Nate the Great and the Fishy Prize 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 © 1985 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Cover art and illustrations copyright © 1985 by Marc Simont

  Extra Fun Activities text 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 LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York. Reprinted by arrangement with the Putnam Publishing Group, Inc., on behalf of Coward-McCann, Inc., New York.

  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.

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-37687-7

  Trade paperback ISBN: 978-0-440-40039-4

  Book design by Trish Parcell

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

  v3.1

  for my father, Nathan “Nate” Weinman,

  who inspired this series,

  and who was in every way

  Nate the Great

  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 solve important cases.

  I do important things.

  This morning I was doing something

  very important.

  I was at the supermarket

  buying dog shampoo

  for my dog, Sludge.

  Today Sludge was going to be

  in a contest in the park

  to choose the smartest pet

  in the neighborhood.

  I, Nate the Great, knew that

  Sludge was the smartest.

  And the dirtiest.

  I wanted Sludge to be a clean winner.

  I bought dog shampoo,

  and flour, eggs, butter, milk,

  salt, sugar, and baking powder

  to make pancakes.

  I like pancakes.

  I bought so many things

  that the grocery bag bulged open.

  I put the bag in the basket

  on the back of my new bicycle

  and started to ride home.

  I rode past Rosamond’s house.

  Strange noises

  were coming from inside her house.

  I wondered what was happening.

  But I kept my eyes straight ahead

  to see where I was going.

  Besides, strange noises

  were the right kind of noises

  to come from Rosamond’s house.

  Because Rosamond is strange.

  When I got home,

  Sludge was waiting for me.

  “I bought you some shampoo,”

  I said.

  Sludge did not think

  that was good news.

  Sludge hates baths.

  I put the grocery bag on the floor.

  Before I could unpack it,

  the telephone rang.

  Rosamond was calling me.

  She said, “I am in charge

  of making the prize

  for the Smartest Pet Contest.”

  “I know that,” I said.

  I, Nate the Great,

  hated to think

  what the prize would be.

  “Well, I made the prize,

  but it disappeared,” Rosamond said.

  “What was it?” I asked.

  “It was an empty tuna fish can

  with the word SMARTEST

  hand-painted on it

  in big gold letters,”

  Rosamond said.

  “Any pet would love to have it.

  But now it’s gone.”

  “You will have to make

  another prize,” I said.

  “It’s too late,” Rosamond said.

  “The contest starts in an hour.

  Will you look for the tuna fish can?”

  “I have to get Sludge ready

  for the contest,” I said.

  “But there won’t be a contest

  unless you find the prize,”

  Rosamond said.

  I looked at Sludge.

  He looked smart.

  There had to be a contest.

  “I, Nate the Great,

  will take your case,” I said.

  “Sludge and I

  will be right over.”

  I hung up.

  I said to Sludge,

  “We must look for a tuna fish can.

  There is no time

  to give you a bath.”

  Sludge thought

  that was good news.

  I wrote a quick note to my mother.

  Sludge and I rushed to Rosamond’s house.

  There was no time to say hello.

  “Show me where the prize was,”

  I said.

  Rosamond took me to her room.

  It smelled fishy.

  And there were things knocked over.

  And things upside down.

  And things all over the floor.

  It was a mess.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Everyone came with their pets

  to sign up for the contest,”

  Rosamond said.

  “An
nie came with Fang.

  Pip came with his parrot.

  Finley came with his rat.

  Oliver came with his favorite eel.

  Claude came with a pig.

  And Esmeralda came by herself.

  She doesn’t have any pets,

  so she is going to be the judge.

  Well, Fang ran after Claude’s pig.

  The pig ran after my four cats.

  My cats ran after the rat.

  Pip’s parrot got all excited

  and flew around and around.

  Even Oliver’s eel got excited.

  They barked and squawked

  and oinked and all sorts of things,

  and they messed up my whole room.”

  “Yes, I, Nate the Great,

  heard all the strange noises

  when I rode by on my bicycle.

  But where was the tuna fish can

  when all of this was going on?”

  “I had opened the window

  and put the can on the sill

  so the gold paint could dry

  in the air,” Rosamond said.

  “When did you notice

  that the can was gone?” I asked.

  “Right after the stampede,” Rosamond said.

  “Everyone left,

  and I started to clean up the room.

  That’s when I saw

  that the prize was gone.

  I looked all over the room for it.”

  “I will look again,” I said.

  “It could be somewhere in this mess.

  It must have been knocked off

  the windowsill.

  Then perhaps one of those pets

  who’s supposed to be so smart

  pushed or pulled

  or dragged or kicked it.”

  “My cats are smart,” Rosamond said.

  “They are all going to win first prize.”

  Rosamond’s cats could win first prize

  for being strange.

  I, Nate the Great, looked around the room.

  “Did you paint the can in this room?”

  I asked.

  “No,” Rosamond said.

  “Good. I am looking for smudges

  of gold paint. They might be a clue

  to where the can went.

  But if you had painted in this room,

  you could have left smudges.”

  “I don’t smudge,” Rosamond said.

  I, Nate the Great, went to the windowsill.

  If I could find smudges of gold paint

  inside the sill

  or outside the sill,

  I would know whether the can

  went inside or outside.

  But the can

  had not left any clues behind.

  Sludge was sniffing. And sniffing.

  I asked Rosamond,

  “Did you wash the tuna fish can

  before you made it into a prize?”

