Nate the Great Goes Undercover Read online

  REAL 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 SAVE 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 mitchel 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 © 1974 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Cover art and interior illustrations © 1974 by Marc Simont

  Extra Fun Activities copyright © 2006 by Emily Costello

  Extra Fun Activities illustrations copyright © 2006 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, Inc., New York.

  Yearling and the jumping horse design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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

  Visit us on the Web! www.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 978-0-385-37679-2 — Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-440-46302-3

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

  v3.1

  For my wonderful father, Nate

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  Extra Fun Activities

  About the Author

  I, Nate the Great, am a detective.

  I work hard,

  I rest hard.

  Tonight I am resting hard

  from my last case.

  It was my first night case.

  It started in the morning

  before breakfast.

  I was walking my dog, Sludge.

  Sludge is my new dog.

  I found him in a field

  eating a stale pancake.

  I love pancakes.

  I knew he was my kind of dog.

  I saw Oliver come

  out of his house.

  Oliver lives next door.

  Sludge and I walked faster.

  Oliver walked faster.

  Oliver caught up with us.

  He always catches up with us.

  Oliver is a pest.

  “There is a garbage snatcher

  in the neighborhood,” Oliver said.

  “Our can is tipped over

  every night.

  I need help.”

  Oliver knows I am a detective.

  He knows I am a good detective.

  “I will help you,” I said.

  “I, Nate the Great,

  will help you

  pick up your garbage.”

  “That is not the kind of help

  I need,” Oliver said.

  “I want to know who is taking

  the garbage every night.”

  “That is easy,” I said.

  “Somebody hungry

  is taking your garbage.

  Somebody very hungry.

  And sleepy.

  Somebody sleepy

  from getting up every night

  to take your garbage.”

  “Do you know anybody

  hungry and sleepy?” Oliver asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “Me.

  I will find the garbage snatcher

  after I eat breakfast.”

  Sludge and I went home.

  I cooked a giant pancake.

  I gave some to Sludge.

  Then we went outside.

  I said to Sludge,

  “I’ll ask questions

  while you sniff. If you sniff any

  garbage smells, let me know.”

  I saw Rosamond coming

  down the street with her cats.

  Rosamond did not look

  hungry or sleepy.

  She looked like she always looks.

  Strange.

  Sludge sniffed while I spoke.

  “Rosamond, do you eat garbage?”

  Rosamond said, “There are

  two thousand other things

  I would eat

  before I would eat garbage.

  First, I would eat hamburger,

  ice cream, candy, pickles, bananas,

  potato chips, Krispy Krappies,

  relish, doughnuts, spaghetti,

  ice cubes, mint leaves.…”

  Rosamond kept talking.

  I did not have time

  to hear her list

  of two thousand things.

  I walked on.

  Rosamond was still talking.

  “Pretzels, artichokes,

  baked beans, chocolate pudding,

  vegetable soup, walnuts …”

  Rosamond had two thousand

  reasons for not

  taking Oliver’s garbage.

  But what about her cats?

  I went back to Rosamond.

  “Cauliflower, wafers, lamb chops,”

  she said. “Peanuts, egg salad …”

  “Excuse me,” I said.

  “Do your cats eat garbage?”

  “No,” Rosamond said. “My cats

  eat cat food, cheese, tuna fish,

  milk, salmon pie, liver loaf.…”

  I walked away.

  I decided to look for Esmeralda.

  Esmeralda always has

  her mouth open.

  She is either hungry

  or about to yawn.

  I saw her sitting

  in front of her house.

  Sludge sniffed. I spoke.

  “Do you get up at night to visit

  Oliver’s garbage can?” I asked.

  “I would never visit anything

  that belongs to Oliver,”

  Esmeralda said.

  “He might foll
ow me.”

  Now I knew why Esmeralda

  keeps her mouth open.

  She has wise things to say.

  She had given me

  an important clue.

  No person would go near

  Oliver or his garbage.

  Oliver is too much of a pest.

  Sludge and I went home.

  Oliver came over.

  Oliver always comes over.

  Sludge sniffed Oliver.

  I gave Sludge a pancake.

  “Is the case solved?” Oliver asked.

  “Part of it,” I said.

  “Which part?” he asked.

  “I, Nate the Great, have found out

  who did not take your garbage.

  A person did not

  take your garbage.”

  “Well, who took it?” Oliver asked.

  “That is the part

  that is not solved,” I said.

  “I, Nate the Great, say

  that an animal or bird took it.

  An animal or bird that goes out

  in the night. I will find out what

  and I will be back.”

  Sometimes I, Nate the Great,

  need help.

  I went to the library.

  I read about birds that

  go out in the night.

  They are called Strigiformes

  and Caprimulgiformes.

  I wrote the names down.

  Then I crossed them out.

  Birds with names like that

  would not eat anything

  called garbage.

  Then I read about cats, rats, bats,

  mice, shrews, skunks, raccoons,

  opossums, and moles.

  They all go out at night.

  I read about what they like

  and what they do not like.

  Then I went home.

  Oliver came over.

  I said, “A cat, rat, bat, mouse,

  shrew, skunk, raccoon, opossum,

  or mole is taking your garbage.”

  “Which one?” Oliver asked.

  “I don’t know. But tonight,

  I, Nate the Great, will find out.”

  I left a note for my mother.

  I went out into the yard.

  It was cold out there.

