Nate the Great, Where Are You? Read online

Claude looked proud.

  “Well, I just saw one,” he said,

  “and now I’m a very happy Claude.”

  “Glad to hear that,” I said.

  “I, Nate the Great, like happy endings

  in a case, and so…congratulations!”

  Sludge and I left Claude’s house.

  This case was not over.

  Chapter Seven

  I, Nate the Great, and Sludge

  did something we don’t like to do.

  We walked to Rosamond’s house.

  I rang her doorbell.

  She was home.

  I heard her coming to the door.

  Sludge and I walked into her house.

  “Why are you here?”

  Rosamond asked.

  “I, Nate the Great, have good news.”

  “Oh?” Rosamond said. “What good news?”

  I smiled. “I found the walking turnip.

  Exactly what you wanted me to do.”

  “Well, um…,” Rosamond said.

  “Why don’t you like this news?” I asked.

  “You were angry that I hadn’t found

  the turnip.”

  “Well, um…,” Rosamond said.

  Sludge and I walked straight

  up to Rosamond.

  “You,” I said, “are the walking turnip.”

  “How do you know that?” she asked.

  “I put some clues together,” I said.

  “You knew about the disguise store

  and you thought it would be fun

  to dress up as a turnip.

  You bought a turnip costume.

  Claude told you that he wanted

  to find something special today.

  So you pretended that you had

  a real problem about a walking turnip.

  And when you got a chance,

  you walked in your tall turnip costume

  in front of Claude. Now he’s very happy.

  And you are still pretending that you are

  looking for a walking turnip.

  You did a nice thing for Claude.

  It is not exactly what Sludge

  and I would have done.”

  Sludge wagged his tail.

  Rosamond actually smiled.

  “I was getting tired of saying that I was

  looking for a walking turnip,” she said.

  “Glad to be of help,” I said.

  Sludge and I went home.

  Chapter Eight

  “Let’s sit down and talk,” I said to Sludge.

  “People who pretend to be

  something they are not

  should not do that

  unless it’s Halloween

  or they are at a costume party.

  But I never want to be a man from Mars.

  I don’t want to be a tree.

  And I don’t want my dog to be a bush.

  Okay?”

  Sludge jumped on my lap.

  And we sat and thought

  how great it was

  to be forever

  Nate the Great and Sludge.

  What’s Inside

  Nate’s Notes: Animals That Hide

  Nate’s Notes: Inside a Dog’s Mouth

  Funny Pages

  How to Make Turnip Prints

  How to Make Your Own Hideout

  More Funny Pages

  Funny Pages

  Knock knock.

  Who’s there?

  Disguise.

  Disguise who?

  Disguise the limit.

  Q: What did the tree say to autumn?

  A: Leaf me alone.

  Q: Why was the cat afraid of the tree?

  A: Because of its bark.

  Q: What did the tree wear to the pool party?

  A: Swim trunks.

  Q: What did the beaver say to the tree?

  A: It’s been nice gnawing you.

  How to Make Turnip Prints

  A walking turnip is weird. Making art with turnips sounds weird, but it’s fun.

  Ask an adult to help you with this activity.

  GET TOGETHER:

  • Cookie cutters

  • Raw turnips

  • Finger paint in as many colors as you like

  • A bowl for each color of paint

  • A knife

  • Paper towels

  • Paper

  MAKE YOUR PRINTS:

  1. Slice a turnip in half. Set aside one half.

  2. Place a cookie cutter on the cut side of one turnip half. Push the cutter into the turnip. Break or cut off any turnip on the outside of the shape.

  3. Remove the cookie cutter.

  4. Continue to make more stamps until you run out of turnip halves or cookie cutters.

  5. Pour a small amount of paint in a bowl. Dip the turnip, shape side down, into the paint until it is coated.

  6. Stamp the shapes onto paper to create your own work of art.

  7. Let your paper dry. Display your art!

  How to Make Your Own Hideout

  Sometimes you need to get away.

  Cardboard boxes are good places to hide.

  Ask an adult to help you with this activity.

