Nate the Great and the Stolen Base

Nate the Great #14

by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

Beginning readers are introduced to the detective mystery genre in these chapter books. Perfect for the Common Core, kids can problem-solve with Nate, using logical thinking to solve mysteries! 

Rosamund's baseball team has a very unusual second base—Oliver’s gloopy purple plastic octopus. But one morning . . . it’s gone! Nate the Great must pick up clues so he can find the missing octopus and go up to bat! 

Check out the Fun Activities section in the back of the book!  Visit Nate the Great and Sludge!
NatetheGreatBooks.com

"Subtle humor sparkles through the young detective's narration and his interactions with his friends. Budding mystery fans will line up for this one."-- School Library Journal 

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Fiction, Picture Books, Chapter Books, Juvenile, Audiobook

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

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

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good Nate the Great mystery.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because I like baseball and I used to do it. I did not like this book because I do not like slimy squids for the idea of a baseball base.

[Christie Stoneback · Rating 5 out of 5]

According to Lennon, age 7.

It is a very good book. I like it very much. It is so surprising if he is going to find it or not. He is a good detective. I always mess up and call him a “decrative”. It is hard for me to call him detective.

[L Y N N · Rating 5 out of 5]

I happened upon this book at my local library sale. I had kinda forgotten about this series! Such a nostalgic read since it reminded me of reading these to my own children! Simple and straightforward, but also with interesting information in the book for kids who are nerds as I was! :)

[Jane Maple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nate is on a baseball team called Rosamond's Rangers with his friends, but they can't play today because somebody stole second base. Second base was Oliver's octopus. Nate goes over to Oliver's house to look for it. Nate notices that Oliver has a telephone on his bookshelf. Nate looks around and under the bookshelf, everywhere he thinks the octopus could have gone. He finds Oliver's Babe Ruth baseball card, but no second base. Nate goes to the baseball field and notices one of the octopus' arms in the dirt. He continues to find more arms. Nate realizes that the octopus is caught on the phone cord behind the book case. (This might be a hard case for modern kids to solve now that landline telephones are fairly rare.)

Extras: Baseball facts; octopus facts; how to make octopus pops; baseball and octopus jokes; facts about 30 baseball teams; how to make caramel corn

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A straightforward story, we actually read in one sitting. The writing doesn't require much inferring by the reader at all - it's very explicit, which makes it definitely more accessible to very young readers/listeners. However, this does make it boring for me to read.

[Ms. Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

4th Grader Review
"I rated this book 5 stars because: I really liked this book it also has a bonus it the back about the book and facts. I would recommend this book to: my little cosin he would like me reading it. 3 words that best describe this book: funny, diffrent, and cool.

[nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one made me realize how actually careless his friends are. If they were a little more careless with their belongings, there wouldn’t be so many so called “mysteries” in the world of Nate. Like please, no more of this baby stuff and let him live on to solve stuff like Tin Tin !!!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clean your room Oliver! You'd find your five legged octopus toy a lost faster than hiring Nate the Great to look for it.

[Megan B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex

[Ace Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it because it was a mystery story.

[WinterBat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever and humorous

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mystery book for kids about a baseball game.

[Villain E · Rating 2 out of 5]

The least interesting Nate the Great book so far. A kid loses a toy and Nate eventually finds it in the most obvious place.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Nate the Great plays baseball on Rosamond's team but the second base, Claude's plastic octopus is missing.

[Kelly Driscole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Join Nate the Great and his dog Sludge in this short story fiction. Nate's detective work comes to life with an illustration on every page.

