Flat Stanley

In this age of the Internet, tweets, Facebook, and e-mail, we may not take time for today’s celebration: Thank the Mailman Day. Even titles like James Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice seem a bit arcane. Mine doesn’t even ring once. But there is at least one classic children’s book that owes everything to postal services around the world. Rather than going quietly out of print as it might have, the mail carriers of the world saved this book from oblivion.

Jeff Brown began Flat Stanley as a bedtime story to his sons. He had discovered that one of them feared that a bulletin board in the bedroom would fall down during the night and crush him while sleeping. Of course, one of the best way to face fears, childhood or otherwise, is to laugh at them. So Jeff made up stories about what would happen if the bulletin board fell, and suddenly one little boy was squashed flat. Jeff’s son J. C. named the character Stanley Lambchop, a name he found wildly funny. Being flat didn’t prove to be such a problem for Stanley. He could go places that other children could not. He could fly like a kite. He could take all kinds of vacations, simply by being mailed in an envelope.

Although Flat Stanley received mixed reviews when it was published in 1964 with Tomi Ungerer’s quirky drawings, it stayed in print because children loved the idea. In Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book, Professor Phil Nel wrote about its appeal to young readers: “In first grade, Flat Stanley was my favorite book. Bolstering my six-year-old’s willingness to believe in stories, illustrator Tomi Ungerer rendered Stanley nearly two-dimensional—‘half an inch thick,’ just as Brown says. This slight concession to a third dimension made Stanley’s flatness seem not just plausible, but possible. Maybe I could become like Flat Stanley.”

In 1995, an inspired third-grade teacher in Canada thought Stanley perfect for a letter-mailing project. She had her class place a Stanley drawing in an envelope and send him to family, pen pals, and friends, keeping a journal of all the places he traveled. A great idea, the project took off internationally and soon Stanley Lambchop became an international jet-setter.

He also began to gain entrance into pretty fancy places. After security clearance, he visited the White House. He traveled on the Discovery space shuttle. He made an appearance at the 2006 Olympic Games, and Clint Eastwood proudly displayed him at the Academy Awards. Not bad for a character that began his journey as a way for a father to put young boys to sleep.

So, for the triumphant journeys of Stanley Lambchop, we can thank the mailman. And for this delightful book we can thank Jeff Brown and his sons. If you want to participate in Thank the Mailman Day, just send Stanley to someone who’d like to hear from you!

Here’s a passage from Flat Stanley: