Bookverdict.com

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 orphan...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Perkins's story starts with Kat, a biracial scholarship student who lives with her single mother in Oakland and is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu champ-and who has recently fought off a classmate's sexual assault. The first brief chapter ends with Kat deciding to report the assault, despite her attacker's privileged status as a rich white jock. The next chapter begins in the Boston suburbs with Robin-himself a rich boy but with a very different backstory. Robin was born in Kolkata and adopted at age three by a wealthy white couple. His family is warm and l...Log In or Sign Up to Read More