90 Fun Facts About Big Nate

Which bestselling author wrote Lincoln Peirce a fan letter in college and later helped him land the Big Nate novels?

Jeff Kinney was a student cartoonist when he wrote, and the two became pen pals; years later, after Diary of a Wimpy Kid took off, he helped Peirce secure the book deal for the Big Nate novels.

What grade is Nate Wright in?

Sixth grade is harder for Nate because his older sister got there first: his teachers keep asking why he can't be more like her.

What is the name of Nate's school?

P.S. 38 turns a hundred years old in the novel Lives It Up, and it shows: the building is so run-down that a ceiling tile drops on Nate's head.

What subject does Nate's nemesis Mrs. Godfrey teach?

Social studies is Mrs. Godfrey's subject, and for all their feuding she once saved Nate's life, using the Heimlich manoeuvre when he choked on a peppermint in her class.

In the Big Nate comic strip, what is the name of Nate's rock band?

Enslave the Mollusk began with Nate as lead singer, until a classmate dropped in on a rehearsal, sang 'I Fought the Law' and got the job; the TV series renames the band Fear the Mollusk.

Which instrument does Nate play in his band?

Drums are Nate's job, and he takes it seriously: when a power cut silenced the band at a school dance, he offered to keep the crowd happy with a killer drum solo.

Which classmate sings lead in Nate's band, dates his crush and beat him at chess?

Artur, an exchange student from Belarus in the strip, seems to Nate to be perfect at everything, yet he has no idea he is resented and counts Nate as a friend.

In Big Nate, which classmate became Nate's long-running crush back in first grade?

Jenny has never been interested, yet Nate kept coming back to her: Peirce once had him break up with a girlfriend he met at soccer camp because he couldn't get over the crush.

Which teacher's pet, Mrs. Godfrey's favourite student, does Nate loathe?

Gina prides herself on a spotless record, so it stings when a shouting match with Nate in the library earns her the first detention of her life at the end of Strikes Again.

Which of Nate's classmates loves 'The Book of Facts' and owns a cat named Pickles?

Francis Pope sealed his friendship with Nate back in third grade by confiding his embarrassing middle name, Butthurst, and in Flips Out Nate blurts it out in the heat of an argument.

What is Teddy Ortiz's middle name?

The square root symbol is Teddy's middle name because both of his parents are maths teachers, which makes him, in full, Teddy Square Root Ortiz.

What is the name of Nate's older sister?

Ellen is the responsible one now, but she began the strip as a ditzy, rebellious teenager; only later did she become the model student Nate is forever compared with.

What is Nate's dad's first name?

Martin Wright is a health nut who hands out prunes instead of sweets at Halloween, and the neighbourhood's trick-or-treaters turn them down every single year.

What snack does Nate love above all others?

Cheez Doodles come straight from Nate's creator: Lincoln Peirce says he loves them too, just as he shares Nate's hatred of egg salad.

What is the name of the neighbour's dog, the closest thing Nate has to a pet of his own?

Spitsy wears a cone because he would chew his own paws off without it, and Nate, who longs for a real dog of his own, calls him 'the ultimate dog nerd'.

What is Nate's favourite comic book series?

Femme Fatality is the comic Nate swears he reads only for the stories; it inspired his own heroine, Eve of Destruction, whom he later rewrote as a man called Steve.

Which modern rival school beats Nate's classmates at almost everything?

Jefferson Middle School has a food court where Nate's school has a cafeteria, and when water damage shut his own building his whole class was sent there, to be taught in trailers.

Which phobia does Nate Wright suffer from?

Fear of cats, or ailurophobia, finally pays off for Nate in Flips Out: the school Trivia Slam comes down to a question about that very word, and he wins it for his team.

In the Big Nate comic strip, which day do students treat as 'Prank Day'?

The last day of school is Prank Day, and one year a heavily pregnant Mrs. Godfrey spent the eve of it warning her class that no student with a shred of dignity would prank her.

What was Lincoln Peirce's day job before Big Nate was syndicated in 1991?

