Nate the Great Stalks Stupidweed Read online

  READ ALL THESE

  NATE THE GREAT DETECTIVE STORIES

  NATE THE GREAT

  NATE THE GREAT GOES UNDERCOVER

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE LOST LIST

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE PHONY CLUE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE STICKY CASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MISSING KEY

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE SNOWY TRAIL

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE FISHY PRIZE

  NATE THE GREAT STALKS STUPIDWEED

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE BORING BEACH BAG

  NATE THE GREAT GOES DOWN IN THE DUMPS

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE HALLOWEEN HUNT

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MUSICAL NOTE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE STOLEN BASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE PILLOWCASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MUSHY VALENTINE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE TARDY TORTOISE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE CRUNCHY CHRISTMAS

  NATE THE GREAT SAVES THE KING OF SWEDEN

  NATE THE GREAT AND ME: THE CASE OF THE FLEEING FANG

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MONSTER MESS

  NATE THE GREAT, SAN FRANCISCO DETECTIVE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE BIG SNIFF

  NATE THE GREAT ON THE OWL EXPRESS

  NATE THE GREAT TALKS TURKEY

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE HUNGRY BOOK CLUB

  AND CONTINUE THE DETECTIVE FUN WITH

  OLIVIA SHARP

  by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat

  illustrated by Denise Brunkus

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE PIZZA MONSTER

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE PRINCESS OF THE FILLMORE STREET SCHOOL

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE SLY SPY

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE GREEN TOENAILS GANG

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 1986 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Cover and interior illustrations copyright © 1986 by Marc Simont

  Extra Fun Activities text copyright © 2005 by Emily Costello

  Extra Fun Activities illustrations copyright © 2005 by Jody Wheeler

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company. Originally published in paperback in the United States by Delacorte Press in 1989.

  Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Random House LLC.

  Visit us on the Web! randomhouse.com/kids

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-37684-6 — Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-440-40150-6

  Book design by Trish Parcell

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  To my son Andrew,

  who I’m sure would have given me

  his enormously helpful suggestions

  even if I didn’t do his laundry

  Contents

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  Extra Fun Activities

  About the Author

  I, Nate the great detective,

  was weeding my garden.

  My dog, Sludge, was digging in it.

  Oliver came over.

  Oliver always comes over.

  Oliver is a pest.

  “I have just lost a weed,” he said.

  “No problem,” I said.

  “You may have all of mine.”

  “But this was my weed,”

  Oliver said. “Can you help me

  find it?”

  “I, Nate the Great, am not going

  to look for a weed.

  I only take important cases.”

  “This is an important weed,”

  Oliver said. “I bought it

  for a nickel at Rosamond’s

  ADOPT-A-WEED sale.

  Rosamond picks weeds

  that nobody wants

  and she finds homes for them.”

  “I believe it,” I said.

  “She gave me a Certificate of Ownership,”

  Oliver said. He pointed to something

  sticking out of his back pocket.

  It was a thick, rolled-up

  piece of paper

  with a ribbon tied around it.

  Oliver pulled the paper

  out of his pocket

  and handed it to me.

  I untied the ribbon

  and unrolled the paper.

  It was long.

  It had printing on it.

  There was a shiny seal

  stuck on the paper.

  It also had printing on it.

  “See? It’s an important weed,”

  Oliver said. “It also came with

  a record that Rosamond made

  to play to her weeds

  to help them grow.

  Be proud you’re a weed,

  wild and free,

  and you might grow up

  to be a tree.”

  “Rosamond thinks big,” I said,

  “as well as strange.”

  I gave the Certificate of Ownership

  back to Oliver.

  He put it in his pocket.

  “Tell me,” I said,

  “what happened after you

  bought the weed?”

  “I took it home,”

  Oliver said. “But it looked sick.

  I played Rosamond’s record for it.

  Then it looked sicker.

  So I went to the library

  and found a big book about weeds.

  I took it home.

  I read about sick weeds

  and healthy weeds.

  The book told me how

  to make sick weeds healthy.

  It gave three steps.

  Step One. Put the weed in dirt.

