Nate the Great and the Lost List 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 © 1975 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Cover and interior illustrations copyright © 1975 by Marc Simont

  Extra Fun Activities text copyright © 2007 by Emily Costello

  Extra Fun Activities illustrations copyright © 2007 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 LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York. Originally published in paperback in the United States by Delacorte Press in 1991

  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

  Trade paperback ISBN: 978-0-440-46282-8

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-37677-8

  Book design by Trish Parcell

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

  v3.1

  For someone special,

  my cousin Rhoda

  Contents

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  Extra Fun Activities

  About the Authors

  I, Nate the Great,

  am a busy detective.

  One morning I was not busy.

  I was on my vacation.

  I was sitting under a tree

  enjoying the breeze

  with my dog, Sludge,

  and a pancake.

  He needed a vacation too.

  My friend Claude

  came into the yard.

  I knew that he

  had lost something.

  Claude was always losing things.

  “I lost my way to your house,”

  he said. “And then I found it.”

  “What else did you lose?”

  “I lost the grocery list

  I was taking to the store.

  Can you help me find it?”

  “I, Nate the Great,

  am on my vacation,” I said.

  “When will your vacation be over?”

  “At lunch.”

  “I need the list before lunch,”

  Claude said.

  “Very well. I, Nate the Great,

  will take your case.

  Tell me, what was on the list?”

  “If I could remember, I wouldn’t

  need the list,” Claude said.

  “Good thinking,” I said.

  “Does anyone know what

  was on the list?”

  “My father,” Claude said.

  “He wrote it.”

  “Good. Can you find your father?”

  “No, he won’t be home

  until lunch.”

  “Can you remember

  some of the list?”

  “Yes,” Claude said. “I remember

  salt, milk, butter, flour,

  sugar, and tuna fish.”

  “Now, tell me, where did you

  lose the list?”

  “If I knew, I could

  find it,” Claude said.

  “You can’t be sure

  of that,” I said.

  “What streets did you walk on?”

  “I’m not sure,” Claude said.

  “I lost my way a few times.”

  “Then I, Nate the Great,

  know what to do.

  I will draw a map

  of every street

  between your house

  and the grocery store

  and we will follow the map.”

  Sludge and I got up.

  Our vacation was over.

  I got two pieces of paper

  and a pen.

  I drew a map

  on one piece of paper.

  I wrote on the other:

  Claude said,

  “I will walk with you.”

  “Don’t get lost,” I said,

  “or I will have

  two cases to solve.”

  We walked between Claude’s house

  and the grocery store

  and then between the grocery store

  and Claude’s house.

  Sludge sniffed.

  But we could not find the list.

  “Perhaps it blew away,” I said.

  I dropped the map

  on the ground.

  “What are you doing?”

  Claude asked.

  “I am dropping the map.

  Whichever direction it goes

  will show us the way

  the wind is blowing.

  Perhaps your list blew

  in the same direction.”

  The map blew toward Rosamond’s

  house and disappeared.

  “I will go

  to Rosamond’s house,” I said.

  “I will ask her if

  she has seen your list.”

  “I will go to my house

  and wait,” Claude said.

  “We are in front

  of your house,” I said.

  “Yes, that makes it

  easy to find,” Claude said.

  Sludge and I went

  to Rosamond’s house.

  Rosamond opened the door.

  Rosamond is a very strange girl.

  Today she looked

  more than strange.

  She looked strange and white.

  She was covered with flour.

  Sl
udge sniffed hard.

  I sniffed hard.

  Rosamond smelled terrific.

  Pancakes!

  She was making pancakes.

  We walked in.

  Rosamond’s four black cats

  were there.

  Today they were white, too.

  The cats looked at Sludge.

  They were not afraid of him.

  Nobody is afraid of Sludge.

  “I am making cat pancakes

  for my cats,” Rosamond said,

  “from a new recipe.”

  “I would like to taste

  cat pancakes,” I said.

  “You are not a cat,” Rosamond said.

  “I would like to

  taste them anyway,” I said.

  “A pancake is a pancake.”

  Rosamond and I sat down.

  I ate a pancake.

  It tasted fishy.

  I ate another.

  It tasted fishier.

  “I am looking for Claude’s

  grocery list,” I said.

  “I think the wind blew it

  toward your house.

  Have you seen it?”

  “I haven’t seen a grocery list,”

  Rosamond said. “But—”

  “But what?”

  “But I see Annie

  and her dog, Fang,

  outside my window, and—”

  “And what?”

  “And Fang has a piece of

  paper in his mouth.

  It might be the grocery list.”

  I got up.

  “Thank you for your help

  and your pancakes,” I said.

  “I am having a cat pancake party

  this morning,” Rosamond said.

  “I have invited

  all the cats I know.

  Can you come?”

  “I am not a cat,” I said.

  “That’s what I told

  you before,” Rosamond said.

  Sludge and I went out

  to talk to Annie and Fang.

  I like Annie.

  I try to like Fang.

  “Hello,” I said. “I am looking

  for Claude’s grocery list,

  and I think Fang has found it.

  It’s between his teeth.”

  “He won’t let

  that paper go,” Annie said.

  “Can you pull it out?” I asked.

  “No,” Annie said.

