Nate the Great hates mushy stuff. But when he spies a big red paper heart taped to the outside of Sludge's dog house, Nate knows he must help out his favorite pooch. Who has left Sludge a secret valentine? It's a mystery until Nate finds out his friend Annie is missing a valentine. The case seems easy. Nate is relieved. No more mushy stuff. Tha't s what he thinks. " Nate makes a great narrator, his clipped prose mimicking that of the hard-boiled detective genre, providing short, simple sentences for beginning readers, and setting up the deadpan humors. Simont's expenssive drawings, tinted with watercolor washes, illudwtate the characters and the action with finesse and retraint. A most oppealing choice…" Booklist, Boxed Riew.