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 © 1986 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
Cover and interior illustrations copyright © 1986 by Marc Simont
Extra Fun Activities text copyright © 2005 by Emily Costello
Extra Fun Activities illustrations copyright © 2005 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 1989.
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: 978-0-385-37684-6 — Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-440-40150-6
Book design by Trish Parcell
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.1
To my son Andrew,
who I’m sure would have given me
his enormously helpful suggestions
even if I didn’t do his laundry
Contents
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
First Page
Extra Fun Activities
About the Author
I, Nate the great detective,
was weeding my garden.
My dog, Sludge, was digging in it.
Oliver came over.
Oliver always comes over.
Oliver is a pest.
“I have just lost a weed,” he said.
“No problem,” I said.
“You may have all of mine.”
“But this was my weed,”
Oliver said. “Can you help me
find it?”
“I, Nate the Great, am not going
to look for a weed.
I only take important cases.”
“This is an important weed,”
Oliver said. “I bought it
for a nickel at Rosamond’s
ADOPT-A-WEED sale.
Rosamond picks weeds
that nobody wants
and she finds homes for them.”
“I believe it,” I said.
“She gave me a Certificate of Ownership,”
Oliver said. He pointed to something
sticking out of his back pocket.
It was a thick, rolled-up
piece of paper
with a ribbon tied around it.
Oliver pulled the paper
out of his pocket
and handed it to me.
I untied the ribbon
and unrolled the paper.
It was long.
It had printing on it.
There was a shiny seal
stuck on the paper.
It also had printing on it.
“See? It’s an important weed,”
Oliver said. “It also came with
a record that Rosamond made
to play to her weeds
to help them grow.
Be proud you’re a weed,
wild and free,
and you might grow up
to be a tree.”
“Rosamond thinks big,” I said,
“as well as strange.”
I gave the Certificate of Ownership
back to Oliver.
He put it in his pocket.
“Tell me,” I said,
“what happened after you
bought the weed?”
“I took it home,”
Oliver said. “But it looked sick.
I played Rosamond’s record for it.
Then it looked sicker.
So I went to the library
and found a big book about weeds.
I took it home.
I read about sick weeds
and healthy weeds.
The book told me how
to make sick weeds healthy.
It gave three steps.
Step One. Put the weed in dirt.
I got a pot with dirt in it.
Then I stuck the weed in it.
Step Two. Give the weed sun.
I took the weed in the pot
out to my back porch
and put it on my railing
where the sun was shining.
Step Three. Give the weed water.
I went into the house
for a glass of water.
When I got back to the porch
with the water,
the pot was there,
but the weed was gone.”
“Perhaps the weed did not like
what you were doing to it,”
I said. “Perhaps it escaped.”
“I never did the third step,”
Oliver said.
“I have already solved your case,”
I said.
“Today is a breezy day.
The weed blew away in the breeze.
The breeze is going east.
Your weed could be in China by now.”
“But China is way outside my porch,”
Oliver said.
“And my porch is screened in.”
“I, Nate the Great,
do not want to look for your weed,” I said.
“I would not know it
if I found it.”
“My weed looks small and scraggly and sick,”
Oliver said.
Rosamond said it will grow
into a flower
that will reach
as high as the sky.
That is why I bought it.”
Oliver stood there
and looked up at the sky.
He might stay forever
if I did not look for his weed.
“Very well,” I said.
“I will take your case.”
I wrote a note to my mother.
“Show me where your weed disappeared,”
I said to Oliver.
Oliver, Sludge, and I walked to
Oliver’s back porch.
It was screened in.
I looked for holes and cracks.
But I could not find any.
I looked at the railing.
It was covered with dirt.
A pot of dirt was sitting on it.
Beside the pot was a big book.
With a dirty fingerprint on the cover.
But I could read the cover.
It said Wonderful Weeds of the World.
I walked around the porch.
I looked in corners,
and under and on top of things.
Sludge sniffed.
“Your weed has to be
on this porch,” I said.
“But it isn’t here.
This is a tough case.
I must go to Rosamond’s
ADOPT-A-WEED sale.
Perhaps I will learn something there.”
“I will follow you,” Oliver said.
“Not if I can help it,” I said.
I, Nate the Great, and Sludge
ran to Rosamond’s house.
She was sitting outside
behind a table
that was covered with weeds and cats.
There was a big can of water
under the table.
There was a sign beside the table.
“I am looking for Oliver’s lost weed,”
I said.
“He lost his weed?” Rosamond asked.
“That was my star weed.
It will grow to the sky.
It’s Superweed.”
“It’s sick,” I said.
“Oliver didn’t love it enough,”
Rosamond said.
“Would you know it
if you saw it again?” I asked.
“I know all my weeds,”
Rosamond said. “I keep a list
of them in this book.”
Rosamond opened a book
she had on her lap.
“Oliver’s weed has a yellow bud,”
she said.
