Mitali Perkins has written many novels for young readers, including “Rickshaw Girl,” a New York Public Library Top 100 Book; “Bamboo People,” an American Library Association Top 10 Young Adult novel; and “You Bring the Distant Near,” which was a Walter Honor Book, a National Book Award nominee and received six starred reviews. Perkins was born in India and has lived in Bangladesh, England, Thailand, Mexico, Cameroon and Ghana. Her new book is “Forward Me Back to You” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux).