Summer is a great time to read a new mystery and FINDING MIGHTY is the epitome of a great summer read. Even better it’s written by Edgar Award nominee Sheela Chari. Sheela and I met several years ago when her first book VANISHED and my SECOND FIDDLE were out in the same year. Both books had a musical element and so we did some events together with a group of MG and YA authors on the Stages on Pages tour. One of the real delights of writing is the people you meet on the journey, and I’m thrilled that my path has crossed Sheela’s again.
Let’s start with Parkour and why you chose it. Are you a practitioner of this sport?
I came to learn about parkour in a roundabout way. While writing FINDING MIGHTY, I envisioned that some of the graffiti tags that appear as clues in the story were up very high off the ground. I wondered how someone would reach such heights without being slowed down by equipment. So in my research, I came across parkour, and I thought of course! So that’s how some of my characters ended up being practitioners of both graffiti and parkour.
But then as I kept writing, I found myself being drawn to this art form more and 
more. And I specifically refer to parkour as art because even though it’s an urban movement sport, parkour runners use their bodies in efficient ways that emphasize the beauty of their form. I began to go past the stereotypes we normally associate with parkour – daredevils climbing bridges and jumping off buildings – and see how, like yoga, parkour is about controlling your movement and negotiating physical space. As someone who is fascinated by bridges and yet incredibly afraid of heights, it makes sense to me that I would find parkour beautiful and thrilling. For me, the ability to jump and fall gracefully, and land on your feet is the ultimate superpower. So a not-so secret admirer of parkour? Yes. A practitioner? No. Well, not yet.
If you are curious about what a parkour run looks like here’s a video of one of the more extreme practitioners of the sport James Kingston.
Tell us about the relationship between Myla and Peter and how the racial element of that friendship plays out. I think MG kids are both more relaxed about interracial friendships but also more aware of nuances. Is that your experience as well?
In thinking and writing about Myla and Peter, I came across their characters very differently. In the simplest way – Peter started off as plot and Myla as character. With Peter, his story began with an “Omar” tag I would see on the highway near my home. I would wonder who wrote it and why. Eventually I shortened the tag to “Om” and Peter’s story emerged, not as the person who wrote the tag, but the younger brother searching for his missing brother, Randall, and the tag’s mysterious role in Randall’s disappearance. Myla was more like me as a young person – a highly observant girl who feels largely unnoticed by the world. Because she was so much like me, it made sense to make her Indian-American, with a family and lifestyle similar to my own. With Peter, I wasn’t sure who he was yet – I had to write to find his character. As I did, he evolved into someone part Indian, but also a mixture of other communities (Peter’s mother is Indian and his father is half African-American and half white). And I liked the way that organically came to the story. Myla’s and Peter’s racial identities are not the basis for their friendship, but it was a nice meeting ground – the fact that they were sort of alike but not completely. It gave them each something to learn from the other. In the end, FINDING MIGHTY is really about what happens when these two different people meet and become friends, and how their qualities become so important to the other person, whether it is help in finding a lost sibling, or in finding your sense of self.
Tell us a little bit about this gorgeous cover. As a bookseller in a diverse community I love it that you can tell from the cover that the characters are not white. Did you have any input on the cover?
Thank you! I like this cover a lot. Myla is modeled after my close family friend’s daughter. The original drawing of Myla was good but she didn’t look Indian to me. So I sent in a photo of my friend’s daughter, and then the cover artist, R. Kikuo Johnson, used that to create the final Myla on the back cover. He did an amazing job, both with Myla, and the whole cover.
Can you share some tips for MG mystery writers. I, for one, think it’s hard to write a mystery when your detectives can’t drive.
- MG characters make great snoops. They can be present during conversations and overhear without giving themselves away, because adults don’t often realize just how smart or intuitive kids are. So don’t be afraid to put your characters where the action is.
Lists are a great way to keep track of information. Some of my favorite mysteries, such as THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, use lists to describe theories or clues. Lists are also a very visual and quick way to remind readers what they already know.- Know that as crime solvers, your MG detective will have to take risks. It’s what makes her different from the rest of the mold. At the same time, not every sleuth has to scale a building to prove herself. Although in my case, Myla does, because she’s scared of heights. Which is why climbing out of her bedroom window one night to find Peter’s brother becomes necessary for both the plot and her character. So have your main character take risks, but make sure that they’re risks that test her qualities the most.
- It’s true that middle grade kids can’t drive. But they can walk and
take the train or bus. Keep those options available – make your characters savvy enough (or brave enough) to understand a train schedule or know which stop to get off on the bus. In both my MG mystery novels, VANISHED and FINDING MIGHTY, my characters have to rely on public transportation to get them where they need to be. And in FINDING MIGHTY, two characters walk 50 blocks in Manhattan to track down a clue! - Even if you’re a “pantser,” try to have a sense of the end of your book before you start. It’s not always possible – I didn’t know the ending with VANISHED until I got to the end. But even if you don’t, it’s important to know what happens during the “Big Reveal.” If you divide your story into beginning, middle, and end, I like to call this point the end of the middle. It’s when your main character finally finds out what they’ve been searching for. The more you know about this moment of revelation, the easier it will be for you to write towards it – like moving to the light at the end of the tunnel. This tip holds true for writing any mystery, or for writing a book in general.