[Sara Cranford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marjorie Weinman Sharmat's Nate the Great series is funny, simple and perfect for beginning readers. Nate the Great and the Stolen Base tells the story of how Nate the Great used his best detective skills to find clues leading him to his baseball team's missing second base: a slimy purple plastic octopus. After arriving at baseball practice and discovering the base is missing, Nate follows his friend Oliver home to investigae where the base could have gone. After searching in all the obvious places, Nate decides this is a case that will require clues and retracing Oliver's steps. When he discovers that the slimy purple octopus is missing some of its arms, Nate realizes the remaining five arms and the body must be somewhere in Oliver's home. When Nate uses what he learns through past expereiences in looking for clues, he searches behind the bookshelf one last time and finds the purple octopus wrapped around Oliver's phone cord. Finally the case has been solved and baseball practice can go on, all thanks to Nate the Great!
This story is a great take home beginning reader for children ages 6-9, grades 1st to 4th. Its reppitition and and simplicity makes it a great first take-home series. The series itself consists of 30 books with Nate the Great and the Stolen Base being the 14th. It introduces children to the world of mystery books on a level that is easy to follow and read alone. It also helps teach children to use the clues around them to solve various problems, and that no case is too hard when you put your mind to it! Nate the Great will definitely be a book series that I keep in my classroom one day!

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another very good mystery in the Nate The Great mystery books. These mysteries are simple but yet not so simple that they are boring. Nate and his friends all want to play baseball and a few of them were chosen to bring items to be used as bases. But the one with second base the item comes up missing! So they can't play ball until the mystery is solved! Nate uses his wits and all what he knows to try and solve this. Even as a reader reading it out loud to my adult special needs son; I didn't figure it out until later in the story. The ending is very nice and will help children use their minds to help figure things out.

[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.

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most interesting part of this case is the way Nate the Great found the clue that solved the mystery. If not for Rosamond’s baseball mitt that was stuck on the tree, Nate the Great would have never found the stolen base!

I expected the ending in this one but was not sure of how the writer will present it to the reader. In this book, the writer was successful in showing the clues and breaking the mystery.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a funny story about a missing base (in this case, a rubbery, squishy octopus that gradually loses its legs). Nate the great is on the case to find the "base" and once again he uses his powers of deduction and intuition to follow the case to its logical conclusion. And as always, he fortifies himself with pancakes along the way. He and his dog Sludge are always able to get to the bottom of any mystery, no matter how small. We really enjoy this series and look forward to more.

[midnightfaerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book my 6 yr old loved, a little old for my preschoolers. A solid reading level 2 book, this reader has a good amount of advanced vocabulary words, but not so long that it discourages a new reader. Used it for his read out loud book, which was perfect. It took about 15 mins for him to read and had just enough new vocabulary words to make it challenging. Also, it was a fun and interesting story he could get into. He liked it so much, he asked for more by this author. Great reading book!

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nate the Great, Junior Detective is also a member on the Rosamond's Rangers baseball team. He arrives for practice to discover that the plastic purple octopus that was being used as second base has been stolen. So as usual, Nate writes his mother a note letting her know that he's on a case, and starts his investigation. Infused with pancakes for additional energy, Nate solves the mystery of the the stolen base.

[Ella]

Nate the Great is a detective. He does many cases. And Sludge does it with him. Sludge is a dog. And Nate the Great has many friends. And they have many pets. And his friends have problems and Nate the Great solves them. And I love Nate the Great books because they are so great to read.
--Brady Oct 2011

[yusi]

Nate belongs to a baseball team.
One day he went to field but he couldn't play a game
Because second base was stolen.
Oliver's second base was a plastic octopus.
Nate said "We can get another second base"
But Rosamond answered "No" and Oliver said "It was the best and my good-lucky octopus."
So Nate took the case.

[Lisa (Bookworm Lisa) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nate the Great is a great book for children who in out of picture books, but not yet ready for big chapter book.

Nate the Great is a detective who solves cases for the kids in his neighborhood. He uses his mind to figure out the clues.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nate goes hunting for a missing octopus and finds *gasp* only a trail of legs....

A clever tale not for the squeamish with a lot of really interesting baseball facts thrown in (this got bumped up a star just for the baseball jokes alone!)

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nate the Great and the Stolen Base
Sharmat, Marjorie Weinman
3.9
an odd story for boys a good early mystery

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just kind of confusing and boring.

[Taylor Troncin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nate the Great is a unique character/series. I like them but sometimes think there's more going on than what I notice... If that makes sense...