Nate the Great 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 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 © 1972 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Illustrations copyright © 1972 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 Coward, McCann & Geoghegan in 1972. Subsequently published in paperback by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books in 1977 and reissued with Extra Fun Activities 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/teens

  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: 978-0-385-37229-9

  Trade paperback ISBN: 978-0-440-46126-5

  Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-375-86546-6

  v3.1

  First Delacorte eBook Edition 2013

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

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  Extra Fun Activities

  About the Author

  My name is Nate the Great.

  I am a detective.

  I work alone.

  Let me tell you about my last case:

  I had just eaten breakfast.

  It was a good breakfast.

  Pancakes, juice, pancakes, milk,

  and pancakes.

  I like pancakes.

  The telephone rang.

  I hoped it was a call to look for

  lost diamonds or pearls

  or a million dollars.

  It was Annie.

  Annie lived down the street.

  I knew that Annie did not have

  diamonds or pearls

  or a million dollars

  to lose.

  “I lost a picture,” she said.

  “Can you help me find it?”

  “Of course,” I said.

  “I have found lost balloons,

  books, slippers, chickens.

  Even a lost goldfish.

  Now I, Nate the Great,

  will find a lost picture.”

  “Oh, good,” Annie said.

  “When can you come over?”

  “I will be over

  in five minutes,” I said.

  “Stay right where you are.

  Don’t touch anything.

  DON’T MOVE!”

  “My foot itches,” Annie said.

  “Scratch it,” I said.

  I put on my detective suit.

  I took my notebook and pencil.

  I left a note for my mother.

  I always leave a note

  for my mother

  when I am on a case.

  I went to Annie’s house.

  Annie has brown hair

  and brown eyes.

  And she smiles a lot.

  I would like Annie

  if I liked girls.

  She was eating breakfast.

  Pancakes.

  “I like pancakes,” I said.

  It was a good breakfast.

  “Tell me about your picture,”

  I said.

  “I painted a picture

  of my dog, Fang,” Annie said.

  “I put it on my desk to dry.

  Then it was gone.

  It happened yesterday.”

  “You should have

  called me yesterday,”

  I said, “while the trail was hot.

  I hate cool trails.

  Now, where would a picture go?”

  “I don’t know,” Annie said.

  “That’s why I called you.

  Are you sure you’re a detective?”

  “Sure, I’m sure. I will find

  the picture of Fang,” I said.

  “Tell me. Does this house have

  any trapdoors

  or secret passages?”

  “No,” Annie said.

  “No trapdoors or secret passages?”

  I said. “This will be

  a very dull case.”

  “I have a door that squeaks,”

  Annie said.

  “Have it fixed,” I said.

  “Now show me your room.”

  We went to Annie’s room.

  It was big. It had yellow walls,

  a yellow bed, a yellow chair,

  and a yellow desk.

  I, Nate the Great,

  was sure of one thing.

  Annie liked yellow.

  I searched the room.

  I looked on the desk.

  And under the desk.

  And in the desk.

  No picture.

  I looked on the bed.

  And under the bed.

  And in the bed.

  The bed was comfortable.

  I looked in the wastebasket.

  I found a picture of a dog.

  “Is this it?” I asked.

  “No,” Annie said.

  “My picture of Fang is yellow.”

  “I should have known,” I said.

  “Now tell me. Who has seen

  your picture?”

  “My friend Rosamond has seen it,

  and my brother Harry. And Fang.

  But Fang doesn’t count. He’s a dog.”

  “Everybody and everything counts,”

  I said. “I, Nate the Great, say

&nb
sp; that everything counts.

  Tell me about Fang.

  Is he a big dog?”

  “Very big,” Annie said.

  “Does he have big teeth?” I asked.

  “Very big,” Annie said.

  “Does he bite people?”

  “No,” Annie said. “Will this

  help the case?”

  “No,” I said. “But it might help me.

  Show me Fang.”

  Annie took me out to the yard.

  Fang was there.

  He was big, all right.

  And he had big teeth.

  He showed them to me.

  I showed him mine.

  He sniffed me.

  I sniffed him back.

  And we were friends.

  I watched Fang run.

  I watched him eat.

  I watched him bury a bone.

  “Hmm,” I said. “Watch Fang

  bury that bone.

  He buries very well.

  He could bury other things.

  Like a picture.”

  “Why would he bury

  a picture?” Annie asked.

  “Maybe he didn’t like it,”

  I said. “Maybe it wasn’t

  a good picture of him.”

  “I never thought of that,”

  Annie said.

  “I, Nate the Great,

  think of everything.

  Tell me. Does Fang ever

  leave this yard?”

  “Only on a leash,” Annie said.

  “I see,” I said.

  “Then the only place

  he could bury the picture

  is in the yard.

  Come. We will dig in the yard.”

  Annie and I dug for two hours.

  We found rocks, worms,

  bones, and ants.

  But no picture.

  At last I stood up.

  I, Nate the Great,

  had something to say.

  “I am hungry.”

  “Would you like

  some more pancakes?” Annie asked.

  I could tell that

  Annie was a smart girl.

  I hate to eat on the job.

  But I must keep up my strength.

  We sat in the kitchen.

  Cold pancakes are almost as good

  as hot pancakes.

  “Now, on with the case,” I said.

  “Next we will talk

  to your friend Rosamond.”

  Annie and I walked

  to Rosamond’s house.

  Rosamond had black hair

  and green eyes.

  And cat hair all over her.

  “I, am Nate the Great,” I said.

