Flat Stanley is the title character of a 1964 children's book (ISBN 0-06-009791-4) by Jeff Brown (1926 – December 3, 2003) and illustrated by Tomi Ungerer. other books by Jeff Brown in this series: 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.

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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.

The Flat Stanley Project

The project was started in 1995 by Dale Hubert, a grade three 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.

The Flat Stanley 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.

The project was featured in a 2004 episode of the animated TV series King of the Hill . Here, Peggy Hill and Luanne Platter received a Flat Stanley doll in the mail and photographed it in a number of dangerous situations, resulting in the school's Flat Stanley Project being canceled.

According to the Feb. 26th 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 Grant, called, "Flat Stanley Goes Hi-Tech." The project was sponsored by John Wagnon, Director of Educational Technology. The project involved nine teachers and over 200 students, in third grade, who participated in the project. A middle school film and production crew, chronicled the project under the auspices of Pat Hendrick, Producer, and Brenda Lyles, Director/Editor. The third grade students read the Flat Stanley books, and used digital cameras to create their "Stanleys." They then used computers to write letters, and e-mail 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 Nemichek and Richard Petty; Vice-President Dick Cheney; Animal Planet's "Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter"; and actress Carly Schroeder (Firewall, Gracie, Lizzie McGuire). 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, at South Carolina Ed-Tech at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The broadcast version of the documentary can be viewed here: recipient of the 2006 South Carolina State TIPS Award.

Variations

For variety's sake, 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 South Pole research center, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. ^[1]

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, UK.

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.

References

1. QuadAngles