Nate the Great and the Crunchy Christmas

Nate the Great #20

by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, Craig Sharmat

Annie's dog, Fang, is unhappy. And when Fang is unhappy, everyone is unhappy. Especially Nate the Great. So Nate agrees to sniff out Fang's mysteriously missing Christmas mail. It's a cold and snowy business! But Nate the Great and his dog, Sludge, do their best to solve this holiday case in time for Fang to have a crunchy, munchy Christmas.

Nate the Great and his faithful dog, Sludge, solve the mystery of the missing Christmas mail in this delightful holiday outing. There are over 1.5 million Nate the Great books in print. This lively book features full-color art throughout by Caldecott Medalist Marc Simont. Full color.

Genres: Christmas, Mystery, Childrens, Picture Books, Chapter Books, Holiday, Fiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

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

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Nate the Great stories sneak up on you and surprise you. Nate diligently works each case with the supporting cast of his dog Sludge, Annie and her dog Fang, and Rosmund's herd of cats. Can Nate help Fang find the Christmas card his mother sent? With bonus content including facts about snow, recipes for potato pancakes and applesauce, and instructions for holiday cards this book is a winner.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another book in our Christmas book collection which comes out every December for a re-read. My daughter always enjoyed the Nate the Great stories and the mystery that had to be solved. This book revolves around a missing Christmas card that was sent to Fang. One thing that I like about this book is that it is not only a Christmas story, but it is also a Chanukah story, as Nate himself is Jewish, and the story contains not only Christmas wishes but Chanukah ones as well.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because I like Nate the Great books. I also enjoyed this book because I like mysteries. I also enjoyed this book because I liked the part when Nate the Great found Fang's letter. It was buried in the snow in Annie's yard. I also enjoyed this book because I like Christmas.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book in this series.

[nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun holiday read where we learn that sometimes mysteries in life are joys in the way we need to solve them. There doesn’t always have to be an answer. The fun is in the questioning, the trying.

[Jane Maple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annie tells Nate that Fang has not received his typical annual Christmas card from his mom. Nate goes to Annie's mailbox she is getting lots of catalogues. Nate goes through them and finds letters in the pages of the catalogues so he goes through all the catalogues looking for Fang's letter. Nate doesn't find it, so he asked Annie to show him previous year's cards, all of which are from Mommy Fang instructing her son to eat bones and get strong. Nate eats potato pancakes to think about the case. He says he eats them every Chanukah. He wishes Sludge a happy Chanukah. Nate goes back to Annie's house and asks for Fang's hiding spot, which ends up being in the back yard. Nate digs up the back yard to find the Christmas card which this year includes a bone. Fang licks Nate to say thanks. Nate heads home the last page of the story is an illustration of Nate holding up a sign which wishes everyone Happy Holidays.

Extras: Notes on Snowfall (such as where in the U.S. it snows the most (Rochester, NY) and that all U.S. states have gotten some snow; types of Snow (powder, slush, sugar, sticky) and that when the temperature is below zero that is when you hear the squeak as you walk over snow; Notes on Christmas Catalogs; Six Fun Things to Do on a Snowy Day (Snow Painting, Snow Turtle, Scout for Tracks, Blow Bubbles, Make Snow Ice Cream, and Target Practice); How to Make Potato Pancakes; How to Make applesauce; How to make greeting cards; How to make dog biscuits;

[Kelly Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annie gets way too many catalogs in the mail! A cute story for kids.

[Alex Baugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s almost Christmas and Annie, Nate’s best friend, is worried - every year, her big, scary dog Fang gets a Christmas card from his mother, Mrs. Fang. But so far, no card has arrived and Annie is worried. Can Nate and his dog Sludge help solve this mystery? Off they all go to Annie’s house to check her mailbox, which is packed full of “what must have been the largest single-day collection of holiday catalogs ever mailed to one address…” Going through all the catalogs received for the last eight weeks yields some lost bills and a vet reminder but no card from Mrs. Fang. Could it have gotten stuck in the cat catalog Annie had given to her friend Rosamund? When no card is found there, Nate decides to go home and have some Chanukah potato pancakes and think. Could the past Christmas cards from Mrs. Fang hold a clue about what happened to this year’s card? Nate seems to think so.
The Nate the Great books are perfect for introducing young readers to mystery stories. The plots are simple and easy to follow, the mysteries are age appropriate and the characters are really nice to each other. There are full color spot illustrations, and at the end of the book we have, there are pages and pages of activities, all relating to this particular story.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this on the shelf and had to read it. I read Nate the Great a lot as a kid. I didn't remember reading this one, but once I started it came back to me. Nate the Great is funny and an excellent boy detective. This particular mystery is cute: his friend Annie's dog Fang is missing his regular Christmas card from his mother. Nate and Annie team up to find the missing card. Rosamond and her cats also make an appearance.

[Lana Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nate the Great has a mystery to solve - What happened to Fang's Christmas Card? He looks for clues and comes up with the solution.

This is a cute story with color illustrations. It is an Easy Reader book, there are no chapters and can easily be read in one sitting.

Both Christmas and Chanukah are celebrated. Nate is Jewish.

The recipes and activities in the back add to a child's enjoyment and experience of the story.

[Sarah Bickings · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second grade eight year old boy does not like to read, BUT he and I are devouring Nate the Great books this year. He loves this series and especially that we can read thematically (halloween hunt for halloween, crunchy christmas for christmas, we will read the snowman for January). It has enough where he can make predictions and connections to the other stories.

[Cathy Hodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detective for hire. This Christmas mystery involves Nate the Great's friend and the missing doggie Christmas card. Nate is really good at following all the clues and checking out all the Christmas catalogs. The characters are "over-the-top" fun. My favorite part is when Fang (vicious dog) gets dressed up as an elf for Christmas and chases the mailman off. Enjoy

[Darlene Dickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally fun commentary from the main character, Nate the Great. I love all the pictures and the humor. I'm 62 and I will recommend this series to my children and grandchildren. I especially appreciate all the extra activity ideas at the end of the books!

[Joshua J Carollo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun, but I already knew how to solve the mystery.

I did not like that the book made clear where it was. But besides that, I really liked it.
😀

[Mr.Zhou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story and nice holiday. I'm really amazed about how they treat dogs as members of human families.

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it’s a very funny case.

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Nate the Great when I was teaching but the girls were only so-so about this one.

[WinterBat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Predictable, but cute Christmas mystery

[aem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly fun

[Michael Guillot · Rating 3 out of 5]

20 books in and we learn that Nate is Jewish!!! We love a character development! My Jewish King!! Mazel!

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is cute as heck. There are fascinating facts, activities, and recipes after the story. Merry Christmas and happy Chanukah everyone!

[Jeani · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid story for beginning chapter book readers.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the extra activities, both trivia and lots of things to make. Unfortunately I read it too fast and I don't know if the mystery is solvable or not.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book because it was funny!

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annie recruits Nate to find a missing Christmas Card for Fang.

Fang is not drawn big enough.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Silly but ....

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We just love the Nate the Great series by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Marc Simont and have read a lot of them. We love the narrative style, the goofy notes to Nate's mother, and of course, the pancakes (nice touch with the latkes this time!) We get very excited when we go to our local library and find one that we haven't read before. We saw this one in the Christmas section today and just had to read it right away. It is a fun story about Christmas and Hanukkah - we enjoyed reading it aloud together.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was our first "Nate the Great" book to read and my special needs teenage son and I both enjoyed this chapter book. It's not as long or as complex as some of the other chapter books like the Magic Tree House or Jigsaw Jones but was still a good chapter book. Would be nice for beginners to chapter books but not so 'easy' that those that enjoy those series I just mentioned wouldn't like. Nate the Great is a little boy and he has a dog the two pair up to solve various mysteries.

In this book they help a neighbor-classmate find a Christmas card that her dog's mother always sends every year. This year he hasn't gotten it and she wants to figure out what happened. So Nate and Sludge get on the case. He does solve the mystery and gives Fang a good Christmas after all.

[Mango · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nate the Great books aren't that great. I hated them when I was a kid, yet I would always read them.The endings of the books were always the same, they figured out what or who did it. And where are Nate's parents? They just let their son walk around everywhere and question people. That is very irresponsible of them. Nate the Great books always made me fall asleep and always wasted my time. I would not recommend this book to anyone, especially little kids. If kids want real mystery, they should read Sherlock Homes.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! This book took me back to elementary school because I use to love reading Nate the Great books because they were a little bit thicker and longer than a usual picture book. They made me feel older and smarter because I could read a "big kid's" book. I think children also like them because they are mysteries. They make you think about what you are reading because just like Nate, you are trying to solve the mystery.

I would use this book during the winter holidays as well as to help students to learn to think about a story as they read.