Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine Read online

  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 Denke 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 © 1994 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Illustrations copyright © 1994 by Marc Simont

  Extra Fun Activities copyright © 2004 by Emily Costello

  Extra Fun Activities Illustrations copyright © 2004 by Jody Wheeler

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover by Delacorte Press in 1994 and reissued in paperback with Extra Fun Activities by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books in 2004.

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

  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: 978-0-385-37298-5

  Trade paperback ISBN: 978-0-440-41013-3

  Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-385-31166-3

  v3.1

  First Delacorte eBook Edition 2013

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

  For my two Nates:

  For you, my grandson,

  Nathan Sharmat,

  born December 12, 1992

  And in memory of your

  great-grandfather,

  Nathan Weinman,

  born one hundred years earlier

  on July 12, 1892

  Always remember, Nate is great!

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books By This Authors

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  About the Authors

  My name is Nate the Great.

  I am a detective.

  I have a dog, Sludge.

  He is a detective too.

  He helps me with my cases.

  But one day I had to help

  Sludge with his case.

  It was Valentine’s Day.

  Sludge was napping

  in his doghouse.

  I tiptoed up to it.

  I saw a big red paper heart

  taped to the outside of the house.

  Something was printed on the heart.

  I LOVE YOU SLUDGE

  MORE THAN FUDGE

  Someone had given Sludge

  a valentine!

  I was glad that no one had given me

  a valentine.

  I, Nate the Great, do not like

  mushy words.

  Or slushy words.

  I, Nate the Great, do not want to be

  anyone’s valentine.

  Sludge came out of his doghouse.

  I showed him his valentine.

  It was signed with initials.

  ABH.

  “Who is ABH?” I asked Sludge.

  Sludge sniffed the valentine.

  And sniffed it.

  He did not know who it was from either.

  He looked at me.

  “You want me to help you

  find out who sent you

  this valentine?” I asked.

  “This is not my kind of case.”

  But Sludge is my kind of dog.

  I wrote a note to my mother.

  Sludge and I looked for

  footprints around his doghouse.

  Sludge carried his valentine

  in his mouth

  while he looked.

  He liked it.

  We did not see any footprints.

  I was thinking,

  What clues do I have?

  The printing on the valentine

  was made with stencils.

  Anybody could have done it.

  And anybody could have

  stuck the valentine

  on the doghouse.

  Who do Sludge and I know?

  We know Rosamond, Oliver, Claude,

  Annie, Annie’s little brother Harry,

  Esmeralda, Pip, and Finley.

  None of them have the initials ABH.

  I saw Annie and her dog, Fang,

  coming toward us.

  Fang will never be anybody’s

  valentine.

  “I have a case for you,” Annie said.

  “I can’t find a valentine that I made.

  Please look for it.”

  “I already have a valentine case,”

  I said. “Somebody gave Sludge

  a valentine, but we don’t know who.

  I, Nate the Great,

  take only one case at a time.”

  “I must find my valentine,”

  Annie said. “Please.”

  I wrote another note to my mother.

  “Tell me about your missing

  valentine,” I said to Annie.

  “This morning Rosamond and I each

  made a valentine at my house,”

  Annie said. “Rosamond called them

  valentwins.”

  “Valentwins?”

  “Yes, because her valentine and my

  valentine looked exactly alike.

  We each cut out a big red paper heart.

  We each printed I LOVE YOU

  on our hearts.”

  “Then what happened?” I asked.

  “Rosamond went home with

  her valentine,”

  Annie said. “I began to sign my name

  on mine. I was going to give it

  to my little brother Harry.

  But Fang came into my room.

  He looked hungry.”

  I, Nate the Great,

  knew that look very well.

  “Fang
and I went to the kitchen,”

  Annie said. “I gave him some kibbles.

  When I got back to my room,

  my valentine was gone.”

  “Did Rosamond tell you who she

  was making her valentine for?”

  I asked.

  “No,” Annie said. “What does that

  have to do with my case?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “But I am on two

  cases at the same time. Remember?”

  I pointed to Sludge. “Please look at

  the valentine Sludge is carrying.

  Does that look like the ones that

  you and Rosamond made?”

  “Yes,” Annie said. “Except that

  there’s more printed on this one.

  And this one also has initials.

  Rosamond’s valentine and my valentine

  just said I LOVE YOU.”

  “But then you started to sign yours,”

  I said.

  “Yes, but I didn’t get very far,”

  Annie said.

  “You may not have gotten very far,”

  I said, “but Rosamond could have

  printed much more on her valentine

  when she got home. I, Nate the Great,

  say that Rosamond made her

  valentine for Sludge.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  Annie asked.

  “Only Rosamond knows,” I said.

  “Last year she made a valentine

  for the man in the moon.”

  “So you have solved your case,”

  Annie said.

  “Not quite,” I said.

  “Sludge’s valentine

  was signed with the initials ABH.

  Those are not Rosamond’s initials.

  Why would she print them on her

  valentine? Before I solve a case, all the

  pieces have to fit.”

  “Do you have any clues in my case?”

  Annie asked.

  “I don’t know. Show me where your

  valentine was the last time you saw it.”

  We all walked to Annie’s house.

  We went to her room.

  She pointed to her desk.

  “The valentine was right here,”

  she said.

  I looked at Annie’s desk.

  There were pencils

  and stencils and paste

  and red paper on it.

  No valentine.

  Sludge was sniffing the desk.

  “There are no clues

  on this desk,”

  I said to him.

  But Sludge kept sniffing.

  I peered over and under,

  in back of, in front of,

  and inside of things.

  I could not find Annie’s valentine.

