Nate the Great and the Phony Clue

Nate the Great #4

by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, Marc Simont (Illustrator)

These chapter books introduce beginning readers to the detective mystery genre. Perfect for the Common Core, kids can problem-solve with Nate, using logical thinking to solve mysteries! 

Early one morning, a torn slip of paper with the mysterious letters V I T A appears on Nate the Great's doorstep.  He and his faithful dog, Sludge, set off to solve this latest mystery.  Against ferocious cats, hostile adversaries, and a sly, phony clue -- not to mention a three o'clock deadline -- Nate struggles to prove, once again, that he is Nate the Great.

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Fiction, Chapter Books, 1st Grade, Picture Books, Humor

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Marjorie Weinman Sharmat was an American children's writer. She wrote more than 130 books for children and teens and her books have been translated into several languages. They have won awards including Book of the Year by the Library of Congress or have become selections by the Literary Guild.
Perhaps Sharmat's most popular work features the child detective Nate the Great. He was inspired by and named after her father, who lived to see the first Nate book published. One story, Nate the Great Goes Undercover, was adapted as a made-for-TV movie that won the Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival Award. Sharmat's husband Mitchell Sharmat expanded Nate's storyline by creating Olivia Sharp, his cousin and fellow detective. Husband and wife wrote four Olivia Sharp books published 1989 to 1991. During the 1990s, their son Craig Sharmat (then in his thirties) wrote three Nate books with his mother. In the late 2010s, their other son Andrew Sharmat co-wrote the last two Nate books written while Marjorie Weinman Sharmat was alive. With Marjorie Weinman Sharmat's passing in 2019 Andrew has continued writing the series with Nate the Great and the Earth Day Robot (2021).
In the mid-1980s Sharmat wrote three books published in 1984 and 1985 under the pseudonym Wendy Andrews.
Sharmat also wrote the Sorority Sisters series, eight short novels published in 1986 and 1987. They are romantic fiction with a sense of humor. They are set in a California public high school (day school for ages 14 to 18, approximately).

Reviews

[Jess]

Beginning reader
For kindergarten-3rd grade

Nate finds a clue on his doorstep and sets off around the neighborhood with his dog, Sludge, to solve the puzzle and prove that he really is a great detective.

Nate the Great is slightly pompous in his trench-coat and Holmesian hat, but he leaves no stone unturned in his quest to find out what's behind the paper clue on his doorstep. In an apparently adult-free world, he roams the neighborhood with his dog, interrogates his friends for further information, and follows a series of small clues to ultimately solve the mystery. Sometimes Nate's character is more entertaining than the mystery at hand, but the clues are real, and an attentive reader will eagerly follow to see how they come together and solve the mystery along with Nate. At forty-eight pages, it's a fairly substantial beginning reader, but the text is a good size and the sentences are simple and repetitive while still offering a challenge to early readers. The illustrations give plenty of clues to the story and will help the reader visual the puzzle that Nate is solving. More fluent readers will pick up on the humor and relish the mystery.

[Mahin]

BEST ONE O_O I LEARNED WHAT "PHONY" AND "RED HERRING" MENT FROM THS BOOK IN THIRD GRADE!

[Janet Ferriera]

Good for young children. But if you are just trying to find a independent book choose one that is a little longer

I recommend this book for 7 and under, because of the way the story is written and font size and page count. Read to young children and they will love it! But don't read it to yourself if gets boring for minds that can comprehend very well! That is why I give this book a four star rating. It is a good and very well written book. With highs and lows on what the reader likes to do.

[nathan]

Old school motto was “Perseverance always wins.” But how bare, how boring. Here, we learn that perseverance with creativity wins. Thinking outside the box allows us to untangle ourselves from sticky situations. Perhaps then creativity is a loophole in how we can problem-solve to the best of our ability.

🥮🥮🥮

If you enjoyed this write-up, please consider purchasing my novella here.

[Alex]

I enjoyed this book because I like mysteries. I also enjoyed this book because I liked the part when Nate the Great found out that there is no such thing as a phony clue. I also enjoyed this book because I liked the part when Nate the Great found out who wrote the invitation and the person who wrote it was Finley.

[Melinda Christensen]

Nate the Great has received a piece of torn paper on his doorstep. He leaves with his dog Sludge to find the missing piece, and finds that it spells VITA. When he fits it into the torn message, it says,
"Invitation: Come to my house at three. There was another piece gone that was shaped like a boat.
Will he find it?

[Nicole Hernandez]

Nate has a strange ripped paper that says "VITA" on it.. He and his dog Sludge go on an investigation to figure out who ripped this letter up and what it was about. This book is great for kinder through third grade because of the way the print is etc. This is a great book to read to help demonstrate the genre mystery.

[Diz]

The ending of this book wasn't as interesting or as clever as some of the other Nate the Great books I have read. However, there is a funny scene where he puts a pancake in his pocket, which my kids laughed at pretty hard. This series always puts me in the mood to eat pancakes.