  “Fang would get mad.”

  “I would not like to see

  Fang mad,” I said.

  “I, Nate the Great, say

  that we should keep anybody

  with sharp teeth happy.

  Very happy.”

  I had a problem.

  How could I get the paper

  out of Fang’s mouth?

  Suddenly I had the answer.

  “Sludge,” I said. “Bark!”

  Sludge barked.

  Sludge barks funny.

  But that does not matter.

  Fang barked back.

  The piece of paper

  dropped from his mouth.

  I reached for it.

  But the wind blew it

  down the street.

  I went after it.

  Sludge went after me.

  Fang went after Sludge.

  Annie went after Fang.

  The paper went around the corner.

  I went around the corner.

  Sludge went around the corner.

  Fang went around the corner.

  Annie went around the corner.

  The paper blew

  into a fence.

  I grabbed the paper.

  The case was almost over.

  I looked at the paper.

  I saw many lines.

  The paper was my map.

  “The list is still lost,” I said.

  “I need more clues.”

  I thanked Annie and Fang

  for their help.

  Sludge and I

  walked to Claude’s house.

  Claude was home.

  He was not lost.

  It was a good sign.

  “I, Nate the Great, have not

  found your list,” I said.

  “Can you remember anything else

  that was written on it?”

  “How will that help

  you find it?” Claude asked.

  “Trust me,” I said.

  “I remember! I remember

  two more things,” Claude said.

  “Eggs and baking powder.”

  “Very good,” I said.

  “Can you find the list

  before lunch?” Claude asked.

  “I hope so,” I said.

  “Come to my house at eleven.”

  Sludge and I walked home slowly.

  This was a hard case. At home

  I made myself some pancakes.

  I mixed eggs, flour, salt,

  baking powder, milk, butter,

  and sugar together and cooked them.

  I gave Sludge a bone.

  I ate and thought.

  I thought about the grocery list.

  I thought about Rosamond

  and her fishy cat pancakes.

  I thought about Annie and Fang

  and the map.

  I put ideas together.

  I took them apart.

  Then I had a big idea.

  I knew I must go back to

  Rosamond’s house.

  I did not want to do that.

  I did not want to be

  at a party with Rosamond

  and all the cats she knew.

  But I had a job to do.

  I had a case to solve.

  Sludge and I walked quickly to

  Rosamond’s house.

  I said hello to Rosamond

  and more cats

  than I could count.

  They were all over

  Rosamond’s floor,

  Rosamond’s tables,

  Rosamond’s chairs,

  and Rosamond.

  “I came to talk about

  your cat pancakes,” I said.

  “Would you like more?”

  Rosamond asked.

  “I would like to see

  your recipe,” I said.

  “Here it is,” Rosamond said.

  “There are no directions

  in this recipe,” I said.

  “I don’t need any,” Rosamond said.

  “I just mix

  some of everything together.”

  “Tell me, where did you

  get this recipe?”

  “I found it today,” Rosamond said.

  “Aha! You found it,” I said.

  “Did you find it

  near your house?”

  “Yes,” Rosamond said.

  “How did you know that?”

  “I have something to tell you.

  I, Nate the Great, say that

  your cat pancake recipe

  is Claude’s grocery list.”

  I stood tall.

  I cleared my throat.

  I read the recipe.

  “Salt

  milk

  butter

  flour

  tuna fish

  eggs

  baking powder

  sugar

  salmon

  liver.”

  “Oh,” Rosamond said.

  “When I found the paper,

  I thought it was a

  cat pancake recipe.”

  “Yes,” I said. “And when I

  saw Fang holding a piece of paper,

  I thought it was a grocery list.

  I thought it was what I

  hoped it was.

  When you saw the grocery list,

  you thought it was

  what you hoped it was.

  A cat pancake recipe.

  I, Nate the Great, thought of that

  when I was ma
king pancakes.

  I mixed eggs, flour, salt,

  baking powder, milk, butter,

  and sugar.

  Claude had told me they

  were on his list.

  The other thing he remembered

  on the list was tuna fish.

  Cats like tuna fish.

  So—cat pancakes!”

  “Oh,” Rosamond said.

  “Well, Claude

  can have his paper back.

  I will keep the recipe

  in my head.”

  “That is a good place for it,”

  I said. “It cannot blow away.”

  I said good-bye to Rosamond

  and more cats

  than I could count.

  Sludge and I went home

  with the list.

  The case was solved.

  And it was almost eleven o’clock.

  When Claude comes at eleven,

  I will give him his list.

  It is now past eleven o’clock.

  It is now past eleven-thirty.

  Claude has not shown up.

  I do not see him anywhere.

  I hope Claude has not lost

  himself.

  It is now past twelve.

  Here comes Claude.

  I am glad I do not have

  to look for him.

  I am glad the case is over.

  I, Nate the Great,

  have something important to do.

  I, Nate the Great,

  am going to finish

  my vacation.

  Nate’s Notes: Wind

  How to Make a Pinwheel

  Nate’s Notes: Maps

  How to Make Cat Pancakes

  Funny Pages

  How to Improve Your Memory

  More Funny Pages

  Pinwheels are fun! Make one and learn more about how the wind works.

  Ask an adult to help you with this.