SHEELA CHARI
AUTHOR AND TEACHER
SHEELA CHARI
AUTHOR AND TEACHER
The unexplainable disappearance of Mars Patel
Mars Patel’s friend Aurora has disappeared! His teachers are clueless. His mom is stressed out about her jobs. But Mars refuses to give up—after all, his own dad disappeared when Mars was a toddler, before he and Ma moved to Puget Sound from India. Luckily, Mars has a group of loyal friends eager to help—smart Toothpick, strong and stylish JP, and maybe-telepathic Caddie. The clues seem to point toward eccentric tech genius (and Mars’s hero) Oliver Pruitt, whose popular podcast now seems to be commenting on their quest! But when the friends investigate Pruitt’s mysterious, elite school, nothing is as it seems—and anyone could be deceiving them. Slick science, corporate conspiracies, and an endearingly nerdy protagonist make this a fresh, exciting sci-fi adventure.
**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, this tech-filled adventure series pits intrepid Mars Patel and his outcast friends against a brilliant, enigmatic billionaire as they race to figure out why kids are disappearing from their school.
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.
*A Children’s Choice Award finalist
* A Junior Library Guild selection
*An Amazon Best Book of the Month Pick
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
ORDER: Amazon
About
Sheela Chari is the author of the THE UNEXPLAINABLE DISAPPEARANCE OF MARS PATEL series, based on the Peabody Award-winning mystery podcast. Her other work include the forthcoming novel, KARTHIK DELIVERS (2022), FINDING MIGHTY, a Junior Library Guild Selection and Children's Choice Award Finalist; and VANISHED, an APALA Children’s Literature Honor Book, Edgar finalist for best juvenile mystery, and Al’s Book Club Pick on the Today Show. Sheela has degrees from Stanford University, Boston University, and New York University, where she received an MFA in Fiction. She is a faculty member at Vermont College of the Arts and teaches fiction at Mercy College. She lives with her family in New York.
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, or book club in New York City, Westchester County, and for select visits in the Northeast region. Social distancing and the use of appropriate face coverings will be followed. 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).
2020-2021 RATES FOR IN-PERSON VISITS
Half Day: $250, 2 sessions
Full Day: $400, 4 sessions, with a break for lunch
A session can be a workshop or presentation. Workshops must be run in a classroom setting where each student has a desk and/or adequate table space on which to write. An ideal workshop class consists of 25 or less students. Presentations can be scaled for either an individual class or grade (for example, the 4th grade).
For schools that demonstrate a financial hardship in covering these fees, please email me directly at sheela@sheelachari.com to discuss a negotiated rate.
INFORMATION About virtual Visits
If you would like to schedule a virtual visit, please email me at sheela@sheelachari.com.
See below for options.
2020-2021 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. $90 per session. Hosting required for session.
30-minute Zoom visit: suitable fro a class or a grade, for ages ten years and older. This visit consists of a 20 minute screen-share presentation followed by either a reading from one of my novels OR a Q&A session with students. $60 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. This is a Q&A session only. Free.
ContacT
I love hearing from you! Please email me at sheela@sheelachari.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, I can only commit to a very limited number of clients at this time.
Backstage on the Today Show