SHEELA CHARI
AUTHOR AND TEACHER
SHEELA CHARI
AUTHOR AND TEACHER
Karthik Delivers
Fourteen-year old Karthik Raghavan is good at remembering things. Like his bike routes. Or all the reasons he likes Juhi Shah—even if she doesn’t even know he exists. It doesn't help that she seems to have a crush on his arch nemesis, Jacob Donnell, whose only job is to humiliate Karthik (and get his name wrong). Then Karthik's luck changes when he secretly agrees to be in a play about the famous musician, Leonard Bernstein. But he can't tell his parents. The family store is in jeopardy, and they need him delivering groceries on his bike to help save it. His mom is also worried about the Financial Crisis, and she's convinced that studying hard and staying focused is the only way to succeed. But Karthik is having fun being Lenny. Besides, what if acting is Karthik’s special talent? And what if acting is the one way to catch Juhi Shah’s attention? With all the pressure from his family to succeed, will Karthik be able to imagine and hope when he’s not sure what will happen next? Paperback release August 2023.
*Junior Library Guild Selection
*NEIBA Spring All About the Books Pick
*NEA Read Across America Pick
*Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2022
*Bank Street College Best Book of 2023
*New York Public Library New Vibrant Voices Title for Kids
NEA DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR EDUCATORS
★ “Overflowing with love, Chari’s heartfelt novel is an intersection of art, community, and friendship that absolutely delivers...Karthik is a compassionate and deeply funny narrator, and his journey of self-discovery while balancing familial obligation and chasing his dreams endears and inspires.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ "At its center, Karthik Delivers is about finding your own path at any age and daring to follow it...[an] ambitious middle-grade coming-of-age novel." —Shelf Awareness, starred review
"Chari delivers an authentic examination of the complexities of immigrant family life during the Great Recession, taking a realistic but compassionate look at parents vicariously chasing the American dream through their children. This is an encouraging endorsement of reciprocal support that celebrates the possibility (and necessity) of allowing our goals to change." —BCCB, Recommended
"A refreshingly nuanced novel about what it means to chase your dreams." —Kirkus Reviews
“Karthik Delivers is a story about family, community, and the mango lassi sweetness of reaching for your dreams. Like Karthik himself, this novel delivers big on friendship, charm, and heart.” —Sayantani DasGupta, New York Times bestselling author of the Kingdom Beyond series
“Readers will fall in love with endearing Karthik, a young Indian American teen living in Boston, as he navigates his family's expectations and financial pressures during the financial crisis. Chari has masterfully crafted a riveting, nuanced, and delightful journey of self-discovery topped with an extra helping of ice cream, pakoras, and West Side Story. Karthik more than delivers!” —Veera Hiranandani, Newbery Honor–winning author of The Night Diary
BUY: Bronx River Books | Belmont Books | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
The unexplainable disappearance of Mars Patel SERIES
This sci-fi adventure series, based on the Peabody Award–winning podcast, pits a group of gifted kids against a scheming tech billionaire.
★ "Chari deftly constructs a mystery that is strong in both plot and character. Mars’s friend group is as diverse as their unique abilities, and their teamwork and loyalty are unshakable. Fans of James Dashner’s The Maze Runner and Stranger Things will clamor for more of Mars Patel." -School Library Journal, starred review
"Readers of this fast-paced mystery do not need to have listened to the serial podcast to become utterly absorbed in the action on the pages...This terrific start to a book series contains intriguing characters, conspiracy theories, customized drones, holograms and a tantalizing mystery that could be leading readers anywhere in this world... or beyond." -Shelf-Awareness
ORDER: Bronx River Books | Belmont Books | Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Based on the Peabody Award–winning podcast.
Super Puzzletastic Mysteries
(Publisher's Weekly) - Multiple Edgar Award winners and nominees are among the 20 contributors to this engaging anthology of snappily paced capers entailing codes, ciphers, and math and science puzzles. Several gumshoes featured here have demonstrated their sleuthing prowess in book series: Grabenstein’s Riley Mack identifies the perpetrator of a history quiz cheating prank; Stuart Gibbs brings back FunJungle protagonist Teddy Fitzroy to solve the mystery of a missing monkey; and Florian Bates, the 12-year-old FBI consultant from James Ponti’s novels, locates the NHL’s purloined Stanley Cup. Other compelling selections include a puzzler by Sheela Chari, inspired by a real-life museum theft, and Lauren Magaziner’s whodunit about eerily identical triplets. A standout is Peter Lerangis’s enthralling tale involving a boy who befriends a homeless man in Central Park, a vintage puzzle book, a Fabergé egg appropriated by the Nazis, and a poignant father-son reunion. Grabenstein encourages readers to crack the cases before turning to end-of-book solutions, which cleverly read as continuations of the stories rather than objective revelations.
