Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley is the title character of a 1964 children's book (ISBN 0-06-009791-4) by Jeff Brown (born 1925 – died December 3, 2003).

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.

Plotline

Stanley Lambchop is flattened when a bulletin board falls on him. He survives and makes the best of his altered state, and soon he is sliding into rooms through the opening at the bottom of closed doors and being kind to his younger brother by playing as a kite for him. 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.

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.Fact|date=August 2007

Flat Stanley and celebrities

Flat Stanley has been photographed with many famous celebrities, politicians and actors. The following is a partial list:

# Tim Foreman
# Newt Gingrich
# Clay Aiken
# The Blue Man Group
# Sean Astin
# Pete Seeger
# Josh Groban
# Bill Gates
# Ralph Nader

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 Hendrickson, 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: [http://www.chesterfield.k12.sc.us/Jefferson%20Elementary/FlatStanley/stanleypage_3.htm FLAT STANLEY GOES HI-TECH,] 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.cite news |title= QuadAngles |url= |publisher="Illinois Alumni Magazine" |date=May-June 2007 |accessdate=2007-07-31 ]

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.

Controversy

There has been controversy over the Flat Stanley project as mentioned in the website flatstanley.com. The author of flatstanley.com claims that "As the creator of the Flat Stanley Project I have never received a single penny from HarperCollins, the publishers of the books, Intramusic Theatricals, the producers of the very popular Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, Universal Studios, or the Trust of the late Jeff Brown. A legal situation has developed where I am being forced to give flatstanley.com to the Trust without compensation so it can use this site to sell Flat Stanley books and merchandise, so it can promote the lucrative musical, and so it can advertise new Flat Stanley related items. The Trust plans to take the domain I registered and the traffic I have created and use it to make more money while giving me nothing in return."

In pop culture

*The Flat Stanley Project is parodied in the "King of the Hill" episode "." Participating in the project, Peggy and Luanne decide to also teach students about safety by photographing Flat Stanley being involved in various accidents (such as getting run over by a car).

*Additional media attention was generated when Clint Eastwood took his daughter's Flat Stanley to the Academy Awards. This resulted in articles in People magazine and CNN.com. Several Flat Stanleys were hosted by Olympic athletes in Torino, Italy at the 2006 Olympic Games.

*In October 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger showed his son's Flat Stanley to Jay Leno. Schwarzenegger wanted to "pump him up." The Governor had been taking Flat Stanley with him on the campaign trail.

*In 2007, playwright Timothy McDonald author of the musical theater adaptation of Willy Wonka adapted the Flat Stanley story to become "The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley". Now in its second year, the show continues to play in theaters across the United States and in Canada. The show is licensed to schools, community theaters and other theatres by Music Theatre International.

* Numerous Flat Stanley profiles have also appeared on myspace.com. The Philadelphia Flyers during the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs did their version of "Flat Stanley" holding the NHL's top prize.

References

External links

* [http://www.flatstanley.com/ Dale Hubert's Flat Stanley Project]
* [http://sites.epals.com/flatstanleyproject/ ePALS Global Community Flat Stanley Project blog]
* [http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4d54597a4f544d774f413d3d0d0a Flat Stanley Visits a Florida State Football Game]
* [http://www.flatstanleymovie.com/ Flat Stanley Movie] A Flat Stanley goes to Hollywood home movie
* [http://www.venicebeach.org/flatstanley/ Flat Stanley Visits Venice Beach] (example with photographs of a visit to California)
* [http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/fiction/da01.htm "Flat Diane"] - a horror novella based on The Flat Stanley Project; winner of the 2005 International Horror Guild Award for Medium Fiction
* [http://www.literacycommunity.com/ The Literacy Community] The Flat Stanley Project is supported by The Literacy Community
* [http://www.oddtodd.com/flats.html Flat Todd] , the Flat Stanley-inspired character of www.oddtodd.com
* [http://www.chesterfield.k12.sc.us/Jefferson%20Elementary/FlatStanley/stanleypage_3.htm Flat Stanley Goes Hi-Tech] , recipient of the 2006 South Carolina State TIPS Award.
* [http://www.swallowfieldlowerschool.co.uk/gallery/default.asp?gallery=41 Swallowfield Lower School, Woburn Sands] , Swallowfield Stanley Gallery.
* [http://www.TimothyAMcDonald.com Playwright Timothy McDonald's website]
* [http://www.intramusic.net Producer of The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley National Tour]
* [http://www.iTheatrics.com iTheatrics creators of Broadway Junior Version of Flat Stanley for schools]
* [http://www.geocities.com/cuscof2/ Flat Stanley Goes To Peru] - Flat Stanley visits the Fiesta de la Candelaria in Puno and then travels to Paruro, near Cusco
* [http://rescueflatstanley.com/ Save Flat Stanley] - Help Save Flat Stanley
* [http://www.mainboarders.com/Flat_Gillig.php] - Flat GILLIG