Nate the Great and the Phony Clue

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Nate the Great and the Phony Clue Page 1

by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat




  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 © 1977 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Cover and interior illustrations copyright © 1977 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 LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company. Originally published in paperback in the United States by Delacorte Press in 1982.

  Reprinted by arrangement with Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc.

  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: 978-0-385-37682-2 — Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-440-46300-9

  Book design by Trish Parcell

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

  v3.1

  For 133 Dartmouth Street

  Contents

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  Extra Fun Activities

  About the Author

  I, Nate the Great,

  am a great detective.

  I have just solved a big case.

  It did not look

  like a big case when

  it started this morning.

  My dog, Sludge, and I

  were running

  around the block

  for exercise.

  We ran past Annie

  and her dog, Fang.

  We ran past Rosamond

  and three of her cats.

  We ran past Finley

  and his friend Pip.

  We ran home.

  I saw a piece of paper

  on my doorstep.

  I picked it up.

  It was thin paper.

  VITA was printed in ink on it.

  The paper was torn off

  around VITA.

  What did it mean?

  I got my dictionary.

  I looked up “vita.”

  I found that “vita” could be

  the start of a word.

  “Vita” could be the start of

  “vitamin” A, B1, B2, B6, B12,

  C, D, E, G, H, K, or P.

  Or “vita” could be the middle

  or end of a word.

  It could even be

  part of a long message.

  The mystery got bigger

  as I thought about it.

  I, Nate the Great, knew

  there was a missing piece or pieces

  of the paper.

  Who or what had torn them?

  I let Sludge

  sniff the piece of paper.

  “We will look for the pieces,”

  I said.

  I, Nate the Great, thought.

  Who or what tears paper?

  Of course! Rosamond’s cats.

  Four cats. Sixteen claws.

  Sixteen claws could tear

  a lot.

  I wrote a note to my mother.

  Then I tore it into pieces.

  Then I fitted the pieces

  back together.

  I put a pancake in my pocket.

  Then Sludge and I went

  to Rosamond’s house.

  Rosamond was outside

  with three of her cats.

  Rosamond looked strange.

  But she always looks strange.

  “Hello,” I said. “Did you

  leave a note on my doorstep

  this morning?

  Did your cats tear it?”

  “No,” Rosamond said. “I did not

  leave a note on your doorstep.”

  I looked at her cats.

  They looked strange, too.

  “My cats have been with me

  all morning,” Rosamond said.

  “Except Big Hex. Big Hex

  spent the morning

  in his favorite tree.”

  “Big Hex tears paper,” I said.

  “Yes,” Rosamond said.

  “Big Hex tears, rips,

  scratches, shreds, cuts,

  slits, and slashes.”

  “I see,” I said.

  “Did Big Hex tear,

  rip, scratch, shred, cut,

  slit, or slash

  a piece of paper today?”

  “Ask him,” Rosamond said.

  I looked up.

  I saw Big Hex

  sitting on a branch

  of the tree.

  I, Nate the Great,

  was in luck.

  I saw a piece of paper

  stuck on a twig

  close to Big Hex.

  Too close.

  I reached into my pocket

  and pulled out the pancake.

  I threw it on the ground.

  Big Hex jumped down and started

  to eat the pancake.

  I reached up and grabbed

  the piece of paper.

  Now I had two pieces.

  I put them together.

  “They fit!” I said.

  “It is a message. Look.

  Now the paper says

  INVITATION

  COME TO MY HOUSE AT THREE.

  ‘Vita’ was part of ‘invitation.’ ”

  “You solved the case,”


  Rosamond said.

  “No,” I said. “There is still a

  missing piece with a name on it.”

  “What name?” Rosamond asked.

  “The name of the person who

  wrote the invitation,” I said.

  “I, Nate the Great,

  will find the missing piece.

  I will find it before three.”

  I started to leave.

  “Wait,” Rosamond said.

  “Big Hex wants to thank you

  for the pancake.”

  “How does Big Hex thank?”

  I asked.

  “With a kiss,” Rosamond said.

  I, Nate the Great, did not

  want to be kissed by anyone

  who tears, rips, scratches,

  shreds, cuts,

  slits, and slashes.

  “No thanks for the thanks,”

  I said.

  Sludge and I ran home.

  It was time for lunch.

  I made some pancakes.

  I gave Sludge a bone.

  We ate and thought.

  Where was the missing piece

  with the name on it?

  I, Nate the Great, had to know

  by three o’clock.

  Sludge and I started out again.

  I saw Annie and her dog, Fang,

  coming down the street.

  They were with Finley and Pip.

  Pip does not say much.

  Finley says too much.

  “I, Nate the Great, am looking

  for a piece of paper

  with a name on it,” I said.

  “Why are you great?” Finley asked.

  “I solve cases,” I said.

  “I find and I find out.”

  “Why don’t you find the piece

  of paper?” Finley asked.

  “Nate the Great will find it,”

  Annie said.

  “Ha!” Finley said.

  “Maybe he’s great;

  maybe he’s not.”

  Pip said nothing.

  Finley and Pip walked away.

  Sludge turned and followed them.

  I turned and followed Sludge.

  Annie and Fang turned

  and followed me.

  I saw Finley drop a piece

  of paper into the sewer

  and walk away.

  I looked into the sewer.

  I did not like

  the way it looked.

