Nate the Great and the Missing Key

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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 © 1981 by Marjorie Weinman Short

  Cover and interior illustrations copyright © 1981 by Marc Simont

  Extra Fun Activities text copyright © 2007 by Emily Costello

  Extra Fun Activities illustrations copyright © 2007 by Laura Hart

  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, New York, a Penguin Random House Company. Originally published in paperback in the United States by Delacorte Press in 1982.

  Reprinted by arrangement with the Putnam Publishing Group, 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.

  Paperback ISBN 978-0-440-46191-3 — eBook ISBN 978-0-385-37678-5

  Book design by Trish Parcell

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

  v3.1

  To Mitch,

  with love and thanks

  for giving me the key

  to this mystery

  M.W.S.

  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 am not afraid of anything.

  Except for one thing.

  Today I am going

  to a birthday party

  for the one thing

  I am afraid of.

  Annie’s dog, Fang.

  This morning my dog, Sludge,

  and I were getting ready

  for the party.

  The doorbell rang.

  I opened the door.

  Annie and Fang were standing there.

  Fang looked bigger than ever

  and so did his teeth.

  But he looked like a birthday dog.

  He was wearing a stupid sweater

  and a new collar.

  “I need help,” Annie said.

  “I can’t find the key to my house.

  So I can’t get inside

  to have the birthday party

  for Fang.”

  I, Nate the Great,

  was sorry about the key

  and glad about the party.

  I said,

  “Tell me about your key.”

  “Well,” Annie said,

  “the last time I saw it

  was when I went out

  to get Fang a birthday surprise

  to eat.”

  “To eat?” I said.

  “Yes,” Annie said.

  “Some surprise food.

  It’s the one present

  I had forgotten to buy.

  I got Fang lots of presents.

  A striped sweater.

  And a new collar

  with a license number,

  a name tag,

  a little silver dog dish,

  and a little silver bone

  to hang from the collar.

  See how pretty Fang looks

  and hear how nicely he jingles.”

  I, Nate the Great,

  did not want

  to look at Fang

  or listen to him.

  “Tell me more,” I said.

  “Well, Rosamond and her four cats

  were at my house,” Annie said.

  “She was helping me

  get ready for the party.

  When I went to the store,

  I left Rosamond and the cats

  in my house.

  I left Fang in the yard.

  I left the key to my house

  on a table.

  That is the last time

  I saw the key.

  When I got back,

  Fang was still in the yard.

  But the house was locked,

  and Rosamond and her cats

  were gone.

  Rosamond left this note

  stuck to my front door.”

  “That is a strange poem,”

  I said.

  “Sometimes Rosamond is strange,”

  Annie said.

  I, Nate the Great,

  already knew that.

  “You must go

  to Rosamond’s house

  and ask her

  where she put your key,” I said.

  “I went to her house,”

  Annie said. “But it was locked, too.

  I rang the bell, but no one was home.”

  “This is a big day

  for Rosamond

  and locked doors,” I said.

  “Who else has a key

  to your house?”

  “My mother and father.

  But they went out for the day.

  They don’t like dog parties,”

  Annie said.

  I, Nate the Great,

  knew that dog parties

  are very easy not to like.

  But I said,

  “I will take your case.”

  I wrote a note to my mother.

  Annie, Fang, Sludge, and I

  went to

  Annie’s house.

  “What does your key look like?”

  I asked.

  “It is silver and shiny,”

  Annie said.

  Sludge and I looked around.r />
  There were many places

  to leave a key.

  Under Annie’s doormat.

  In her flower garden.

  Up her drainpipe.

  In her mailbox.

  But they were not round,

  safe, shiny, and big.

  “I will have to look

  in other places,” I said.

  “Fang and I will wait

  for you here,” Annie said.

  I, Nate the Great,

  was glad to hear that.

  Sludge and I went to Oliver’s house.

  Oliver is a pest.

  But I had a case to solve.

  I had a job to do.

  I knew that Oliver

  collects shiny things.

  Like tin cans, safety pins,

  badges, poison ivy,

  and pictures of the sun.

  Each week he collects

  one new shiny thing.

  Perhaps this week

  it was a key.

  “Did Rosamond leave a shiny key

  with you in a big, round, safe place?”

  I asked.

  “No,” Oliver said.

  “This is not my key week.

  This is my week

  for shiny eels.

  Would you like to see

  my new eel?”

  I, Nate the Great,

  did not want to see

  a new eel

  or an old eel.

  I started to leave.

  “May I follow you?”

  Oliver asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “I will help you look

  for the key,” Oliver said.

  “All right,” I said.

  “When I go east,

  you go west.

  When I go south,

  you go north.”

  “But we won’t be together,”

  Oliver said.

  “Exactly,” I said.

  Sludge and I left Oliver’s house.

  I did not look back.

  I knew what I would see.

  Oliver.

  I, Nate the Great,

  was busy thinking

  and looking.

  All at once I saw

  a big, safe place.

  A bank.

  I knew there were many

  round, shiny things

  in a bank.

  Like pennies

  and nickels

  and dimes

  and quarters.