  “Sort of,” Rosamond said.

  “Sort of?” I said.

  “How do you sort of wash

  a tuna fish can?”

  “My cats licked it,” Rosamond said.

  “They do a good job.

  They love tuna fish.”

  “But they don’t use soap,” I said.

  “That means the prize

  may still smell fishy.

  That is a clue.”

  I turned to Sludge.

  “Fishy smell,” I said.

  Sludge and I could not find

  the can in Rosamond’s room.

  “The can is not here,” I said.

  “Perhaps it went out the window.”

  Sludge and I rushed outside.

  We looked around.

  There was no tuna fish can.

  There were no smudges of gold paint.

  There was nothing but a sidewalk.

  We walked back and forth.

  Perhaps the can had been

  pushed or pulled

  or dragged or kicked up the street

  or down the street.

  But we could not find anything.

  We went back inside.

  “This is a very fishy case,”

  I said to Rosamond.

  “The can was on the windowsill.

  So it had to be knocked

  inside the house

  or outside the house.

  But it isn’t inside and it isn’t outside.”

  “Maybe someone took the can on purpose,”

  Rosamond said.

  I, Nate the Great, did not want

  to tell Rosamond that no one

  would take her tuna fish can on purpose.

  That it was the dumbest prize

  for the Smartest contest.

  “I will have to speak to everyone

  who was in this room,” I said.

  “Perhaps someone saw what happened

  to the tuna fish can.”

  Sludge and I rushed to Claude’s house.

  Claude was there with a pig.

  Claude is always losing things.

  I was glad

  he had not lost the pig.

  Claude was brushing the pig’s bristles

  while she ate a big pile of food.

  “I am getting Anastasia ready

  for the Smartest Pet Contest,” Claude said.

  Anastasia oinked.

  I watched her eat.

  The food was disappearing fast.

  I was thinking.…

  The tuna fish can had completely disappeared.

  Maybe it had disappeared inside something.

  One way to make something disappear

  is to eat it.

  I, Nate the Great, spoke up.

  “Pigs are supposed to eat like pigs.

  Would Anastasia eat a tin can?”

  “I don’t know,” Claude said.

  “She’s not my pig. She lives on a farm,

  and I borrowed her for the contest.

  But I keep losing her.

  She finds her way back to me.

  She’s smart. That’s why

  she is going to win the contest.”

  Anastasia oinked again.

  “May I open Anastasia’s mouth?”

  I asked.

  “If you really want to,” Claude said.

  I, Nate the Great, did not really

  want to open Anastasia’s mouth.

  But I had a case to solve.

  I had a job to do.

  Slowly I opened her mouth.

  Quickly I closed her mouth.

  “Anastasia did not eat

  the tuna fish can,” I said.

  “How do you know?” Claude asked.

  “Because the gold paint on the can

  was wet. Anastasia would have

  a gold mouth if she ate the can.

  Tell me, did you see the can

  on Rosamond’s windowsill?”

  “I saw it and I didn’t see it,”

  Claude said.

  “That is an interesting answer,”

  I said. “I, Nate the Great, say

  that is an interesting answer.”

  “Well, I saw the can on the windowsill

  just before everyone started to run around,”

  Claude said.

  “When it was all over,

  I didn’t see the can anymore.”

  “That is an old clue,” I said.

  “I already know that the can disappeared

  during the animal stampede.

  I, Nate the Great, need a new clue.

  And I need it fast.”

  Sludge and I left.

  I was sorry I had seen Anastasia.

  She made me feel very hungry.

  I wished I had time to go home

  and make pancakes with the things

  I had bought at the supermarket.

  But I hadn’t even had time

  to unpack them.

  And I knew there was not enough time leftr />
  to talk to everyone else

  who had been in Rosamond’s room.

  Annie, Oliver, Pip,

  Finley, and Esmeralda were left.

  I decided to go to Esmeralda’s house.

  I had two reasons.

  Esmeralda is smart.

  Esmeralda does not have a pet.

  Perhaps she had a chance to see something

  when everyone was busy

  with their pets.

  Esmeralda was sitting quietly

  outside on her steps.

  She did not have anybody

  to wash or brush or feed or brag about.

  I said, “I am looking for the tuna fish can

  that was on Rosamond’s windowsill.

  Did you see it?”

  “Yes,” Esmeralda said. “I saw it

  before everything went wild.

  Fang was standing under it.”

  “Fang?” I said. “Tell me,

  which way was he facing?”

  “He was standing with his right side

  next to the window,” Esmeralda said.

  “His fangs were showing,

  and his tail

  was swooshing back and forth.”

  I, Nate the Great, was thinking.

  This was a new clue.

  But did it mean anything?

  Suddenly I knew that it was important.

  Sludge and I

  rushed to Annie’s house.

  She was giving Fang a bath.

  He was sitting in the bathtub

  all soapy and foamy.

  And fangy.

  “I am getting Fang ready for the contest,”

  Annie said. “Everyone knows he is pretty.

  Now they will find out he is smart.”

  I, Nate the Great,

  already knew more about Fang

  than I wanted to know.

  Annie started to scrub Fang’s tail.

  “Stop!” I yelled.

  “Fang may be wearing a clue.”

  “Fang isn’t wearing anything,”

  Annie said.

  I, Nate the Great, got close to Fang.

  I did not want to do that.

  But I had to see his tail.

  I was glad the clue

  was on that end of him.