Nate the Great, Where Are You?

April 1, 2014
Nate the Great and his dog, Sludge, want a day off from detective work. Eight brief chapters present a rather confusing story about the boy detective and his dog, who long to escape the demands of neighborhood children with cases to solve. They go so far as to visit a costume shop to try to find disguises before just trying to hide--unsuccessfully--from Rosamond, Annie and her dog, Fang, Claude and Harry. The mysteries the children pose are odd rather than compelling, and the characterization of Rosamond as little more than a bossy, icky girl is downright grating. For his part, Nate the Great does end up participating in solving the mysteries, but since these spring from coincidence, trickery and the failure to use logic, the solutions aren't so much satisfying as they are anticlimactic. Wheeler's art, in the style of Marc Simont, fails to live up to the earlier books in the series as it lacks the expressive movement and liveliness of his line. A not-so-great addition to a classic early-reader series. (Early reader. 6-9)

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May 1, 2014

K-Gr 2-Nate the Great and his dog Sludge have solved countless mysteries. They need a break from their detective work. With five seemingly uninteresting mysteries to solve, they decide to head off into the woods for some solitude. Their friends set out to solve a mystery of their own: Where have Nate the Great and Sludge gone? With logic, coincidence, and luck, all of the mysteries are solved and these main characters realize just how good it is to be Nate the Great and detective dog Sludge. Marjorie Weinman Sharmat has authored all of the books in this series since its inception in the late 1970s. For this volume, she is joined by her husband, Mitchell Sharmat. Wheeler's illustrations are based on Marc Simont's original drawings of Nate and his friends. Fans of the series should enjoy this new adventure.-Lindsay Persohn, University of South Florida, Tampa

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
Grades K-3 Longtime detective duo Nate the Great and his dog, Sludge, suddenly have more cases than they really want. Who could blame them for avoiding their demanding clients by hanging out in the woods? After their brief escape, they solve mysteries involving a missing turnip, a tube of dog toothpaste, and a beast with four tails. In the end, they sit together happily, forever Nate the Great and Sludge. The simply written, rather rambling narrative unfolds in Nate's distinctive voice. Nicely illustrated in color in the style of Marc Simont (the series' original artist), the story offers the unusual opportunity of hanging out with the boy and his dog as they stop to smell the roses before swinging into action once more. Nate and Sludge will always be at the heart of the Sharmats' Nate the Great series, a perennial favorite of beginning readers since 1972.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)