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.
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Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
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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.
Nate the Great and the Lost List Page 1