  I got a pot with dirt in it.

  Then I stuck the weed in it.

  Step Two. Give the weed sun.

  I took the weed in the pot

  out to my back porch

  and put it on my railing

  where the sun was shining.

  Step Three. Give the weed water.

  I went into the house

  for a glass of water.

  When I got back to the porch

  with the water,

  the pot was there,

  but the weed was gone.”

  “Perhaps the weed did not like

  what you were doing to it,”

  I said. “Perhaps it escaped.”

  “I never did the third step,”

  Oliver said.

  “I have already solved your case,”

  I said.

  “Today is a breezy day.

  The weed blew away in the breeze.

  The breeze is going east.

  Your weed could be in China by now.”

  “But China is way outside my porch,”

  Oliver said.

  “And my porch is screened in.”

  “I, Nate the Great,

  do not want to look for your weed,” I said.

  “I would not know it

  if I found it.”

  “My weed looks small and scraggly and sick,”

  Oliver said.
r />   “It has a yellow bud.

  Rosamond said it will grow

  into a flower

  that will reach

  as high as the sky.

  That is why I bought it.”

  Oliver stood there

  and looked up at the sky.

  He might stay forever

  if I did not look for his weed.

  “Very well,” I said.

  “I will take your case.”

  I wrote a note to my mother.

  “Show me where your weed disappeared,”

  I said to Oliver.

  Oliver, Sludge, and I walked to

  Oliver’s back porch.

  It was screened in.

  I looked for holes and cracks.

  But I could not find any.

  I looked at the railing.

  It was covered with dirt.

  A pot of dirt was sitting on it.

  Beside the pot was a big book.

  With a dirty fingerprint on the cover.

  But I could read the cover.

  It said Wonderful Weeds of the World.

  I walked around the porch.

  I looked in corners,

  and under and on top of things.

  Sludge sniffed.

  “Your weed has to be

  on this porch,” I said.

  “But it isn’t here.

  This is a tough case.

  I must go to Rosamond’s

  ADOPT-A-WEED sale.

  Perhaps I will learn something there.”

  “I will follow you,” Oliver said.

  “Not if I can help it,” I said.

  I, Nate the Great, and Sludge

  ran to Rosamond’s house.

  She was sitting outside

  behind a table

  that was covered with weeds and cats.

  There was a big can of water

  under the table.

  There was a sign beside the table.

  “I am looking for Oliver’s lost weed,”

  I said.

  “He lost his weed?” Rosamond asked.

  “That was my star weed.

  It will grow to the sky.

  It’s Superweed.”

  “It’s sick,” I said.

  “Oliver didn’t love it enough,”

  Rosamond said.

  “Would you know it

  if you saw it again?” I asked.

  “I know all my weeds,”

  Rosamond said. “I keep a list

  of them in this book.”

  Rosamond opened a book

  she had on her lap.

  “Oliver’s weed has a yellow bud,”

  she said.

  “I already know that,” I said.

  “And its name is Superweed,”

  Rosamond said.

  “I know that too.”

  I, Nate the Great, had a

  better name for it.

  But I did not think that

  Rosamond would like

  Stupidweed.

  “You have told me everything

  I already knew,” I said.

  “Oh, good,” Rosamond said.

  “I knew I could help you.”

  Rosamond closed her book.

  Annie and her dog, Fang,

  were coming down the street.

  Sludge ducked under the table.

  He knocked over the can of water.

  It fell on Rosamond’s feet.

  PLOP!

  “Sloppy Sludge!” Rosamond cried.

  “You got my feet wet!”

  This was not a good day for Sludge.

  He was afraid of Fang.

  He was also afraid of Rosamond’s cats.

  I spoke to Annie.

  “I am looking for a weed

  with a yellow bud on it.”

  “Maybe Fang ate it,” Annie said.

  “Is Fang a weed eater?” I asked.

  “Fang will eat almost everything,”

  Annie said. “Watch!”

  Annie shouted, “Fang! WEED!”

  Fang grabbed a weed in his teeth

  and started to run away.

  “You owe me two cents, Fang!”