Art teacher: he spent three years teaching art and coaching baseball at a boys' school in Manhattan, and he says one of his students became the model for a friend of Nate's.

Which book, published in 2010, was the first Big Nate novel?

Big Nate: In a Class by Himself covers a single school day: a fortune cookie tells Nate he will surpass all others, so he spends the day looking for a way to prove it right.

Which school record does Nate set in the first Big Nate novel?

Most detention slips in one day: seven, each from a different member of staff, which is not quite what Nate expected when a fortune cookie promised that he would 'surpass all others'.

In Big Nate, which elderly science teacher is rumoured never to have laughed at anything?

Mr. Galvin confiscates Nate's pen in the first novel, and it leaks in his pocket: Nate is the one who can't stop laughing as the ink stain spreads across the teacher's shirt, and Mr. Galvin punishes him for it.

In Big Nate Strikes Again, which historical figure is Nate assigned to research?

Benjamin Franklin wins Nate over, and the comics he draws about him rescue the grade: Mrs. Godfrey is about to fail the pair over his partner's unoriginal visual aids, then gives the project an A-plus.

In Big Nate Strikes Again, what is the official name of the fleece-ball team Nate captains?

Kuddle Kittens was handed in by a teammate before Nate could submit Psycho Dogs, the name the dog next door had inspired; he refuses to use it, and the Kittens still win the title.

In Big Nate: On a Roll, what are the Timber Scouts selling to raise money for camping gear?

Warm Fuzzies are wall hangings with little sayings on them; Nate only bothers because the top seller wins a skateboard, and after a dead heat he takes it on the flip of a coin.

In Big Nate Goes for Broke, what do the members of Mr. Rosa's cartooning club call themselves?

The Doodlers were all boys until Mr. Rosa suggested inviting girls, and when Nate stammered out the first invitation she took it as an invitation to the school dance and said yes.

In Goes for Broke, what contest does Nate invent to finally beat the rival school?

A snow-sculpting contest, which Nate calls the Snowdown, goes his school's way because the rivals have only packed snow over an old suit of armour; his own team sculpts Achilles with an icicle in his heel.

In Big Nate: In the Zone, Chad's good-luck charm is a small plastic what?

Foot it is: Chad found the charm on the cafetorium floor, and it brings Nate a run of good luck until Mrs. Godfrey spots it, calls it a toy and shuts it in her desk drawer.

In Big Nate Lives It Up, the new student Nate is assigned to buddy has what elaborate name?

Breckenridge Puffington III turns out to be 'Bobby', the boy who picked on Nate when they were small; Nate blows up at him, then forgives him and puts him on his scavenger-hunt team.

In Big Nate Lives It Up, what find in a storage room pays for repairs to Nate's school?

A mural by the folk artist Granny Peppers, one of whose paintings had fetched two million dollars; the school sells it to a folk-art museum and spends the money on the building.

In Big Nate Flips Out, what does Teddy's uncle Pedro use to turn Nate into a neat freak?

Hypnosis, and it works too well: in this fifth of the eight novels Nate tidies his room and his locker but stops enjoying anything, until a scuffle with the school bully turns him back into a slob.

Which Big Nate novel, published in 2016, was the last in the series?

Blasts Off ends the series on a win: Nate's team takes the 38th Mud Bowl, his school's first victory in the game since his dad helped win the very first one.

Which online game added a 'Big Nate Island' in February 2009?

Poptropica would bring Nate to children who had never heard of him, as Peirce recalls the game's creator predicting; the island arrived a year before the first Big Nate novel.

On which streaming service did the animated Big Nate series premiere in February 2022?

Paramount+ launched the show in February 2022 and took it down again in March 2024, saying it had decided to focus on content with mass global appeal.

Which Disney Channel star voices Nate's sister in the animated series?

Dove Cameron, the voice of Nate's big sister, was born Chloe; she legally took the name Dove because it was what her late father had always called her.

Which character was created for the Big Nate TV series and uses an electric wheelchair?

