Nate the Great

Nate the Great. Marjorie Weinman Sharmat. Illustrated by Marc Simont. 1972. 80 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: My name is Nate the Great. I am a detective. I work alone. Let me tell you about my last case: I had just eaten breakfast. It was a good breakfast. Pancakes, juice, pancakes, milk, and pancakes. I like pancakes. The telephone rang.

Premise/plot: Nate the Great is on the case. Annie, the girl down the street, has hired him to find a lost picture. The picture is in yellow and it is of her dog, Fang. Can Nate find clues and piece together what happened to the picture?

My thoughts: I loved it! I wish I'd met Nate decades ago. I loved most his narrative voice.

"Now show me your room." We went to Annie's room. It was big. It had yellow walls, a yellow bed, a yellow chair, and a yellow desk. I, Nate the Great, was sure of one thing. Annie liked yellow.

I also loved the way the clues are revealed. There are plenty of details, but the book also doesn't waste words either.


© 2017 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews