READ ALL THE
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 © 2009 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat
Cover art copyright © 2009 by Jody Wheeler
New illustrations of Nate the Great, Sludge, Rosamond, Annie, Oliver, Pip, Finley, Claude, Esmeralda, Harry, Fang, and the Hexes by Jody Wheeler based upon the original drawings by Marc Simont. All other images copyright © 2009 by Jody Wheeler
Extra Fun Activities copyright © 2011 by Emily Costello
Extra Fun Activities illustrations copyright © 2011 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, Inc., New York.
Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition of this work as follows:
Sharmat, Marjorie Weinman.
Nate the Great and the hungry book club / by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat; illustrated by Jody Wheeler in the style of Marc Simont.
p. cm.
Summary: Nate and his dog Sludge help Rosamond discover who has been tearing pages out of her books.
ISBN 978-0-385-73695-4 (trade hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-385-90637-1 (glb : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-385-37674-7 (ebook)
[1. Mystery and detective stories. 2. Books and reading—Fiction.] I. Sharmat, Mitchell. II. Wheeler, Jody, ill. III. Title.
PZ7.S5299 Natp 2009
[Fic]—dc22
2009030319
eBook ISBN 978-0-385-37674-7
Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-375-84548-2
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.1
Remembering
my father, Nathan Weinman NATE
my mother, Anna Weinman ANNIE
my sister, Rosalind Weinman ROSAMOND
my uncle, Harry Weinman HARRY
my dog, Fritz Melvin Sharmat SLUDGE
and you know them all
—M.W.S.
For Trombone Bruce Glasberg
—J.W.
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One: Torn, Ripped, Ruined
Chapter Two: The Crime Scene
Chapter Three: A Book Case
Chapter Four: The Hungry Book Club
Chapter Five: Meet Harvard Hedgehog
Chapter Six: Double Trouble
Chapter Seven: The Evil Page Monster
Chapter Eight: Sniffs
Chapter Nine: Not So Fast
Chapter Ten: Stretchy Fang
Chapter Eleven: School Clues
Chapter Twelve: The Hedgehog Picture
Chapter Thirteen: Reading Together
Extra Fun Activities!
About the Author
Chapter One
My name is Nate the Great.
I am a detective.
My dog, Sludge, is a detective too.
Right now I am a mumbling, bumbling,
tripping detective.
I have just tripped over
a big pile of books
that Rosamond left in my house.
Sludge is sniffing them.
He has been sniffing them
since Rosamond knocked on my door
this morning.
She was carrying a bunch of books.
Three more were piled on her head.
Rosamond looked very strange.
Rosamond looks strange all the time.
“I have great news,” she said.
“I have started a book club.
I am calling it Rosamond’s Ready Readers.
But there is trouble in the club.
One of the members is trying
to wreck my cookbook. Look!”
Rosamond took a book off her head.
The other two books fell off.
“Why are you carrying books on top
of your head?” I asked.
“Because I’m president of a club now.
These books help me hold my head high
and look like a president.”
I, Nate the Great, knew that I was
looking at a very strange president.
“This is my new cookbook,” she said.
“Yesterday I left it open on my
kitchen table after I made treats
for the club meeting.
When the meeting was over,
I went to get the treats
for the members.
The page that was open
was torn, ripped, ruined!”
Sludge and I looked at the page.
I, Nate the Great, say that
it was torn, ripped, ruined.
Chapter Two
Rosamond pulled something out of
her pocket.
“Here is a photo of the crime scene,”
she said.
I looked at the photo. “Your kitchen
was a crime scene?”
“Of course. Keep this photo and study it.
You can see that my cookbook
is in the middle of my huge, high table.
The torn page had a recipe for tuna fish pie.
The bits of pie that fell
on the page are gone too.
I want you to find the evil monster
who did this!”
“Mons
ter?”
“Yes. The Evil Page Monster,”
Rosamond said.
“Now, here is my plan. The next meeting
will be at my house this afternoon.
You and Sludge can come undercover.
Just pretend you are new members.
I’ll be using this cookbook again.
Meanwhile, I’ll leave these other
books here, where they’ll be safe.
I left one book at home.
The members will be reading it
at today’s meeting.”
Rosamond piled her books on my floor.
“You are so lucky to have this case!”
I, Nate the Great, did not agree.
“Perhaps this is a case for a bookworm,”
I said.
“Enjoy being a bookworm,” Rosamond said.
I looked at Sludge.
We both knew that if I didn’t take the case,
Rosamond would come back.
And back. And back.
And back.
Chapter Three
I wrote a note to my mother.
Chapter Four
It was afternoon.
Sludge and I went to Rosamond’s house.
She answered the door.
She had only one book on her head.
I peered inside her house.
I saw Oliver, Pip, Finley, Claude,
Esmeralda, Annie, and Annie’s little
brother, Harry, sitting in a circle.
Also sitting in the circle were Annie’s
dog, Fang, and Rosamond’s four cats,
Plain Hex, Little Hex, Big Hex,
I stepped back. “The Hexes and Fang
belong to your book club?”
“Sure,” Rosamond said.
“Everybody loves stories.
And treats. I serve tuna fish pie to the
cats and meat patties to Fang.
Everybody else gets cookies.
