Flat Stanley

When Jeff Brown wrote his first Flat Stanley book in 1964 about a boy named Stanley Lambchop who is flattened by a bulletin board while he sleeps and spends time slipping under doors and being mailed to his friends in envelopes, he could scarcely have imagined that decades later his quirky creation would be used in writing and geography projects for schoolchildren around the globe.
The Flat Stanley Project is based on Brown's original book and its sequels: Stanley in Space; Stanley and the Magic Lamp; Invisible Stanley; Stanley's Christmas Adventure; and Stanley Flat Again. Begun by Dale Hubert, a Canadian elementary school-teacher, children participating in the project read the book or books, make paper pictures of Flat Stanley, and keep a brief journal that documents Flat Stanley's adventures while he is with them.

The journal (and, of course, Flat Stanley) is then mailed to another person with a letter asking them to also read the book, continue the journal, and send it back after a period of time. Children participating in the Project can accumulate quite an impressive number of letters and memorabilia from Flat Stanley pen-pals across the globe. And, of course, Stanley gets to see a bit of the world, too.

A number of schools and teachers have made the Flat Stanley Project hi-tech, using email, webcams, and videos in place of snail mail between students. Some of these videos are sweet and just plain hilarious. Take a look at this one of Flat Stanley in New York City:

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.


Flat Stanley with a far flung friend
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