  Rosamond shouted.

  Rosamond’s four cats ran after Fang.

  I hoped that Fang and the cats

  would have a big fight.

  I hoped they would all lose.

  The world would be safe forever.

  Sludge ran out

  from under the table.

  He knew it was time to leave.

  We had to look for Stupidweed.

  But where?

  Perhaps we should look where

  lots of things grow.

  Perhaps we could find a clue

  in the woods

  or in a park.

  Sludge and I walked to the woods.

  We peered inside.

  It was dark and scary in there.

  It was almost as scary as Fang.

  I, Nate the Great, hate cases

  where I have to be brave.

  Sludge and I crawled into the woods.

  We heard something behind us.

  It was gaining on us.

  It was Oliver.

  Sludge and I hid behind a tall tree.

  Oliver ran into the woods.

  Sludge and I ran out.

  We ran to the park.

  We sat down on a bench.

  Everything was sunny and bright.

  And safe.

  I liked it there.

  Flowers and plants were everywhere.

  Was there a clue among

  all these growing things?

  Was there a weed?

  Suddenly I saw something.

  It was Claude.

  Claude is always losing things.

  He was crawling down a path

  among the flowers.

  “Did you lose something?” I asked.

  “A worm,” he said. “It crawled

  into the ground.

  I can’t see it

  but I know it is in there.

  It is right under our noses.

  Can you help me find it?”

  This was not a good day for

  me, Nate the Great.

  I had been asked to find a weed.

  I had been asked to find a worm.

  It was time to do something

  important.

  I went home and made pancakes.

  I gave Sludge a bone.

  I thought about the case.

  I had to find the weed

  and lose Oliver.

  But I was stumped.

  The weed could not have left

  Oliver’s porch.

  But it was not there.

  I thought about clues.

  What had I learned?

  The weed’s name was Superweed.

  I knew that was not important.

  The weed had a yellow bud.

  Maybe that was important.

  Maybe it wasn’t.

  The weed was last seen inside a pot

  on Oliver’s railing.

  Last seen was always important.

  What was Oliver doing

  just before the weed disappeared?

  He was reading from a book

  and looking at his weed

  and turning away from his weed

  to go into his house.

  Were those clues?

  I thought of Rosamond.

  She was strange.

  That was not a clue.

  That was her problem.

  Then I thought about her book

  and her can of water.

  Hmm.

  I looked at Sludge

  eating his bone.

  He always tried to help with my cases.

  But all he had done was knock over

  Rosamond’s can of water.

  Was he trying to tell me something?

  I th
ought about Claude

  and his worm.

  Suddenly I knew I had

  a lot of good clues.

  I had to go back to Oliver’s house.

  It was hard to do.

  Oliver was sitting on his back porch.

  “I lost you in the woods,” he said.

  “Did you find my weed?”

  “I am getting close,” I said.

  I looked at his railing.

  “Where is your weed book?”

  “I took it back to the library,”

  Oliver said.

  “Then I, Nate the Great, must go

  to the library.”

  “I will follow you,” Oliver said.

  “I know it,” I said.

  Sludge and I rushed to the library.

  Sludge had to wait outside.

  I went inside.

  I looked for weed books.

  I found Wonderful Weeds of the World.

  It had a dirty fingerprint

  on the cover,

  so I knew it was Oliver’s copy.

  I pulled it down.

  I opened it up.

  I looked inside.

  I found what I knew I would find.

  Oliver’s weed!

  It was between two pages.

  It was pressed against

  Step Three.

  It did not look sick anymore.

  It looked dead.

  I took the weed from the book

  and put the book

  back on the shelf.

  I knew that Steps One, Two,

  and Three could not help

  Oliver’s weed.

  Nothing could help Oliver’s weed.

  I left the library.

  Oliver was outside with Sludge.

  I held up the weed

  with both hands.

  It needed both hands

  to keep it up.

  “Here is your weed,” I said.

  “The case is solved.”

  “How did you find it?” Oliver asked.

  “Clues,” I said. “Lots of clues.

  I saw Claude looking for a worm

  in the ground.

  He said he could not see it