“I already know that,” I said.
“And its name is Superweed,”
Rosamond said.
“I know that too.”
I, Nate the Great, had a
better name for it.
But I did not think that
Rosamond would like
Stupidweed.
“You have told me everything
I already knew,” I said.
“Oh, good,” Rosamond said.
“I knew I could help you.”
Rosamond closed her book.
Annie and her dog, Fang,
were coming down the street.
Sludge ducked under the table.
He knocked over the can of water.
It fell on Rosamond’s feet.
PLOP!
“Sloppy Sludge!” Rosamond cried.
“You got my feet wet!”
This was not a good day for Sludge.
He was afraid of Fang.
He was also afraid of Rosamond’s cats.
I spoke to Annie.
“I am looking for a weed
with a yellow bud on it.”
“Maybe Fang ate it,” Annie said.
“Is Fang a weed eater?” I asked.
“Fang will eat almost everything,”
Annie said. “Watch!”
Annie shouted, “Fang! WEED!”
Fang grabbed a weed in his teeth
and started to run away.
“You owe me two cents, Fang!”
Rosamond shouted.
Rosamond’s four cats ran after Fang.
I hoped that Fang and the cats
would have a big fight.
I hoped they would all lose.
The world would be safe forever.
Sludge ran out
from under the table.
He knew it was time to leave.
We had to look for Stupidweed.
But where?
Perhaps we should look where
lots of things grow.
Perhaps we could find a clue
in the woods
or in a park.
Sludge and I walked to the woods.
We peered inside.
It was dark and scary in there.
It was almost as scary as Fang.
I, Nate the Great, hate cases
where I have to be brave.
Sludge and I crawled into the woods.
We heard something behind us.
It was gaining on us.
It was Oliver.
Sludge and I hid behind a tall tree.
Oliver ran into the woods.
Sludge and I ran out.
We ran to the park.
We sat down on a bench.
Everything was sunny and bright.
And safe.
I liked it there.
Flowers and plants were everywhere.
Was there a clue among
all these growing things?
Was there a weed?
Suddenly I saw something.
It was Claude.
Claude is always losing things.
He was crawling down a path
among the flowers.
“Did you lose something?” I asked.
“A worm,” he said. “It crawled
into the ground.
I can’t see it
but I know it is in there.
It is right under our noses.
Can you help me find it?”
This was not a good day for
me, Nate the Great.
I had been asked to find a weed.
I had been asked to find a worm.
It was time to do something
important.
I went home and made pancakes.
I gave Sludge a bone.
I thought about the case.
I had to find the weed
and lose Oliver.
But I was stumped.
The weed could not have left
Oliver’s porch.
But it was not there.
I thought about clues.
What had I learned?
The weed’s name was Superweed.
I knew that was not important.
The weed had a yellow bud.
Maybe that was important.
Maybe it wasn’t.
The weed was last seen inside a pot
on Oliver’s railing.
Last seen was always important.
What was Oliver doing
just before the weed disappeared?
He was reading from a book
and looking at his weed
and turning away from his weed
to go into his house.
Were those clues?
I thought of Rosamond.
She was strange.
That was not a clue.
That was her problem.
Then I thought about her book
and her can of water.
Hmm.
I looked at Sludge
eating his bone.
He always tried to help with my cases.
But all he had done was knock over
Rosamond’s can of water.
Was he trying to tell me something?
I th
ought about Claude
and his worm.
Suddenly I knew I had
a lot of good clues.
I had to go back to Oliver’s house.
It was hard to do.
Oliver was sitting on his back porch.
“I lost you in the woods,” he said.
“Did you find my weed?”
“I am getting close,” I said.
I looked at his railing.
“Where is your weed book?”
“I took it back to the library,”
Oliver said.
“Then I, Nate the Great, must go
to the library.”
“I will follow you,” Oliver said.
“I know it,” I said.
Sludge and I rushed to the library.
Sludge had to wait outside.
I went inside.
I looked for weed books.
I found Wonderful Weeds of the World.
It had a dirty fingerprint
on the cover,
so I knew it was Oliver’s copy.
I pulled it down.
I opened it up.
I looked inside.
I found what I knew I would find.
Oliver’s weed!
It was between two pages.
It was pressed against
Step Three.
It did not look sick anymore.
It looked dead.
I took the weed from the book
and put the book
back on the shelf.
I knew that Steps One, Two,
and Three could not help
Oliver’s weed.
Nothing could help Oliver’s weed.
I left the library.
Oliver was outside with Sludge.
I held up the weed
with both hands.
It needed both hands
to keep it up.
“Here is your weed,” I said.
“The case is solved.”
“How did you find it?” Oliver asked.
“Clues,” I said. “Lots of clues.
I saw Claude looking for a worm
in the ground.
He said he could not see it
Nate the Great Stalks Stupidweed Page 1