This is a very hungry book club.
Come in.”
“I, Nate the Great, am not in the mood
for cookies or circles,” I said.
“Sludge and I will sit in a corner.”
Chapter Five
Rosamond sat down in a big chair.
She took the book off her head.
She held it up.
“This is our book for today,”
she announced.
“Harvard Hedgehog.
We will take turns reading it out loud.
Then we will talk about the book.
I will start.
‘Harvard Hedgehog was always late.
He arrived at parties just in time
to bump into everyone leaving.
He nibbled leftover cake crumbs
and lapped melted ice cream.
Then he sat in a corner
and exclaimed, “Wonderful party!”
to the empty room.’ ”
I, Nate the Great, was sitting in a corner
like Harvard Hedgehog.
I pretended to go to sleep.
But I was watching, watching.
The book went from member to member.
Nobody was tearing pages.
It was Esmeralda’s turn to read.
“ ‘When Harvard went to the movies,
he always got there
when the movie was over.
As everyone was going out,
Harvard was going in.
He would sit down on stale popcorn
and look up at the big, empty screen.
“Great show!” he exclaimed to no one.
Harvard meant to be on time,
but he never was.…’ ”
Suddenly Esmeralda stopped reading.
She looked puzzled.
“A page is missing,” she said.
Rosamond looked straight at me.
“A ripped page in one book
and now a missing page from another.
When I bought this book,
there were no pages missing.
I know because I read the entire book
before I bought it!”
I, Nate the Great, looked at Sludge.
I now knew we had a real case.
Chapter Six
Rosamond raised her arms.
“As president of Rosamond’s Ready
Readers, I will not let this stop
our book club meeting.
Members, who would like to tell me
what you think of the book so far?”
Esmeralda raised her hand. “At first I
thought that Harvard needed a watch,
but now I know he needs a page.”
Claude raised his hand.
Claude was always losing things.
“I don’t like the book
because Harvard doesn’t lose anything,”
he said. “If you never lose anything,
you never have a chance to find
what you didn’t lose.”
“Excellent thought,” Rosamond said.
Oliver spoke up. “I follow people.
Everyone knows I do.
Harvard doesn’t
follow anybody. Harvard is
a very boring hedgehog.”
“Thank you for sharing that with us,”
Rosamond said.
“Me, me, me!” Harry was jumping up and down.
“I like the book.
I like the picture of
Harvard smiling in front of
the big clock the best.”
Rosamond smiled.
“Well, we have a nice happy Harvard,
and a happy Harry,” she said.
“I am proud of all my members.
Except whoever ripped a page
and took a page.”
I, Nate the Great, was thinking.
Who would rip
a page of the cookbook and
take a page of Harvard Hedgehog?
Someone who liked the books,
or someone who disliked the books?
Or someone who couldn’t decide?
And where was the missing page?
“I would like to see the book,” I said.
Rosamond handed it to me.
“I see that the missing page
would have been numbered 15 on one side
and 16 on the other,” I said.
“Numbers, crumbers,” Rosamond said.
“You have a double mystery.
Just solve it!”
Chapter Seven
Rosamond stood up.
“Now it’s time for treats,” she said.
“The animals are getting restless.”
Sludge and I followed Rosamond
to the kitchen.
It was a mess.
But Sludge sniffed and sniffed.
He liked this case
because it smelled good.
I saw a cookbook on the table.
This time the book was open
to a recipe for meat patties.
There were bits of meat on the page.
Rosamond must have been using the
cookbook today to make her treats.
This page had no rips.
Hmmm.
Fang and the Hexes walked in.
Fang sniffed the table.
He started to jump up
and reach for the cookbook.
“Stop!” Rosamond yelled.
“You, Fang, are the Evil Page Monster!
I, President Rosamond,
have solved this case.
Fang must have sneaked in
during yesterday’s meeting,
eaten the bits of food,
and ripped the page.
And now I’ve stopped him
from doing it again.”
Rosamond folded her arms
and looked at me.
“Time to find the missing page,” she said.
&nbs
p; I, Nate the Great, had two choices.
I could search for the missing page
or I could go home and eat pancakes
and think.
Chapter Eight
I ate my pancakes
while Sludge ate a bone.
Then Sludge walked around the room.
He was looking for something.
And he found it.
It was the photo Rosamond had left here.
He sniffed it and sniffed it and sniffed it.
Was he trying to tell me something?
Was the ripped-page case really solved?
Did Fang really do it?
I looked at the photo again.
The page in the cookbook
had no food on it.
The page I had seen at Rosamond’s house
had tiny bits of meat on it.
The recipe in the photo was for
tuna fish pie.
The recipe at her house was for
meat patties.
One recipe for cats, one recipe for dogs.
“Good work, Sludge,” I said.
Chapter Nine
I called Rosamond.
“I am coming back to your house,” I said.
“And I need Annie and Fang to be there.”
I put the photo of the tuna fish pie page
in my pocket.
Sludge and I rushed to Rosamond’s house.
Rosamond was waiting for us at the door.
“Your ripped-page case is not solved,”
I said.
“That fangy Fang did it!” Rosamond said.
“And here he comes down the street
with Annie.”
“We must all go into the kitchen,” I said.