Nate the Great, San Francisco Detective [Hardcover]

Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (Author), Mitchell Sharmat (Author), Martha Weston (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up | Series: Nate the Great

Nate, the great detective, and his dog, Sludge, are off to San Francisco! They're going to visit Nate's cousin Olivia Sharp. She's a detective, too, and a very busy one.

Olivia isn't around to solve her case number 22. Her client, Duncan, has lost his joke book. He tells Nate that if the book isn't found--and soon--the world will come to an end. Nate takes the case. He and Sludge cruise up and down and around San Francisco in the limo, tracking down clues. Sticky, icky clues, big and small clues, all-around-the-town clues that take them to a pancake house, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and finally to a place that seems wrong but could be right. Can Nate the Great keep the world from coming to an end? Can he solve his first out-of-town case?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3-Another successful installment in this series for beginning readers. Nate solves his first out-of-town case when he and his dog Sludge visit his cousin Olivia, a fellow detective in San Francisco. Her limousine driver picks him up at the airport and takes him to her house because Olivia is busy working on several cases. When her friend Duncan calls and explains that he has lost his joke book and must have it by 2 p.m., Nate decides to step in and give his cousin some assistance. Youngsters will enjoy the suspense and the short, fast-moving chapters. The colorful cartoon illustrations reflect the action in the text and help to keep the story moving.
Sheilah Kosco, Rapides Parish Library, Alexandria, LA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Everyone's favorite boy detective returns in this new adventure in which Nate and his dog, Sludge, journey to San Francisco to visit Nate's detective cousin, Olivia Sharp. Olivia is busy solving mysteries, so she sends her chauffeur to the airport. Nate agrees to take one of her cases when the client tells Nate that the world will come to an end if he does not find his lost joke book. As with the other books in the series, an obvious solution presents itself, and Nate thinks he has the case solved; but it's never that simple. In the end, Nate proves he deserves his title of greatness, and youngsters get another first-rate mystery to solve along with him. Familiar characters and themes are given new life in the San Francisco setting, and Olivia and her chauffeur, Willie, are two promising new characters readers will look forward to meeting again. Weston's watercolor illustrations, in the style of the series' original illustrator, Marc Simont, manage to have a somewhat modern-day look while retaining the flavor of the 1970s, when the groundbreaking series first debuted. Lauren Peterson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (September 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038532605X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385326056
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,442,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nate the Great San Francisco Detective, April 8, 2001

By 

Cathy (Pgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nate the Great, San Francisco Detective (Hardcover)

When Nate the Great went to San Francisco to visit his cousin Olivia, he couldn't spot her feather boa in the crowd at the airport. Instead, a chauffeur named Willie with a sign that said NATE THE GREAT picked him up. Willie escorted Sludge and "Mr. Great" to the limo, explaining that Olivia is on a case. While Nate (Mr. Great)waited for Olivia, he answered her phone and decided to help on the case of Duncan's missing joke book, named Joke Stew. Readers will enjoy retracing Duncan's steps back to the pancake house, the bookstore, and finally finding the book in the cookbook section. Thus, it was no longer the end of the world for Duncan, who can meet his 2 o'clock deadline for telling a joke. Illustrations are colorful and attractive, and truly in the style of Marc Simont, maintaining the right feel for young readers. The challenge of staying one step ahead of Nate and Sludge, as well as the reading of this easy reader, will be a mind sharpener for beginning readers. Buy!