  “I am a detective.”

  “A detective?” said Rosamond.

  “A real, live detective?”

  “Touch me,” I said.

  “Prove you are

  a detective,” said Rosamond.

  “Find something.

  Find my lost cat.”

  “I am on a case,” I said.

  “I am on a big case.”

  “My lost cat is big,”

  Rosamond said.

  “His name is Super Hex.

  I have four cats.

  They are all named Hex.”

  I could tell that

  Rosamond was a strange girl.

  “Here are my other cats,” she said.

  “Big Hex, Little Hex,

  and Plain Hex.”

  The cats had black hair

  and green eyes.

  And long claws.

  Very long claws.

  We went into Rosamond’s house.

  I looked around.

  There were pictures everywhere.

  Pictures of cats.

  Sitting cats. Standing cats.

  Cats in color

  and in black and white.

  We sat down.

  Little Hex jumped onto Annie’s lap.

  Plain Hex jumped

  onto Rosamond’s lap.

  Big Hex jumped onto my lap.

  I did not like Big Hex.

  Big Hex did not like me.

  “Time to go,” I said.

  “We just got here,” Annie said.

  She liked Little Hex.

  “Time to go,” I said again.

  I stood up.

  I tripped over something.

  It was long and black.

  It was a cat’s tail.

  “MEOW!”

  “Super Hex!” Rosamond cried.

  “You found him!”

  You are a detective.”

  “Of course,” I said.

  “He was under my chair.

  Except for his tail.”

  Annie and I left.

  It was a hard thing to do.

  I could smell pancakes

  in Rosamond’s kitchen.

  “Rosamond did not take

  the picture of your dog,” I said.

  “Rosamond only likes cats.

  And pancakes.

  Now where is

  your brother Harry?”

  I met Annie’s brother.

  He was small.

  He was covered with red paint.

  “Me paint,” he said.

  “Me paint you.”

  “Good,” I said. “No one has ever

  painted a picture of me,

  Nate the Great.”

  Harry took his paintbrush.

  It was covered with red paint.

  All at once I was covered

  with red paint.

  “He painted you,” Annie said.

  “He painted you.”

  Then she laughed.

  I, Nate the Great, did not laugh.

  I was on a case.

  I had a job to do.

  I looked around the room.

  Harry had painted a clown,

  a house, a tree, and a monster

  with three heads.

  He had also painted

  part of the wall,

  one slipper,

  and a doorknob.

  “He does very good work,” I said.

  “But where is my picture?”

  Annie asked.

  “That is a good question,” I said.

  “All I need is a good answer.”

  Where was the picture of Fang?

  I could not find it.

  Fang did not have it.

  Rosamond did not have it.

  Harry did not have it.

  Or did he?

  All at once I knew

  I had found the lost picture.

  I said, “I, Nate the Great,

  have found your picture.”

  “You have?” Annie said. “Where?”

  “Look!” I said. “Harry has a picture

  of a clown, a house, a tree,

  and a monster with three heads.”

  “So what?” Annie said.

  “Look again,” I said.

  “The picture of the clown is red.

  The picture of the house is red.

  The picture of the tree is red.

  But the picture of the monster

  is orange.”

  “So what?” Annie said again.

  “Orange is great for a monster.”

  “But Harry paints with red,”

  I said.

  “Everything is red but the monster.

  I, Nate the Great,

  will tell you why.

  Harry painted a red monster

  over the yellow picture of your dog.

  The yellow paint was still wet.

  It mixed with the red paint.

  Yellow and red make orange.

  That is why the monster is orange.”

  Annie opened her mouth.

  She did not say a word.

  Then she closed her mouth.

  I said, “See!

  The monster has three heads.

  Two of the heads were

  your
dog’s ears.

  The third head was the tail.

  Yes, he does do good work.”

  Annie was very mad at her brother.

  I was mad, too.

  I, Nate the Great,

  had never been red before.

  “The case is solved,” I said.

  “I must go.”

  “I don’t know how

  to thank you,” Annie said.

  “I do,” I said.

  “Are there any pancakes left?”

  I hate to eat on the job.

  But the job was over.

  We sat in Annie’s kitchen.

  Annie and I. And Harry.

  Annie said, “I will paint

  a new picture.

  Will you come back to see it?”

  “If Harry doesn’t see it first,”

  I said.

  Annie smiled. Harry smiled.

  They even smiled at each other.

  I smiled, too.

  I, Nate the Great,

  like happy endings.

  It was time to leave.

  I said good-bye to Annie

  and Harry and Fang.

  I started to walk home.

  Rain started to fall.

  I was glad I was wearing

  my rubbers.

  Nate’s Notes: Colors

  Rosamond’s Crayon Cats Project

  Nate’s Pancake Recipe

  Detective Talk

  Rosamond likes to color. And she likes her cats. These cat crayons are purr-fect for her. You’ll like them, too.

  Ask an adult to help you with this project.

  GET TOGETHER:

  • broken crayons

  • heavy paper cups

  • an old spoon

  • a pot holder

  • cat-shaped candy molds*

  * Look for these at craft stores. You can also buy them online.

  MAKE YOUR CRAYON CATS:

  1. Remove all paper from the crayons.

  2. Sort the crayons by color. Or mix colors to see what happens.

  3. Put the crayon pieces into the paper cups.

  4. Place the paper cups in the microwave. Heat at half power for one minute. Stir. The crayons will still be lumpy. Heat and stir until all the lumps melt.

  5. Using the pot holder, pour the melted crayons into the molds.