Children's Corner: Flat Stanley

Review:  There are many new adventures of Flat Stanley, but I went out in search of the original story -the one with which I grew up.   This 1964 classic was reissued in 2006 and it's just as much fun as I remember.

While he's sleeping, a bulletin board falls off the wall and flattens Stanley.  He is, of course, completely unharmed but now the width of a thick pancake.  Stanley takes it all in stride, because being flat can be fun.  He can slip under door cracks, be used as a kite in the park, mail himself to visit friends across country... and even help catch art thieves.  And when Stanley grows tired of being flat, it is his brother, not the adults that comes up with the solution.

It's a great imagination book.  I always loved trying to think up new things for Stanley to do when I was a child, and now, my daughter and I get to do it together.  There are all sorts of brainstorms that can go along with this one.  I also like how it shows that children have important ideas too.  Now that we've read the original maybe we'll venture into the spin offs.  I hope they can live up to the stories we create together.