[Michael Guillot]

Finley is a little bitch and really wasted Nate the Great's whole morning like that. Thank god he's got Sludge the Great and Annie to hang out with and eat pancakes with. I want Nate the Great's life so bad.

[Chloe]

Clever of Nate to use the letter he wrote for his mom to explain to her on his next case to solve.

Nate loves pancakes no doubt.

All that trouble and intentional throwing of clues to divert Nate? Wow! Nate is so clever.

[Devorah]

I didn't know where all the papers were that someone hid for Nate the Great to find outside. I also didn't know what it said on the paper that was thrown into the drain.
I recommend that you read this book, I really enjoyed the jokes and riddles that were written throughout the book.

[Cheryl]

This one isn't solvable... but the skill taught is one that can actually be used in real life, by children and adults. And the edition with Extra Activities is, of course, definitely worth reading if only for them.

[Laura]

My 6-year-old son is enjoying this series as a read aloud with me. Detective Nate finds a torn paper clue that he is determined to find the rest of to solve a mystery in this addition of the series.

[R.K. Cowles]

2 1/2 stars

[Kira Nerys]

The illustrations of this book trigger such visceral memories . . . Rosamond and her cats will always stand out. It's such a cute story, as well. Nate's detective work is cutely simplified but his affection for pancakes is very relatable. I'm sure I read the whole series, back when I was the right age, and equally sure this isn't the first time I've returned to this edition since. It's so much fun to solve this mystery beside him.

[Mo]

I read this with a first grade book club. They liked it.

[Kat]

they had to sale the case. They fond a phony clue......

[Truman]

My favorite part was when they dropped a piece of paper that said phony clue, but he passed it three times! And that was so funny.

[Tripp Kastroll]

This book was pretty good. It was not much of an adventure, but I did like the mystery.

[Yel Baldemor]

Sometimes, while reading this with my student, we realize that Nate maybe frustrated sometimes!

[Jack Norton]

I really liked that someone was playing a trick on him just to test him. Everyone in the world should read this.

[Chelsea]

Fun

[Melissa Namba]

A fun book for early readers. Nate the Great is inquisitive but not annoying There is a clue left in the sewer that is phony and is labeled "phony clue" which gave away the mystery.

[Villain E]

Nate the Great finds a torn piece of paper with part of a word on it on his front step and decides it's a mystery. What if it's just trash?

[Kristen DeChaine]

So cute! My son loves this series.

[Sam Brown]

Fun early reader chapter book series to introduce “mysteries” to kids! My boys 7 and 5 LOVE these!

[Smars]

another strong entry in the series. the mysteries are more complex than I would have expected for a children's series.

[ari]

7/10

I guess I never read this book because I don’t remember Nate the Great at all. But it is a cute, smart, and easy book. Enjoyed!

[Jane Maple]

Nate went for a run around the block and when he returns there is a scrape of paper with VITA written on it. Nate writes a letter to his mother, tears it up, and reassembles it. "Dear mother, I am looking for missing pieces. When they fit like this I will be back. Love Nate the Great". Nate talks to Rosamond. She says she didn't tear up paper but says that Big Hex, who is sitting in a tree sometimes tears up paper. Next to Big Hex in the tree is another paper, put together it reads "Invitation Come to my house at three" Rosamond thinks they have solved the case, but Nate says that they are still missing the name of the person and he must discover it before three. Nate sees Annie, Finley, and Pip. Finley doesn't think Nate will find the paper with the name on it. Annie has faith in Nate. Nate sees Finley drop a piece of paper in the sewer. The writing it facing down so Nate waits until it gets wet and then reads the words backwards through the paper "Phony Clue." Nate notices that the paper he is looking for is shaped like a boat. He remembers seeing a boat shaped the same on a poster he passed earlier in the day. He finds that the poster boat fits but is blank. Then Nate notices that the E on his note matches the E on the Phony clue he goes to see Finley. Pip is happy and says "I win" because he beat Finley that Nate could solve the case.

Extras: Facts on Paper (including that the first paper mill in North America opened in 1690 and that in 1775 Stephen Crane began selling paper for U.S. currency and the company still does it today); Facts on Ink; How to make a Phony Log Cake; jokes; how to send a secret message (paint the message with a combination of 2 tablespoons of baking soda and 1 cup of water, let the message completely dry, then paint over it with grape juice and the message should show up); how to make paper;

[Andrew Quinton]

In the first part of a book there is a problem in the city and Nate decides he is going to fix it. No one thinks he can fix it but he thinks he can do it.
Nate tries really hard to fix this problem and he can't do it but he kept on trying and trying to fix it. It took make tries but eventually he fixes the problem and relieves all the stress of this problem.
I liked this book a lot. It was a little childish but I thought it was funny and I liked it. I have read almost all of these books and I like this one the best.
I would not recommend this book if you are not easily amused. But it amused me because I am easily amused.