Nate the Great (1971) is the first book in the series about the titular character, a pre-pre-teen detective who goes around solving mysteries for the neighborhood kids. They're written by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, and illustrated by Marc Simont for the first twenty books, and Martha Weston and Jody Wheeler imitating his style for the remainder. They're very good. I loved them as a kid, and I love them as an adult.
These are long, slightly wordy picture books (Wikipedia informs me that the last nine are chapter books). The stories are told in the first person and are written a delightful, matter-of-fact tone. As an adult, I recognize this as an advanced form of "see Spot run" prose of a very easy reading level, but it's endearing rather than annoying. They're also, astonishingly, usually a whopping 80 pages. However, each page tends to be 50% a drawing and 50% text -- which is still only 20-60 words. For an adult, it's under a ten minute read unless you spend a lot of time looking at the fantastic drawings.
One delightful thing about kids books in the 1970s is that kids can go outside and travel through the neighborhood unaccompanied, which Nate does. When a case arises, he'll leave a note informing his mother that he's gone out and will be back. And then he goes out (and later comes back). This going out can include an all-night stake out, and it's apparently fine. We rarely see or hear from any adult. Just other kids around Nate's age, and occasionally a little brother or sister, living their lives.
"Dear mother,
I am sleeping out tonight.
I am taking a blanket.
I am taking pancakes.
I will be back.
Love,
Nate the great"
(Nate the Great writes these notes in cursive, but I can read them without difficulty.)
As mentioned, all the characters are children, or animals, and they're we're introduced to them with Nate's commentary:
- Annie: "Annie has brown hair and brown eyes. And she smiles a lot. I would like Annie if I liked girls."
- Harry: Annie's little brother. "I met Annie's brother. He was small. He was covered with red paint."
- Rosamond and her four cats: "I could tell that Rosamond was a strange girl." He's right. She is.
- Oliver: "Oliver is a pest." This is true. But Oliver has a case for Nate. That's what's important. "I will follow you forever," Oliver said. I, Nate the Great, knew that forever was far too long to be followed by Oliver."
Nate is a great detective. He always solves his case. Sometimes he solves other cases on the way. He found Rosalind's cat by accident. He is very no-nonsense. Kids are nonsense. He doesn't get angry with the nonsense. He just addresses it. And then he moves on.
"Tell me. Does this house have any trapdoors or secret passages?"
"No," Annie said."
"No trapdoors or secret passages?" I said. "This will be a very dull case."
"I have a door that squeaks," Annie said.
"Have it fixed," I said.
There are 29 Nate the Great books, spanning over 40 years. I grew up with the early ones, and having read one or two more recent ones, I think the early ones are the best -- mostly because I like the way Nate looks in them.
- Nate the Great (1972)
- Nate the Great goes Undercover (1974)
- Nate the Great and the Lost List (1975)
- Nate the Great and the Phony Clue (1977)
- Nate the Great and the Sticky Case (1978)
- Nate the Great and the Missing Key (1981)
- Nate the Great and the Snowy Trail (1983)
- Nate the Great and the Fishy Prize (1985)
- Nate the Great Stalks Stupidweed (1986)
- Nate the Great and the Boring Beach Bag (1987)
- Nate the Great Goes Down in the Dumps (1989)
- Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt (1989)
- Nate the Great and the Musical Note (1990) (with Craig Sharmat, her son)
- Nate the Great and the Stolen Base (1992)
- Nate the Great and the Pillowcase (1993) (with Rosalind Weinman, her sister)
- Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine (1994)
- Nate the Great and the Tardy Tortoise (1995) (with Craig Sharmat)
- Nate the Great and the Crunchy Christmas (1996) (with Craig Sharmat)
- Nate the Great Saves the King of Sweden (1997)
- Nate the Great and Me: The Case of the Fleeing Fang (1998)
- Nate the Great and the Monster Mess (1999) (illustrated by Martha Weston)
- Nate the Great, San Francisco Detective (1999) (with Mitchell Sharmat, her husband; illustrated by Martha Weston)
- Nate the Great and the Big Sniff (2001) (with Mitchell Sharmat; illustrated by Martha Weston)
- Nate the Great on the Owl Express (2003) (with Mitchell Sharmat; illustrated by Martha Weston)
- Nate the Great Talks Turkey (2007) (with Mitchell Sharmat; illustrated by Jody Wheeler)
- Nate the Great and the Hungry Book Club (2009) (with Mitchell Sharmat; illustrated by Jody Wheeler)
- Nate the Great, Where Are You? (2015) (with Mitchell Sharmat; illustrated by Jody Wheeler)
- Nate the Great and the Missing Birthday Snake (2018) (with Andrew Sharmat; illustrated by Jody Wheeler)
- Nate the Great and the Wandering Word (2019) (with Andrew Sharmat; illustrated by Jody Wheeler)
I recently read several of these on The Internet Archive's Open Library. Start with Nate the Great and see how you like it.