
2019-02-17
A summer church trip to Kolkata allows two American teens to serve, grow, and heal their own suffering in unexpected ways.
Katina King is a 16-year-old Brazilian jujitsu champion, a scholarship student at an elite Oakland school, and the brown-skinned, biracial daughter of a single white mother. After a male student assaults her, Kat's anxiety, rage, and anguish disrupt her focus on winning matches and applying to college. Eighteen-year-old Robin Thornton was adopted as a toddler from an Indian orphanage by wealthy white Bostonians. He can't seem to find true belonging or be more than a rudderless sidekick to his white jock friend.When Kat's mother sends her to Boston for a break from Oakland, the teens meet, traveling to Kolkata with their pastor to work with survivors of child trafficking. Kat decides to teach the young women how to fight while Robin, now going by Ravi, hopes to find his birth mother. But they learn the hard way that they must first earn the trust and respect of those they serve and that service may be very different from what they imagine. Perkins (You Bring the Distant Near, 2017, etc.) celebrates Christian faith, superheroes, and Kolkata life through the interleaved perspectives of sympathetic and earnest protagonists and in simple language that speaks straight to the heart.
A hymn to faith, friendship, and social justice, sung by gentle men and strong women of many colors and ages. (Fiction. 14-adult)