  “Your valentine is not in this room,”

  I said. “Tell me, was anybody

  in your house besides you and Fang

  when your valentine disappeared?”

  “Yes,” Annie said. “Harry was

  in his room.”

  “Hmm. He could have gone to your

  room while you were in the kitchen.”

  “I suppose,” Annie said. “But he

  wouldn’t have taken the valentine.

  He knew I was going to give it to him

  right after I finished signing

  my name to it.”

  “Perhaps he was in a hurry to

  have it,” I said.

  “No,” Annie said. “Harry doesn’t like

  valentines.”

  “Then why did you make one for him?”

  I asked.

  Annie smiled. “I like to give

  valentines.”

  “So you like to give but Harry doesn’t

  like to get,” I said. “That could be

  important. Then again, it might not

  be important. I must talk to Harry.

  Where is he?”

  Annie shrugged. “He disappeared

  when the valentine disappeared.”

  “Aha!” I said. “That could be

  a big clue. Where does Harry

  like to go?”

  “He likes to go to Rosamond’s house

  to play with her Hexes,” Annie said.

  “Her Hexes?”

  “You know, Rosamond’s cats.

  She has a Super Hex, a Big Hex,

  a Plain Hex, and a Little Hex.”

  “Yes,” I said. “Rosamond has a Hex

  for all occasions.”

  Suddenly I, Nate the Great, thought

  of something.

  “I have just solved the case,” I said.

  “Oh, great,” Annie said. “Where is

  my valentine?”

  “No, not your case. Sludge’s case.

  I have not been thinking strange enough.

  If I had, I would have known that

  the pieces fit. I must speak to

  Rosamond.”

  “And look for Harry,” Annie said.

  I, Nate the Great, do not like

  to go to Rosamond’s house.

  But now I had two reasons to go there.

  Annie, Sludge, Fang, and I rushed

  to Rosamond’s house.

  Rosamond was sitting on her floor,

  making a strange, squishy brown

  valentine. Her four cats were crawling

  all over her.

  “I am on two cases,” I said. “I need

  Harry for one and you for the other.”

  “Harry was here playing with my

  cats,” Rosamond said. “But he left.

  I don’t know where he went.

  But I’m here. Why do you need me?”

  I took Sludge’s valentine

  from his mouth.

  I handed it to Rosamond.

  “I, Nate the Great, say that you

  made this valentine for Sludge

  and signed it ABH. Those are

  the initials for A Big Hex.

  This valentine was from Big Hex

  to Sludge, right?”

  “Wrong,” Rosamond said. “This

  valentine looks like the one I made,

  except for the Sludge part and the

  initials.”

  “You didn’t add words or initials

  to yours?” I asked.

  “I added words,” Rosamond said.

  “But these are not the words.

  Besides, I would never

  do a strange thing

  like make a valentine

  for a cat to give to a dog.”

  Rosamond would do even stranger

  things, but I did not want to

  go into that.

  “I made my valentine for a

  person,” Rosamond said, “but

  it’s a secret who. Right now

  I am making a valentine out of liver

  for my cats. They haven’t

  been eating their liver lately.

  It’s too good to throw away,

  so I am changing it into

  something different.

  Want to watch my cats

  eat their valentine?”

  It was time to leave.

  I said to Annie, “Go to your house

  and wait there,

  in case Harry comes back.”

  Sludge and I went home.

  “I have to eat pancakes,”

  I said to Sludge. “I have to think.

  I have to think twice as hard

  as I would if I had only

  one case to solve.”

  I made some pancakes.

  I gave Sludge a bone.

  I thought about Sludge’s case.

  Sludge is a great dog.

  Everybody loves him.

  Anybody could have given him

  the valentine.

  That was no help to me.

  I thought about Annie’s case.<
br />
  The only person who

  could have taken the valentine

  meant for Harry

  was Harry.

  But Annie said that Harry

  doesn’t like valentines.

  I made more pancakes.

  What had I learned at

  Rosamond’s house?

  I learned what she did with liver

  that her cats didn’t want.

  If that was a clue, it was a strange one.

  What had I learned at Annie’s house?

  Sludge had kept sniffing

  at Annie’s desk.

  Where her valentine had been.

  Was that a clue?

  Perhaps.

  But what case was it a clue for?

  Sludge’s case?

  Or Annie’s case?

  Or both?

  Did it matter?

  Perhaps I could use a clue from

  one case to help solve another case!

  I picked up Sludge’s valentine

  where he had dropped it

  while he chewed his bone.

  There had to be a reason

  why Sludge’s valentine looked

  like Annie’s and Rosamond’s.

  But Rosamond said she had made hers

  for a secret person.

  And Annie said she had made hers

  for her brother Harry.

  I stared at the initials ABH.

  I now knew they didn’t mean

  A Big Hex.

  But they had to be somebody’s initials.

  Who would sign ABH?

  Suddenly I, Nate the Great, had a lot

  of pieces that fit.

  “We must go back to Annie’s house,”

  I said.

  Sludge dropped his bone and

  picked up his valentine.

  We went to Annie’s house.

  Sludge sniffed Annie’s desk again.

  “I have solved your case,”

  I said to Annie. “See how

  Sludge is sniffing your desk.

  That’s because his valentine

  was once on your desk.

  His valentine was your

  valentine.”

  “What?” Annie said.

  “How much of your name did you

  print on your valentine before

  you had to stop?” I asked.

  “Just A,” Annie said. “I was going

  to finish with NNIE.”

  “I, Nate the Great, say that your

  brother Harry saw the valentine

  you made for him. He didn’t want

  it. So he added the words