Amy is voiced by Ali Stroker, who uses a wheelchair herself and dedicated her 2019 Tony Award to every child with a disability who was waiting to see themselves represented.

In 2013 a Maryland children's theatre turned Big Nate into what kind of stage show?

A musical: Peirce had his doubts when the theatre asked for the stage rights, but he agreed, and then went through the script himself so that the characters sounded like themselves.

Which cartoonist does the creator of Big Nate cite as his greatest inspiration?

Charles Schulz was his boyhood hero, and in Big Nate's early years the two talked by phone as fellow cartoonists; Peirce says Schulz once invited him to California to play ice hockey.

What advice from his first editor turned Lincoln Peirce's strip 'Neighborhood Comix' into Big Nate?

Focus on one character: Peirce chose the strip's quiet brother, Nate, gave him a far bigger personality and renamed the strip after its new star.

Lincoln Peirce says Big Nate started out as what kind of strip before the school jokes took over?

Domestic humour was the plan: Peirce meant to build the strip around two children being raised by a single dad, but within months he found the school gags were the ones he most enjoyed writing.

What did Peirce write after finishing the Big Nate novels, a comedic adventure set in the Middle Ages?

Max & the Midknights plays a trick on Big Nate's readers: Peirce kept the hero's name and looks neutral and waited nearly fifty pages before revealing that Max is a girl.

In the animated series, which of Nate's friends is president of the school drama club?

Dee Dee Holloway lives for drama, yet in Flips Out she is the one who quietly films the real culprit's confession on her phone and clears Nate over the missing yearbook camera.

Kevin Michael Richardson voices which head of Nate's school in the animated series?

Mr. Nichols would rather be liked than feared: in the novel In the Zone he even books Nate's band to play a school assembly, hoping it will sell his new fitness drive to the pupils.

Which film star guest-voices the legendary prankster Brad Gunter in the first episode of the Big Nate animated series?

Jack Black plays Brad Gunter in 'The Legend of the Gunting', an episode built on a school myth: land in trouble five times in one week and you are 'gunted', never to be seen again.

After running daily since 1991, Big Nate switched in 2026 to what publishing schedule?

Sundays only, from June 2026: Peirce had said that after almost 35 years it was harder to keep the strip fresh, with only so many jokes he could tell about the same school year.

The Big Nate animated series was originally due to premiere in September 2021 on which channel?

Nickelodeon ordered the show in 2020 for a September 2021 launch, watched it open on a streaming service instead, and finally got to air it in September 2022, a year late.

For which network was Big Nate optioned as a Saturday-morning cartoon in 1991, just before it scrapped that entire line-up?

NBC it was: producer Lee Mendelson rang Peirce to plan a meeting with the network's executives, then rang back the very next day to say the deal was dead, because the Saturday-morning shows had all been cancelled.

Lincoln Peirce's surname is pronounced like which everyday word, rather than 'pierce'?

Purse: Peirce says he might have changed the spelling years ago, but he is named after his father and grandfather and felt that altering it would not be respectful.

Which sport do Nate's school and its rival play in their annual Mud Bowl?

Ultimate Frisbee: Nate's dad, who played in the very first Mud Bowl, says it began as a single muddy game for bragging rights, with the Frisbee itself as the winner's prize.

In Big Nate Strikes Again, fleeceball is indoor baseball played with a soft ball and what in place of a bat?

A broom handle does the batting in fleeceball, the school's indoor answer to baseball. The ball is soft and puffy, so even a shot to the face barely hurts.

In Big Nate Strikes Again, the fleeceball final is won by what kind of hit, struck by the teammate Nate never wanted?

A home run wins it, and the hitter is the one player Nate tried to keep off the field. She collects the trophy while he watches from the bleachers, injured.

In Big Nate Strikes Again, what kind of photo of a rival does Nate mistake for his crush's?

A baby picture he takes for his crush's turns out to belong to the top student he can't stand, and she humiliates him over it. Hours later the two are made partners on a class project.

In Big Nate Strikes Again, which member of the school staff hands the class's star pupil her first-ever detention?

