Nate the Great and the Missing Key Read online

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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 © 1981 by Marjorie Weinman Short

Cover and interior illustrations copyright © 1981 by Marc Simont

Extra Fun Activities text copyright © 2007 by Emily Costello

Extra Fun Activities illustrations copyright © 2007 by Laura Hart

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company. Originally published in paperback in the United States by Delacorte Press in 1982.

Reprinted by arrangement with the Putnam Publishing Group, Inc.

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.

Paperback ISBN 978-0-440-46191-3 — eBook ISBN 978-0-385-37678-5

Book design by Trish Parcell

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

v3.1

To Mitch,

with love and thanks

for giving me the key

to this mystery

M.W.S.

Contents

Other Books by This Author

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

First Page

Extra Fun Activities

About the Authors

I, Nate the Great,

am a detective.

I am not afraid of anything.

Except for one thing.

Today I am going

to a birthday party

for the one thing

I am afraid of.

Annie’s dog, Fang.

This morning my dog, Sludge,

and I were getting ready

for the party.

The doorbell rang.

I opened the door.

Annie and Fang were standing there.

Fang looked bigger than ever

and so did his teeth.

But he looked like a birthday dog.

He was wearing a stupid sweater

and a new collar.

“I need help,” Annie said.

“I can’t find the key to my house.

So I can’t get inside

to have the birthday party

for Fang.”

I, Nate the Great,

was sorry about the key

and glad about the party.

I said,

“Tell me about your key.”

“Well,” Annie said,

“the last time I saw it

was when I went out

to get Fang a birthday surprise

to eat.”

“To eat?” I said.

“Yes,” Annie said.

“Some surprise food.

It’s the one present

I had forgotten to buy.

I got Fang lots of presents.

A striped sweater.

And a new collar

with a license number,

a name tag,

a little silver dog dish,

and a little silver bone

to hang from the collar.

See how pretty Fang looks

and hear how nicely he jingles.”

I, Nate the Great,

did not want

to look at Fang

or listen to him.

“Tell me more,” I said.

“Well, Rosamond and her four cats

were at my house,” Annie said.

“She was helping me

get ready for the party.

When I went to the store,

I left Rosamond and the cats

in my house.

I left Fang in the yard.

I left the key to my house

on a table.

That is the last time

I saw the key.

When I got back,

Fang was still in the yard.

But the house was locked,

and Rosamond and her cats

were gone.

Rosamond left this note

stuck to my front door.”

“That is a strange poem,”

I said.

“Sometimes Rosamond is strange,”

Annie said.

I, Nate the Great,

already knew that.

“You must go

to Rosamond’s house

and ask her

where she put your key,” I said.

“I went to her house,”

Annie said. “But it was locked, too.

I rang the bell, but no one was home.”

“This is a big day

for Rosamond

and locked doors,” I said.

“Who else has a key

to your house?”

“My mother and father.

But they went out for the day.

They don’t like dog parties,”

Annie said.

I, Nate the Great,

knew that dog parties

are very easy not to like.

But I said,

“I will take your case.”

I wrote a note to my mother.

Annie, Fang, Sludge, and I

went to

Annie’s house.

“What does your key look like?”

I asked.

“It is silver and shiny,”

Annie said.

Sludge and I looked around.r />
There were many places

to leave a key.

Under Annie’s doormat.

In her flower garden.

Up her drainpipe.

In her mailbox.

But they were not round,

safe, shiny, and big.

“I will have to look

in other places,” I said.

“Fang and I will wait

for you here,” Annie said.

I, Nate the Great,

was glad to hear that.

Sludge and I went to Oliver’s house.

Oliver is a pest.

But I had a case to solve.

I had a job to do.

I knew that Oliver

collects shiny things.

Like tin cans, safety pins,

badges, poison ivy,

and pictures of the sun.

Each week he collects

one new shiny thing.

Perhaps this week

it was a key.

“Did Rosamond leave a shiny key

with you in a big, round, safe place?”

I asked.

“No,” Oliver said.

“This is not my key week.

This is my week

for shiny eels.

Would you like to see

my new eel?”

I, Nate the Great,

did not want to see

a new eel

or an old eel.

I started to leave.

“May I follow you?”

Oliver asked.

“No,” I said.

“I will help you look

for the key,” Oliver said.

“All right,” I said.

“When I go east,

you go west.

When I go south,

you go north.”

“But we won’t be together,”

Oliver said.

“Exactly,” I said.

Sludge and I left Oliver’s house.

I did not look back.

I knew what I would see.

Oliver.

I, Nate the Great,

was busy thinking

and looking.

All at once I saw

a big, safe place.

A bank.