Ages 8–12.
ORDER: Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
FINDING MIGHTY
Along the train lines north of New York City, twelve-year-old neighbors Myla and Peter search for the link between Myla’s necklace and the disappearance of Peter’s brother, Randall. Thrown into a world of parkour, graffiti, and diamond-smuggling, Myla and Peter encounter a band of thugs who are after the same thing as Randall. Can Myla and Peter find Randall before it’s too late, and their shared family secrets threaten to destroy them all? Drawing on urban art forms and local history, Finding Mighty is a mystery that explores the nature of art and the unbreakable bonds of family.
* Children’s Choice Award finalist
* Junior Library Guild selection
* Amazon Best Book of the Month Pick
"Savvy readers will put the pieces together, too, although false leads and red herrings are cleverly interwoven...the rich backdrops of gritty New York City and history-laden Dobbs Ferry and is made all the more colorful by references to graffiti art and parkour." ― Kirkus
"Fast-paced and intricately plotted, Chari’s mystery is a rare achievement that pays off at every turn, featuring characters of color interested in their families’ histories and cultures." ― Booklist
"Told in alternating chapters by the three main characters, this novel contains all the right elements for an intriguing adventure: a long-ago theft, a suspicious death, a lost cache of uncut diamonds, menacing gang members, and a shrouded family history. . . it is a heart-pounding race to see who will untangle the mystery first. And at what cost." ― School Library Journal
ORDER: Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Vanished
Eleven-year-old Neela dreams of being a famous musician, performing for admiring crowds on her traditional Indian stringed instrument. Her particular instrument was a gift from her grandmother—intricately carved with a mysterious-looking dragon.
When this special family heirloom vanishes from a local church, strange clues surface: a tea kettle ornamented with a familiar pointy-faced dragon, a threatening note, a connection to a famous dead musician, and even a legendary curse. The clues point all the way to India, where it seems that Neela’s instrument has a long history of vanishing and reappearing. Even if Neela does track it down, will she be able to stop it from disappearing again?
* Edgar Award Nominee for Best Juvenile Mystery
* APALA Children's Literature Award Honor Book
* Featured on Al's Book Club on the Today Show
"Indian history and culture (musical and otherwise), well-observed family and friendship dynamics, and elements of fate, luck, and tradition bring depth this quiet but enthralling mystery." --Publishers Weekly
"Chari, in her debut novel, strikes the right note with this engaging, intricate story that spans generations and two countries." -- Kirkus
ORDER: Amazon
About
Sheela Chari is the author of several critically acclaimed novels, including KARTHIK DELIVERS, an NEA Read Across America book, and THE UNEXPLAINABLE DISAPPEARANCE OF MARS PATEL series, based on the Peabody Award-winning mystery podcast. Her other titles include FINDING MIGHTY, a Children's Choice Award finalist; and VANISHED, an APALA Children’s Literature Honor Book and Edgar Award finalist. Sheela holds an MFA from New York University and is on faculty in Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. She lives in NY.
Information about In-person Visits
If your local COVID guidelines at the time of the visit permits, I'm available to present at your school, library, book club, or institution in New York City and Westchester County, and for select visits in and outside the Northeast region. Social distancing and the use of appropriate face coverings will be followed as required. If your situation changes, this visit can be converted to a virtual visit (see the next section on Virtual Visits).
Virtual 20-minute Q&A are always free! Again, see next section.
To inquire about rates or to schedule an in-person visit, email me at sheelacharibooks@gmail.com. For schools that demonstrate a financial hardship in covering fees, we can discuss a negotiated rate.
INFORMATION About virtual Visits
To schedule a virtual visit, please email me at sheelacharibooks@gmail.com.
See below for options.
2023 RATES FOR VIRTUAL VISITS
45-minute Zoom visit: suitable for a class or a grade, for ages ten years and older. This visit consists of a 30 minute screen-share presentation, followed by a Q & A session with students. $100 per session. Hosting required for session.
20-minute virtual visit on Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, or Google Hangout: suitable for all ages and incudes book clubs. Free. Hosting required for session.
ContacT
I love hearing from you! Please email me at sheelacharibooks@gmail.com.
For information about my work, please email my agent, Steven Malk, at smalk@writershouse.com.
For writers interested in receiving editing work on their manuscripts, feel free to email me to ask for my current rates. Because of my own writing projects and teaching workload at VCFA, I can only commit to a very limited number of clients at this time.
Backstage on the Today Show