  Sludge and I walked inside.

  Oliver followed us.

  Sludge and I looked

  on desks and behind counters.

  Then we crawled on the floor.

  If Rosamond had been here,

  there would be cat hairs

  all over the floor.

  I saw paper clips

  and a broken pen

  and a penny

  and mud.

  And a bank guard.

  First his feet.

  Then the rest of him.

  “Do you want

  to make a deposit?” he asked.

  I, Nate the Great,

  wished I could deposit Oliver

  in the bank.

  I said, “Did anyone strange

  with four cats

  leave a key here?”

  The guard pointed to the door.

  Sludge and I left.

  Now I, Nate the Great,

  knew where I should not look

  for the key.

  A bank was not

  a strange enough place

  for a strange person like Rosamond

  to leave a key.

  I had to think of a strange place.

  I thought of a kitchen

  with bottles of syrup,

  hunks of butter,

  and stacks of pancakes.

  It was not a strange place.

  But it was a good place

  to think of

  because I, Nate the Great,

  was hungry.

  It was time for lunch.

  Sludge and I started for home.

  I felt something breathing

  on the back of my neck.

  I turned around.

  It was Oliver.

  “I will follow you forever,”

  Oliver said.

  I, Nate the Great,

  knew that forever

  was far too long

  to be followed

  by Oliver.

  Sludge and I started to run.

  We ran down the street,

  up a hill,

  around five corners,

  and into an alley.

  We lost Oliver.

  I sat down to rest

  beside a garbage can.

  Sludge sniffed it.

  Sludge likes garbage cans.

  I stared at the can.

  I had an idea.

  A garbage can

  would be a perfect place

  for Rosamond to hide a key!

  It was big and round and shiny

  with a shiny cover and shiny handles.

  It was safe because no one

  would look inside a garbage can.

  Except Sludge.

  And it was a very strange place

  for a key.

  Strange enough for Rosamond.

  There were not

  many places like that.

  Now I, Nate the Great,

  knew that I had to look

  in Annie’s garbage can.

  Sludge and I walked

  to the garbage can

  behind Annie’s house.

  We bent low.

  I did not want Annie

  to see me

  until I found the key

  in her garbage can.

  Then I would surprise her.

  I tried to pull up the cover.

  Sludge tried to push up the cover

  with his nose.

  I pulled harder.

  Sludge pushed harder.

  The cover came off.

  We looked inside the can.

  It was empty.

  I, Nate the Great,

  had not solved the case.

  Sludge and I slunk home.

  I was very hungry.

  I gave Sludge a bone.

  I made many pancakes.

  I sat down to eat them.

  But I did not have a fork.

  I opened a drawer.

  It was full of spoons and knives

  and forks all together

  in a shiny silver pile.

  I had to pick up

  many spoons and knives

  before I found a fork.

  It is hard to find something

  silver and shiny

  when it is mixed in

  with other things

  that are silver and shiny.

  I, Nate the Great,

  thought about that.

  Maybe Annie’s key was someplace

  where nobody would see it

  because it was with other

  shiny silver things.

  A strange place.

  A round place.

  A big place.

  A safe place.

  And now I, Nate the Great,

  knew the place!

  Sludge and I went back

  to Annie’s house.

  Annie was sitting in front

  with Fang.

  She looked sad.

  Fang looked big.

  I ran up to Annie.

  “I know where your key is,”

  I said.

  “Where?” Annie asked.

  “Look at Fang’s collar,”

  I said.

  Annie looked.

  “I see Fang’s name tag

  hanging from his collar,”

  she said. “And his license.

  And his silver dog dish.

  And his silver bone

  and ________________my key!”

  “Yes,” I said. “I,
Nate the Great,

  say that Rosamond hung your key

  from Fang’s collar.

  We did not notice it

  because there were other

  silver things there.”

  “But why did Rosamond

  hang it there?”

  Annie asked.

  “Well, it is a very strange place,”

  I said. “And remember Rosamond’s poem.

  A round place.

  A big and safe place

  where things are shiny.

  Well, Fang’s collar is round.

  The things hanging from it

  are shiny.

  Fang is big.

  And safe.

  There is no place

  more safe

  to leave a key

  than a few inches

  from Fang’s teeth.

  No one would try

  to take off that key.

  Including me.”

  I started to leave.

  “Wait!” Annie said.

  She took the key

  from Fang’s collar.

  “Now I can have my party

  and you can come!”

  I, Nate the Great,

  was glad for Annie

  and sorry for me.

  Just then Rosamond

  and her four cats

  came up the walk.

  “You found the key!”

  she said. “I knew

  I left it in the perfect place.”

  I, Nate the Great,

  had many things

  to say to Rosamond.

  But the party was starting.

  Annie unlocked the door.

  We all went inside.

  We sat around the birthday table.

  Annie gave me

  the seat of honor

  because I had solved the case.

  It was next to Fang.

  I, Nate the Great,

  hoped it would be

  a very short party.

  Nate’s Notes: Keys

  Nate’s Notes: Banks

  A Map of a Buck

  How to Make a Fancy Dog (or Cat) Tag

 

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