Flat Stanley a 1964 children's book by Jeff Brown (1926 – December 3, 2003) and illustrated by Tomi Ungerer. It was the first in a series of books featuring Stanley Lambchop, a completely flat boy.
Characters
- Stanley Lambchop - The main character of the series
- Arthur Lambchop - Stanley's younger brother
- Dr. Dan - The Lambchops' doctor
Synopsis
Stanley Lambchop and his younger brother Arthur are given a big bulletin board by their Dad for putting pictures and posters on. He hangs it on the wall over Stanley's bed, but during the night the board falls from the wall, flattening Stanley in his sleep. He survives and makes the best of his altered state, and soon he is entering locked rooms by sliding under the door, and playing with his younger brother by being used as a kite. Stanley even helps catch some art museum sneak thieves by posing as a painting on the wall. But one special advantage is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope. Eventually Arthur, who tires of all the attention Stanley has been getting, reverts Stanley to his proper shape through an air pump used for footballs.
Other books in the series
- Flat Stanley
- Stanley In Space
- Stanley and the Magic Lamp
- Invisible Stanley
- Stanley's Christmas Adventure
- Stanley Flat Again
At the time of his death, Brown was working on another Flat Stanley book.
The Flat Stanley Project
The Flat Stanley Project was started in 1995 by Dale Hubert, a third grade schoolteacher in London, Ontario, Canada. It is meant to facilitate letter-writing by schoolchildren to each other as they document what Flat Stanley has done with them. Dale Hubert received the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2001 for the Flat Stanley Project.
A Flat Stanley mailed to Richmond, VA, sent as a visitor as part of the Flat Stanley project from a student in Atlanta, GA.
The Project provides an opportunity for students to make connections with students of other member schools who've signed up with the project. Students begin by reading the book and becoming acquainted with the story. Then they make paper "Flat Stanleys" (or pictures of the Stanley Lambchop character) and keep a journal for a few days, documenting the places and activities in which Flat Stanley is involved. The Flat Stanley and the journal are mailed to other people who are asked to treat the figure as a visiting guest and add to his journal, then return them both after a period of time. The project has many similarities to the Travelling gnome prank except, of course, for the Flat Stanley Project's focus on literacy.
Students may find it fun to plot Flat Stanley's travels on maps and share the contents of the journal. Often, a Flat Stanley returns with a photo or postcard from his visit. Some teachers may prefer to use e-mail.
In 2005, more than 6,000 classes from 47 countries took part in the Flat Stanley Project.[citation needed]
The project was featured in a 2004 episode of the animated TV series King of the Hill, in which Nancy Gribble received a Flat Stanley doll in the mail, which Peggy Hill and Luanne Platter photographed in a number of dangerous situations, resulting in the school's Flat Stanley Project being cancelled.
According to the February 26, 2009 broadcast of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Flat Stanley was on board US Airways Flight 1549 which landed safely in the Hudson River. He was carried to safety in the briefcase of his traveling companion.
Flat Stanley goes hi-tech
In 2006, four schools in rural Chesterfield County, South Carolina implemented a year long technology-rich project as part of an E2T2 Federal Grant, called, "Flat Stanley Goes Hi-Tech." The project was sponsored by John Wagnon, Director of Educational Technology and involved nine teachers and over 200 third grade students. A middle school film and production crew chronicled the project under the auspices of Pat Hendrick, producer, and Brenda Lyles, director and editor. The students read the Flat Stanley books, and used digital cameras to create their "Stanleys." They then used computers to write letters e-mails to students in corresponding schools. A major part of the project involved the use of webcams to promote cultural exchanges between Chesterfield students and those attending schools in Nova Scotia in Canada, and Chile in South America. Several celebrities participated in the project including NASCAR drivers Joe Nemechek and Richard Petty, Vice-President Dick Cheney, Animal Planet's Steve Irwin "the Crocodile Hunter" and actress Carly Schroeder. Dale Hubert of the Flat Stanley Project also appears in the film.
Flat Stanley Goes Hi-Tech won the coveted TIPS (Technology Innovation Programs in Schools) Award for South Carolina in 2006, presented at South Carolina Ed-Tech in Myrtle Beach. The broadcast version of the documentary is available online.[1]
Photos of Flat Stanley can even be found on Facebook.
Variations
Not all Flat Stanleys are named Stanley. One of these, "Flat Mark", gained considerable media attention in Canada in late 2003 when he was the guest of newly-sworn-in Prime Minister Paul Martin and appeared in a photo with his cabinet at the swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall. One called "Flat Brandon" was scanned and emailed to researcher Cynthia Chiang at the South Pole; Chiang printed out the image of the flat character and photographed it at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station research center.[2] "Flat Ashley" is a counterpart to Flat Stanley in use in southeast Asia. "Flat Asep" and "Flat Ujang" are variations from Indonesia.
"Swallowfield Stanley" travels around the world with children and teachers from Swallowfield Lower School, Woburn Sands in the United Kingdom, and "Paper Preeti" travels around the world with children and teachers from Pardada Pardadi Educational Society, Uttar Pradesh, India. This variation links impoverished girls in India to families around the world.[3]
References
External links