  I asked Sludge if I could share

  his doghouse.

  I crawled in.

  Sludge crawled out.

  It was a small doghouse.

  I looked out the window

  of the doghouse.

  I could not see

  Oliver’s garbage can.

  I crawled out of the doghouse.

  I left Sludge a pancake.

  Where could I hide?

  I, Nate the Great,

  knew where to hide.

  In the garbage can.

  I was sorry I knew.

  Detective work is not

  fun and games.

  Detective work is dirty garbage

  cans instead of clean beds.

  Detective work is banana peels,

  dishrags, milk cartons, floor

  sweepings, cigar ashes, fleas,

  and me

  all together in one can.

  I peeked out

  from under the cover.

  The street was quiet.

  Then I heard a sound.

  Crunch! Crackle! Klunk!

  The sound was close to me.

  The sound was me.

  The garbage can was crunchy

  and crackly and klunky.

  Every time I moved

  it was crunchier and cracklier.

  I lifted up the cover. I got out.

  I had a new plan. A better plan.

  I would not wait

  for the garbage snatcher.

  I would go out and find him.

  I crept down the street.

  I looked to the right

  and to the left

  and behind me.

  Right, left, behind.

  Right, left, behind.

  Smack!

  Something big hit me.

  It was in front of me.

  The one place I forgot to look.

  I do not think

  I made a dent

  in the telephone pole.

  I kept creeping and looking.

  Right, left, behind, front.

  Right, left, behind, front.

  I came to a field.

  Animals like fields.

  I saw an animal.

  I, Nate the Great, was in luck.

  I crept closer.

  I, Nate the Great, was in bad luck.

  It was a skunk.

  I started to walk backward.

  I saw some stuff on the ground

  next to the skunk.

  It looked like garbage.

  I walked forward to see.

  I saw some garbage.

  The skunk saw me.

  The skunk stamped his feet.

  He raised his tail.

  I, Nate the Great,

  did not run fast enough.

  But the case was solved.

  The skunk

  was the garbage snatcher.

  I went home.

  I wrote a note to Oliver.

  I put it in his mailbox.

  It was not morning yet.

  But I knew there was something

  I must do

  right away.

  I was glad the water was hot.

  In fact, that is how

  I spent most of the next day.

  The following morning

  Oliver came over.

  “The case is unsolved,” he said.

  “The garbage can is tipped again.”

  “Impossible,” I said.

  “Come and see my

  garbage,” Oliver said.

  I, Nate the Great, have had

  better invitations.

  But I went.

  The can was tipped, all right.

  “And here is the can of mothballs,”

  Oliver said. “So who is

  the garbage snatcher?” he asked.

  “I, Nate the Great, will find out,

  no matter how long

  or how many baths it takes.”

  I walked away.

  Sludge followed me.

  He was doing a lot of sniffing.

  But I, Nate the Great,

  had a lot of thinking to do.

  I gave Sludge a pancake.

  There must be a clue I missed.

  Sludge ignored the pancake.

  He was thinking, too.

  I thought harder.

  And harder.

  Then I knew what the clue was.

  All I needed was the proof.

  I left a note for my mother.

  I went to the garbage can.

  I stepped inside.

  I put the cover over me.

  I left space to look out

  and to breathe.

  I knew that was important.

  I waited.

  Nothing happened.

  Something came up to the can.

  Something knocked

  the cover to the ground.

  Something looked inside.

  “Something” was Sludge.

  Sludge was surprised to see me.

  But I, Nate the Great, had been

  expecting to see Sludge.

  I knew that Sludge

  was the garbage snatcher.

  And I knew why.

  Sludge was tired of my pancakes.

  How could anybody

  be tired of pancakes?

  Sludge was looking

  for his own snack.

  Sludge was hungry.

  I took him back to his doghouse.

  I gave him a bone

  and a bowl of dog food.

  Someday Sludge

  will be a great detective,

  when he learns to sniff more

  and snatch
less.

  I wanted to take a bath.

  But I was too tired.

  I wanted to write a note to Oliver.

  But I was too tired.

  Tomorrow Oliver will come over.

  Oliver always comes over.

  Now I am resting.

  I can hear the sounds of the night.

  I can hear the sounds of a

  crunchy bone being crunched.

  They are good sounds.

  My first night case is over.

  Maybe it will be my last night case.

  I, Nate the Great, am pooped.

  Nate’s Notes:

  Strigiformes and Caprimulgiformes

  Nate’s Notes: Creatures of the Night

  How to Make Rosamond’s Favorite Food: Hamburgers

  Funny Pages

  How to Make Rosamond’s Second-Favorite Food: Ice Cream

  More Funny Pages

  How to Have a Good Long Soak

  Rosamond is not weird when it comes to her favorite food. Hamburgers are pretty normal. On average, Americans eat about three each week!

  Ask an adult to help you with this recipe. It will make four burgers.

  GET TOGETHER:

  • ¼ cup of milk

  • a small sauté pan

  • one slice of white bread

  • a mixing bowl

  • 1 egg

  • ½ teaspoon of salt

  • a dash of ground pepper

  • 1 pound of ground beef

  • additional seasonings such as garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil, and chili powder (if you want some)

  • a large frying pan

  • a spatula

  • 4 hamburger buns

  • ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish, pickles, tomato slices, lettuce, spinach leaves, onion slices—whatever toppings you like!