I knew there were many

round, shiny things

in a bank.

Like pennies

and nickels

and dimes

and quarters.

Sludge and I walked inside.

Oliver followed us.

Sludge and I looked

on desks and behind counters.

Then we crawled on the floor.

If Rosamond had been here,

there would be cat hairs

all over the floor.

I saw paper clips

and a broken pen

and a penny

and mud.

And a bank guard.

First his feet.

Then the rest of him.

“Do you want

to make a deposit?” he asked.

I, Nate the Great,

wished I could deposit Oliver

in the bank.

I said, “Did anyone strange

with four cats

leave a key here?”

The guard pointed to the door.

Sludge and I left.

Now I, Nate the Great,

knew where I should not look

for the key.

A bank was not

a strange enough place

for a strange person like Rosamond

to leave a key.

I had to think of a strange place.

I thought of a kitchen

with bottles of syrup,

hunks of butter,

and stacks of pancakes.

It was not a strange place.

But it was a good place

to think of

because I, Nate the Great,

was hungry.

It was time for lunch.

Sludge and I started for home.

I felt something breathing

on the back of my neck.

I turned around.

It was Oliver.

“I will follow you forever,”

Oliver said.

I, Nate the Great,

knew that forever

was far too long

to be followed

by Oliver.

Sludge and I started to run.

We ran down the street,

up a hill,

around five corners,

and into an alley.

We lost Oliver.

I sat down to rest

beside a garbage can.

Sludge sniffed it.

Sludge likes garbage cans.

I stared at the can.

I had an idea.

A garbage can

would be a perfect place

for Rosamond to hide a key!

It was big and round and shiny

with a shiny cover and shiny handles.

It was safe because no one

would look inside a garbage can.

Except Sludge.

And it was a very strange place

for a key.

Strange enough for Rosamond.

There were not

many places like that.

Now I, Nate the Great,

knew that I had to look

in Annie’s garbage can.

Sludge and I walked

to the garbage can

behind Annie’s house.

We bent low.

I did not want Annie

to see me

until I found the key

in her garbage can.

Then I would surprise her.

I tried to pull up the cover.

Sludge tried to push up the cover

with his nose.

I pulled harder.

Sludge pushed harder.

The cover came off.

We looked inside the can.

It was empty.

I, Nate the Great,

had not solved the case.

Sludge and I slunk home.

I was very hungry.

I gave Sludge a bone.

I made many pancakes.

I sat down to eat them.

But I did not have a fork.

I opened a drawer.

It was full of spoons and knives

and forks all together

in a shiny silver pile.

I had to pick up

many spoons and knives

before I found a fork.

It is hard to find something

silver and shiny

when it is mixed in

with other things

that are silver and shiny.

I, Nate the Great,

thought about that.

Maybe Annie’s key was someplace

where nobody would see it

because it was with other

shiny silver things.

A strange place.

A round place.

A big place.

A safe place.

And now I, Nate the Great,

knew the place!

Sludge and I went back

to Annie’s house.

Annie was sitting in front

with Fang.

She looked sad.

Fang looked big.

I ran up to Annie.

“I know where your key is,”

I said.

“Where?” Annie asked.

“Look at Fang’s collar,”

I said.

Annie looked.

“I see Fang’s name tag

hanging from his collar,”

she said. “And his license.

And his silver dog dish.

And his silver bone

and ________________my key!”

“Yes,” I said. “I,
Nate the Great,

say that Rosamond hung your key

from Fang’s collar.

We did not notice it

because there were other

silver things there.”

“But why did Rosamond

hang it there?”

Annie asked.

“Well, it is a very strange place,”

I said. “And remember Rosamond’s poem.

A round place.

A big and safe place

where things are shiny.

Well, Fang’s collar is round.

The things hanging from it

are shiny.

Fang is big.

And safe.

There is no place

more safe

to leave a key

than a few inches

from Fang’s teeth.

No one would try

to take off that key.

Including me.”

I started to leave.

“Wait!” Annie said.

She took the key

from Fang’s collar.

“Now I can have my party

and you can come!”

I, Nate the Great,

was glad for Annie

and sorry for me.

Just then Rosamond

and her four cats

came up the walk.

“You found the key!”

she said. “I knew

I left it in the perfect place.”

I, Nate the Great,

had many things

to say to Rosamond.

But the party was starting.

Annie unlocked the door.

We all went inside.

We sat around the birthday table.

Annie gave me

the seat of honor

because I had solved the case.

It was next to Fang.

I, Nate the Great,

hoped it would be

a very short party.

Nate’s Notes: Keys

Nate’s Notes: Banks

A Map of a Buck

How to Make a Fancy Dog (or Cat) Tag

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