  But the paper was there.

  It could be the missing piece.

  How could I get the paper out?

  I, Nate the Great, needed

  something long and sharp.

  I saw something long and sharp

  beside me.

  Fang’s teeth.

  Then I had another idea.

  I looked down

  at the paper again.

  It looked blank.

  “The print must be on the side

  that is facing down,” I said.

  “We must wait.”

  “Wait for what?” Annie asked.

  “Wait for the water in the sewer

  to make the paper very wet.

  The invitation is printed

  in ink on thin paper.

  When paper is thin and

  the printing on it is dark,

  water can make the printing

  show on the other side.

  Then we can read the name.”

  “But won’t the printing

  look backward?” Annie asked.

  “Yes, but nothing is perfect.

  I, Nate the Great, say that

  nothing is perfect.”

  The paper was getting

  wetter and wetter.

  I saw some printing on it.

  I saw…

  “Phony clue!” I said.

  I, Nate the Great, was mad.

  I had never had

  a phony clue before.

  I did not know what to do.

  I could not find the missing piece.

  I looked at the pieces in my hand.

  I, Nate the Great, thought.

  Then I said, “I am looking

  at what I have.

  Perhaps I should look

  at what I do not have.”

  “How can you do that,”

  Annie asked,

  “when you do not have it?”

  “Look!” I said. “When I put

  the two pieces together,

  the empty space that is left

  is shaped like a boat.

  So the missing piece

  is shaped like a boat.

  I, Nate the Great, will

  look for a paper boat.”

  “What if you can’t find it

  before three o’clock?”

  Annie asked.

  “Then I am sunk,” I said.

  Sludge and I walked and thought.

  I, Nate the Great,

  had seen a boat today.

  But where?

  It was not

  on the Atlantic Ocean.

  It was not

  on the Pacific Ocean.

  It was on a paper ocean.

  Sludge and I ran

  to the paper ocean.

  The paper boat was there.

  I fitted my pieces

  of the invitation

  around it.

  Aha! They fit. The paper boat

  was the missing piece.

  The paper boat was … blank.

  It did not tell me anything.

  Or did it?

  Now I knew that someone

  wrote an invitation to me

  and did not sign it.

  The same someone tore

  the invitation into pieces

  and left one piece

  on my doorstep

  and put one piece in the tree

  and pasted one piece

  on the paper ocean.

  Someone did not think that

  I, Nate the Great, could find out

  who the someone was.

  Someone was testing me.

  I looked at the paper boat

  on the paper water.

  Hmmm. Paper and water.

  I had just seen paper in water.

  The phony clue in the sewer.

  I, Nate the Great, had an idea.

  Sludge and I ran home.

  I filled my sink with water.

  I took the two pieces

  of the invitation

  and turned them over

  and put them in the water.

  Now the printing on them

  was wet and backward.

  I, Nate the Great, looked

  at the printing.

  There was that funny E again.

  The printing was the same

  as the printing on the “phony clue.”

  I, Nate the Great,

  knew the case was solved.

  It was not yet three o’clock.

  This was an invitation

  I wanted to answer exactly on time.

  Sludge and I

  ran around the block

  and around the block

  until it was three o’clock.

  Then we went to Finley’s house.

  Finley was with Pip.

  Pip did not say anything.

  “It is three o’clock,” I said.

  “And I, Nate the Great, am here.

  I have answered

  your invitation, Finley.”

  Finley gulped.

  “I, Nate the Great, say

  there is no such thing

  as a phony clue.

  The printing on your phony clue

  is the same as the printing

  on the invitation.

  You wrote the invitation.

  You tore it into pieces.”

  Finley gulped again.

  Pip opened his mouth.

/>   At last he had

  something to say.

  “I win!” he said. “I told

  Finley that you would

  solve the case

  by three o’clock.”

  “I lose,” Finley said.

  “You are a great detective.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  I, Nate the Great, felt great.

  I was glad the case was over.

  Sludge and I started to run.

  We ran past Annie and Fang.

  “I solved the case!” I said.

  “I knew you would!” Annie said.

  Annie and Fang started to run

  beside us.

  We all ran home

  for pancakes

  and bones.

  Nate’s Notes: Paper

  Nate’s Notes: Ink

  How to Make a Phony Log Cake

  Funny Pages

  How to Send Secret Messages

  How to Make Paper

  More Funny Pages

  Looks like a log. Tastes like a cake. It’s a cake in disguise.

  Ask an adult to help you with this recipe.

  GET TOGETHER:

  • one pint of cold whipping cream

  • a mixing bowl

  • an electric mixer

  • ½ cup of powdered sugar

  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

  • one package of round wafer cookies

  • a spreading knife

  • a large plate

  • a fork

  • ¼ cup of sweetened cocoa powder (like Nestlé’s Quik)

  • a sifter

  • about 12 Hershey’s Kisses

  • about 12 mini-marshmallows

  • 1 tablespoon of creamy peanut butter or Nutella or Marshmallow Fluff

  MAKE YOUR PHONY LOG CAKE:

  STEP ONE: Make the Whipped Cream.

  1. Pour the whipping cream into the bowl.

  2. Turn the mixer on to medium. Beat the cream until it is stiff. This should take about two minutes.*

  3. Turn the electric mixer down to low. Mix the sugar and vanilla into the cream.

 

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