Nate the Great and the Missing Key
Page 1
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.
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