  GET TOGETHER:

  • A clean cardboard box. Get as big a box as you can fit in your house or backyard. Refrigerator boxes work great. Stores will often give away big boxes.

  • Packing tape

  • A knife

  • Markers

  • A blanket

  • A pillow

  • A flashlight

  1. Make sure the box is empty. Tape up the open side.

  2. Ask an adult to cut a flap in the side of your box. This will be your door. Be sure the opening is big enough for you to crawl through. Leave the flap attached on one side so you can close your door.

  3. Cut out any other openings you want. It’s fun to have a few windows and a mail slot. Use the slot to pass messages in and out.

  4. Put your blanket inside.

  5. Decorate your hideout. It can look different inside and out.

  On the outside, try drawing:

  • Shutters

  • Window boxes with flowers

  • A house number

  On the inside, try drawing:

  • Pictures on the walls

  • Wallpaper patterns

  • A clock

  • Houseplants

  6. Crawl inside with your flashlight.

  7. Relax!

  8. If you like, invite a friend to visit your hideout. Nate likes to invite Sludge.

  More Funny Pages

  Q: What kind of tree can fit into your hand?

  A: A palm tree.

  Q: How do trees get on the Internet?

  A: They log on.

  Q: A detective and his dog both stood under one umbrella. Why didn’t they get wet?

  A: It wasn’t raining.

  Knock, knock.

  Who’s there?

  Turnip.

  Turnip who?

  Turnip the heat. It’s cold in here.

  Q: Why did the tree get in trouble?

  A: It was being knotty.

  Q: Why don’t you see detectives hiding in trees?

  A: They’re very good at it.

  A word about learning with

  The Nate the Great series is good fun and has been entertaining children for over forty years. These books are also valuable learning tools in and out of the classroom.

  Nate’s world—his home, his friends, his neighborhood—is one that every young person recognizes. Nate introduces beginning readers and those who have graduated to early chapter books to the detective mystery genre, and they respond to Nate’s commitment to solving the case and helping his friends.

  What’s more, as Nate the Great solves his cases, readers learn with him. Nate unravels mysteries by using evidence collection, cogent reasoning, problem-solving, analytical skills, and logic in a way that teaches readers to develop critical-thinking abilities. The
stories help children start discussions about how to approach difficult situations and give them tools to resolve them.

  When you read a Nate the Great book with a child, or when a child reads a Nate the Great mystery on his or her own, the child is guaranteed a satisfying ending that will have taught him or her important classroom and life skills. We know that you and your children will enjoy reading and learning from Nate the Great’s wonderful stories as much as we do.

  Find out more at NatetheGreatBooks.com.

  Happy reading and learning with Nate!

  Solve all the mysteries with

  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

  Nate the Great, Where Are You?

  MARJORIE WEINMAN SHARMAT has written more than 130 books for children and young adults, as well as movie and TV novelizations. She is also co-lyricist of an opera that premiered in 2010. Her books have been translated into twenty-four languages. The award-winning Nate the Great series, hailed in Booklist as “groundbreaking,” has resulted in Nate’s real-world appearances in many New York Times crossword puzzles, sporting a milk mustache in magazines and posters, residing on more than 28 million boxes of Cheerios, and touring the country in musical theater.

  MITCHELL SHARMAT, a graduate of Harvard University, has written numerous picture books, easy readers, and novels, and is a contributor to many textbook reading programs. He is best known for the classic Gregory, the Terrible Eater, a Reading Rainbow Feature Selection and a New York Times Critics’ Pick. In Mitchell Sharmat’s honor, The Sharmat Collection, displaying the books he has written, was established at the Harvard Graduate School of Education by the Munroe C. Gutman Library.

  JODY WHEELER developed a greater than average interest in children’s books at an early age, having been influenced and encouraged by her great-aunt Opal Wheeler, a prolific writer of books for young readers in the 1950s. Since being trained as a fine artist and educator, Ms. Wheeler has enjoyed working on a variety of projects ranging from picture books to educational texts and magazines, and from greeting cards to coloring books. Jody Wheeler divides her time between Manhattan and Siesta Key, Florida.