Review - Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure!

Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure! (Flat Stanley #1)
by Jeff Brown
illustrated by Macky Pamintuan
Date: 1964
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 112
Format: e-book
Source: library

A flat boy can do almost anything!

Stanley Lambchop is an ordinary boy. At least he was, until the night his bulletin board fell off the wall and flattened him. All of a sudden, Stanley can slide under doors, mail himself across the country in an envelope, and fly like a kite!

But flatness has its serious side, too. Sneak thieves have been stealing paintings from the Famous Museum of Art, and Stanley knows he's the only one who can stop them. Will the robbers discover Stanley's plan before he foils theirs?

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I had heard of Flat Stanley, of course, but I had never actually read the book that the activity was based on.  This edition that I found at my library features the original text of the book that was first published in 1964, along with new illustrations from 2009.  I'm not familiar with the original pictures, but the updated ones were awfully cute.

The story revolves around a boy named Stanley who gets flattened by a falling bulletin board.  Aside from all the adventures he has while in this state (such as getting mailed to his friend's house in California and acting as his brother's kite in the park), the book also manages to work in a few messages about sibling rivalry and being kind to those who are different.

It's not as dated as I feared a book this old might be.  I quite enjoyed it, and I think a lot of kids would get a kick out of the wacky premise, too.

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3.6 out of 5