Terrific advice! I’m going to keep it in mind for my next project. Thank you Sheela for sharing your thoughts with our MUF readers. Sheela is giving away a copy of FINDING MIGHTY. Leave us a comment to enter the drawing. A winner will be chosen in three days.
Sheela Chari is the author of FINDING MIGHTY, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and VANISHED, which was an APALA Children’s Literature Honor Book, an Edgar Award nominee, and an Al’s Book Club Pick on the Today Show. She has an MFA in Fiction from New York University and teaches creative writing at Mercy College. Sheela lives in New York. Visit her online at sheelachari.com and @wordsbysheela.
Nicole Porter said, “I would LOVE to see everyone reading Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan this summer! It has universal themes that many middle-grade readers encounter such as shifting friendships, balancing family expectations with personal inclinations, and grappling with self-doubt. Readers will relate to sixth grader Pakistani American Amina’s engagement in these issues as well as see a mirror into their own diverse experiences and the world around them.”
gs this year. Who doesn’t remember relying on an imaginary friend for comfort and companionship? Crenshaw happens to be a gigantic cat who just may be real in so many ways and only comes when the need is the greatest. My final book is The Poet’s Dog by Patricia MacLachlan, a master storyteller and weaver of words. I haven’t read anything by her in recent years, but picked this up and loved the tale of loss and newfound hope. The dog loses his beloved poet master, but finds two children in need of rescue in a snowstorm. The dog’s musings about his past life, while based on fantasy as the story of an anthropomorphized dog would be, ring so very true to the heart. We can experience loss, but find life in our beloved memories.
to Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida “gives them a very personal look at the internment experience and helps them on the road to becoming world-minded.” Book 3 of Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain is “such a well-written fantasy, with wondering characters, but can be too slow-starting for some kids. Here’s hoping they plow ahead to the terrific rest!” And finally, The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall is “an oldie but goodie. It’s a fantasy about the tiny Minnipin folk in the Slipper-on-the-Water, a nonconforming few of whom rise up as heroes to defend their village against an invading threat. It offers humor, wonderful characters and true courage and also celebrates independent thinking and a willingness to do the right thing in the face of authoritarian opposition.”
Minamoto Yoshitsune, which “documents the true story of the legendary samurai who was raised in the household of the enemies who killed his father before being sent to live in a monastery where, against the odds, he learned and perfected his fighting skills.” Deborah Ellis’s, The Cat at the Wall, which centers on the Israeli Palestine conflict as told by a talking cat. “A cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house on the West Bank that has been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realizes that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards. Should she help him? After all, she’s just a cat. Or is she? She was once a regular North American girl, but that was before she died and came back to life as a cat.” Caitlin Alifirenka’s, I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives, which is the true story of an all-American girl and a boy from Zimbabwe and the letter that changed both of their lives forever. Andrea Davis Pinkney’s, The Red Pencil, which is a Battle of the Books selection. “After her tribal village is attacked by militants, Amira, a young Sudanese girl, must flee to safety at a refugee camp, where she finds hope and the chance to pursue an education in the form of a single red pencil and the friendship and encouragement of a wise elder.” Andrea Gonzales’s Girl Code. 
“The teenage phenoms behind viral video game Tampon Run share the story of their experience at Girls Who Code and their rise to fame, plus a savvy look at starts-ups, women in tech, and the power of coding. Dustin Hansen’s Game On! Video Game History, which covers video Game History From Pong and Pac-man to Mario, Minecraft, and More. Jazz Jennings’ Being Jazz. Teen activist and trailblazer Jazz Jennings–named one of The 25 most influential teens of the year by Time–shares her very public transgender journey, as she inspires people to accept the differences in others while they embrace their own truths. And finally, Ashlee Vance’s Elon Musk and the Quest for A Fantastic Future, which is an authorized portrait of one of Silicon Valley’s most dynamic entrepreneurs evaluates his role in the successes of such innovations as Tesla and Space X while evaluating America’s technological competitiveness.”
Man Who Invented the Wild West by Candace Fleming, Isaac the Alchemist: secrets of Isaac Newton, reveal’d by Mary Losure, Elon musk and the quest for a fantastic future: young readers’ edition by Ashley Vance, Women in science: 50 fearless pioneers who changed the world by Rachel Ignotofsky, No better friend: young readers edition: a man, a dog, and their incredible true story of friendship and survival in World War II by Robert Weintraub and The Boy who harnessed the wind by William Kamkwamba.
She would also love for kids to pick up “books with unusual structures, to stretch their minds and their concepts of what constitutes a ‘story.’ Unusual structures also help the reader become more involved because they have to have a greater role in assembling and comprehending the story themselves.” She suggests, The 
Inquisitor’s tale, one story told in many sometimes contradictory voices by Adam Gidwitz, Booked a novel in verse by Kwame Alexander, Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer an epistolary novel by Kelly Jones and the documentary novels, Regarding the… by the Klise sisters.
Moon by Kelly Barnhill, The Glass Sentence and sequels by S.E. Grove, When the Sea Turned to Silver and prequels by Grace Lin, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, Anything by Robin McKinley or Frances Hardinge, The Naming and sequels by Alison Croggon, Sabriel and sequels by Garth Nix.”
