I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Forward Me Back to You by Mitali Perkins Also by this author: Bamboo People, You Bring the Distant Near
on April 2, 2019
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, People & Places, United States, Asian American, Social Themes, Physical & Emotional Abuse, Friendship, Family, Adoption
Pages: 256
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The award-winning author of You Bring the Distant Near explores identity, homecoming, and the legacy of assault in this personal and ambitious new novel.
Katina King is the reigning teen jujitsu champion of Northern California, but she’s having trouble fighting off the secrets in her past.
Robin Thornton was adopted from an orphanage in India and is reluctant to take on his future. If he can’t find his roots, how can he possibly plan ahead?
Robin and Kat meet in the most unlikely of places—a summer service trip to Kolkata to work with survivors of human trafficking. As bonds build between the travelmates, Robin and Kat discover that justice and healing are tangled, like the pain of their pasts and the hope for their futures. You can’t rewind life; sometimes you just have to push play.
In turns heart wrenching, beautiful, and buoyant, Mitali Perkins's Forward Me Back to You focuses its lens on the ripple effects of violence—across borders and generations—and how small acts of heroism can break the cycle.
This title has Common Core connections.
Books written by Mitali Perkins are such a treat to read. Her stories absolutely will take you on a journey — and that’s not just me being cliche saying that. Forward Me Back To You, published in 2019 I guess, is an EXCELLENT read. While looking at books on my TBR cart, I decided that I could not wait anymore to read this book. And so, based on an “I want it now” whim, I picked it up. I have no regrets because this was truly a spectacular read.
Forward Me Back To You has two point of view characters. Kat is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion who lives in Oakland and attends a private school. She is assaulted in a stairwell but fights her attacker off. Unfortunately, it goes through the school’s judicial process and the assailant does not face any kind of real consequences. Kat, however, is left with trauma and a fear of being around males. Her mom decides that maybe a change of scenery will help her to process her trauma and so, she goes to stay with her mom’s best friend’s aunt in Boston. The aunt insists that Kat call her Grandma Vee and she is an actual treasure of a human being. Meanwhile, while in Boston, Kat crosses paths with Robin at church.
Robin is a member of the Thornton family. He is about to come into control of a sizeable charitable trust to spend on charity as he wishes. Oh, and Robin is an adoptee. He was adopted from Kolkata, India when he was a toddler to two white parents. Robin often feels as though he does not fit -with his parents, with his friend group. He does, however, enjoy his auto shop classes. It is suggested to Kat by Grandma Vee that Robin could use a friend. Well, Grandma Vee isn’t wrong.
So, anyways, Kat and Robin, end up going on a summer service trip with the church together to work with survivors of human trafficking. It also is an opportunity for Robin to find out information about his birth mother. Kat sees it as an opportunity to hopefully teach the survivors a lesson in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Along with fellow teen Gracie, the three begin to build strong bonds with each other and for Robin and Kat, begin the process of healing from their respective pasts.
I really appreciated that Forward Me Back To You did not entirely go into depth on the experience of being trafficked, as I just am not in a frame of mind to read that. What I loved is how it portrays healing and moving forward. We see multiple characters with different traumas who then go on to work through their traumas in different ways. There isn’t one specific way that the book shows or says this is how you heal, and I truly appreciated that. I loved the journey for both Kat and Robin (Ravi). Their character development is dynamic and worth reading. Forward Me Back To You is another must read from Mitali Perkins. I find myself looking forward to whatever is next from her.
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