The adventures of Flat Stanley began with a crash. In the 1964 children’s book by Jeff Brown, a falling bulletin board squashed a boy named Stanley Lambchop. On the bright side, he was so flat that he could be slipped into an envelope and mailed off to distant places.A Canadian elementary teacher named Dale Hubert added the power of the Internet to the story and, in 1995, launched a global phenomenon known as the Flat Stanley Project. Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren in more than 40 countries have since exchanged their own “flat people,” or sent them off to famous people. Flat Stanley has been photographed on Oscar night with Clint Eastwood, traveled aboard the Space Shuttle, journeyed to Antarctica, and visited heads of state around the world. And kids around the world have learned more about everything from geography to culture to storytelling.
Now, Hubert’s wildly successful, grassroots education project is at risk of being squashed. Flat.
A long-simmering legal battle with the estate of Jeff Brown led Hubert to post this message earlier this week:
“Sadly, the Flat Stanley Project may be forced to end.”
Hubert invites letters of support for his project. (Email to savefsp@gmail.com)
I don’t know about you, but I hear a whopper of an adventure story in the making. Stay tuned for updates.
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