The librarian, Mrs. Hickson, does it after the star pupil loses her temper and screams at Nate. It is the only detention the girl ever gets in the novels.

What fierce name does Nate plan for his fleeceball team in Big Nate Strikes Again before a classmate names it first?

Psycho Dogs was Nate's pick, but he missed the captains' meeting and lost the right to choose. His team got a soppy name borrowed from a stuffed toy instead.

In Big Nate Strikes Again, which trophy do the school's fleeceball captains compete to win at the end of the season?

The Spoffy takes its name from SPOFF, short for Sports Played Only For Fun. Nate wants it badly all the same, and has to watch somebody else lift it.

Which team, led by the bully Randy Betancourt, meets Nate's side in the fleeceball final of Big Nate Strikes Again?

The Raptors are Randy's team, and he plays dirty: he injures Nate on purpose in the final, payback for an earlier humiliation.

In Big Nate Strikes Again, what is Nate playing on in the library when he misses the fleeceball captains' meeting?

The beanbag chairs keep Nate busy until Mrs. Hickson catches him, and the delay costs him dearly: captains name their teams at the meeting he misses.

In Big Nate Strikes Again, Nate's project partner agrees to stay out of fleeceball games in return for what?

Writing the report alone suits her, because she fears Nate will wreck her A+ average, just as he fears she will wreck his team. Neither plan works out.

Who runs the fleeceball league in Big Nate Strikes Again and lets a player name Nate's team for him?

Coach Calhoun is the friendlier of the school's two coaches, which makes his ruling sting. He also tells Nate that interference can't be called on a teammate.

In Big Nate Blasts Off, which new girl do both Nate and the bully Randy Betancourt have a crush on?

Ruby Dinsmore prefers Nate, which turns Randy's bullying up a notch. By the end of the book she has kissed Nate, and the two old enemies have made peace.

In Big Nate Blasts Off, Nate learns that which relative started the Mud Bowl tradition and won the very first game?

His dad made the diving catch that won the first Mud Bowl, and the school then lost every rematch for decades. Nate's team is the one that ends the streak.

In Big Nate Blasts Off, which fizzy drink sprays all over Nate after Randy secretly shakes the can?

Root beer soaks Nate and the cafeteria table, and for a moment he blames the girl who kindly gave him the can. A friend who saw the trick sets him straight.

In Big Nate Blasts Off, Nate's father loses his job and is offered a new one in which faraway state?

California would have taken Nate away from his friends just as life was looking up. A successful job interview in town keeps the family where it is.

After their fight in Big Nate Blasts Off, what are Nate and Randy ordered to attend together at school?

Peer counseling is the school counselor's idea, and it flops: none of the exercises work, so the two enemies are made partners on a field trip instead.

Which school newspaper, widely thought boring, hires Nate as a columnist in Big Nate Blasts Off?

The Weekly Bugle becomes a hit thanks to Nate's column, Bugle Blasts. He retires it after that first outing, which had landed him in a fight.

Where does the school field trip in Big Nate Blasts Off take Nate and Randy as unwilling partners?

A science museum is where the two enemies finally talk. Randy opens up about his parents' divorce, and Nate shares a family worry of his own.

In Big Nate Blasts Off, what of Nate's does the school paper's editor find on the library floor and love?

One of his comics spills out when Randy flings Nate's backpack into the air. The editor keeps it, and offers Nate a column on the strength of it.

Which bully from the rival school fails to stop Nate's winning catch in the Mud Bowl of Big Nate Blasts Off?

Nolan fumbles with the score tied, handing Nate's team the last chance it needs. He had also been the villain of an earlier novel, Goes for Broke.

In Big Nate Blasts Off, which feature of Nate's newspaper column mocks Randy and sets off their fight?

Guess That Guy was Nate's revenge for being soaked in the cafeteria, and everyone could tell who it meant. Randy attacks him as soon as the paper comes out.

In Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, what does Teddy hand Nate that convinces him he is destined for greatness?

A fortune cookie from Teddy's leftover Chinese food promises Nate he will outdo everyone that very day. He spends every lesson trying to make it come true.

In Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, which food does Nate wolf down in a bid for a speed-eating world record?

Green beans, a slimy mountain of them, are Nate's shot at glory in the cafeteria. The lecture that follows drags on so long that he is late for gym.

In Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, whom does Nate crash into at full speed while racing friends to the flagpole?

The principal takes the blame himself, saying he wasn't looking where he was going. Nate then spoils the moment by comparing him to a giant air bag.

In Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, what is Nate writing for his crush when a classmate exposes him?

A love poem was Nate's plan for the class poetry unit, until a classmate read it over his shoulder and shouted the news. His furious reply got him punished.

In Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, Mrs. Godfrey punishes Nate for insolence after finding his list of what?

Nicknames for her fill the list, and Mrs. Godfrey snatches it while Nate is reading it over. He then has to look up what insolence means.

The UK edition of Big Nate: In a Class by Himself calls Nate the boy with the biggest what in the world?

Head is the word: in the UK, Ireland and Australia the book is sold as The Boy with the Biggest Head in the World, with the same story inside.

In Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, whose extra-large gym shorts does Nate borrow and stuff with towels?

Coach John, a fierce substitute gym teacher, assumes Nate is making fun of his size. He orders wind sprints and then writes Nate up.

In Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, which teacher's pop quiz catches Nate out with extra questions on the back?

Mr. Staples teaches math, and when he tries to collect the half-finished quiz, Nate pulls back and the paper rips. Nate had been sure he was first to finish.

In Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, Nate forges a note excusing him from class to see which kind of professional?

A dentist is the excuse, written to look like his dad's handwriting. Nate gives up on the note when it dawns on him that forging a signature is a crime.

In Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, what is 'the Machine' that stops Nate from simply skipping school?

The attendance system gets the nickname because Nate thinks it tracks his every move: an empty desk means a red X, and a red X means a call home.

In Big Nate on a Roll, what prized possession does Nate lose in the water while rushing to a scout meeting?

His skateboard flies off a bridge after a dog walker's leash trips him up. Winning a replacement becomes Nate's mission for the rest of the book.

In Big Nate on a Roll, how is the tie for first place in the scout fundraiser finally broken?

A coin flip settles it after the top two scouts finish dead level. Nate calls heads, and heads it is.

In Big Nate on a Roll, what drips into Nate's eye and sets off the ladder accident he is punished for?

Paint drips from a classmate working at the top of a ladder, Nate flinches, and the ladder goes over. Only Nate ends up in detention for it.

In Big Nate on a Roll, which prize goes to the scout who loses the tie-break for first place?

A telescope is second prize, and its winner takes defeat so well that he invites everyone over to try it out.

In Big Nate on a Roll, what does Nate sell for a lot of money to catch up in the scout fundraiser?

A rare comic book, an old issue of Bumble Boy, turns out to be worth a small fortune. The windfall pulls Nate level with the leading scout.

In Big Nate on a Roll, which school play does Nate watch while his scout rival sells to the audience?

Peter Pan nearly ends in disaster when Chad, playing Michael, almost knocks the whole set down. Nate's rival treats the crowd as customers.

In Big Nate on a Roll, which breed of dog is a lady walking when her leash sends Nate flying?

A poodle and its owner stretch a leash across Nate's path as he races to a scout meeting. He lands hard, and his ride ends up in the water.

In Big Nate on a Roll, Nate loses an odd job after accidentally beheading which garden ornament?

A lawn gnome loses its head to a wooden toy sword Nate is carrying. The firing helps to finish off Nate's Odd Jobs, his scheme for raising money.

In Big Nate on a Roll, which two-day contest pits pupils from Nate's school against hundreds of rivals?

The Math Olympiad brings together more than 500 competitors from many schools. Nate's two great rivals, in love and in class, both make the team.

In Big Nate on a Roll, whom does Nate mistake for a shoplifter at the comic shop Klassic Komix?

The store manager, a bearded, mumbling man named Wayne, was only clearing out comics that weren't selling when Nate reported him as a thief.