Stanley Lambchop is the main character of a 1964 children's book written by Jeff Brown. Stanley suffered an injury. He was flattened when a big bulletin board squashed him while he was sleeping. He found that being flat had its advantages. He could slide under doors and hide in plain sight by pretending to be a picture on the wall. He could get into an envelope and travel by mail.
In 1995, a Canadian school teacher named Dale Hubert, inspired by Jeff Brown's book, started the Flat Stanley Project. Children make a paper Stanley and send him off in the mail. The recipient treats Stanley as a guest and shows him around (documenting the adventure in writing and perhaps with pictures), then sends Stan home in the post.
My mother and I had a great time with Stanley. We took him to Paris. I'm sure the Parisians thought we were crazy posing for pictures with a paper cutout.
 |
| Stanley-packed and ready to go to the airport. |
 |
| My mother with Stanley near the Eiffel Tower. |
 |
| Mom and Stan posing in front of a fountain at Versailles. |
At the end of our vacation, Stanley was mailed to my nephew's school with a letter and some pictures of his adventure. That was the end of the line for our paper doll. I asked my nephew what happened to the "real" Stanley, the one in the book. Well, when he was tired of living the flat life, his brother pumped him up with a bicycle pump, and Stanley resumed his 3-D existence.
Dale Hubert has retired from teaching. He still runs his Flat Stanley Project.
http://www.flatstanleyproject.com/default.html
http://www.dalehubert.com/index.html
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 is Teacher Appreciation Day. My hat is off to Dale Hubert for touching not only the lives of his students in Canada, but the lives of all the kids who read about Stanley and dropped him into a mailbox. Also, thanks to one of my teachers, Mr. Baldwin, who made geometry crystal clear. Finally, thanks to my friend Joanne who has been teaching since 1975. You are a rare and special person.
No comments:
Post a Comment