A bulletin board falls on Stanley Lambchop in the night, flattening him to a thickness of half an inch; he is otherwise unharmed. He has a number of adventures, but after a while he wants to be "a regular shape again," and his brother has the idea to blow him up with a bicycle pump.

See also: The Shrinking of Treehorn by Florence Parry Heide ( )

Kinda fun but would probably traumatize me as a kid if I'm being honest. I'd be terrified of getting squished by furniture (I mean, I did pull a dresser over on myself once when I was little). I didn't appreciate the fact that Stanley is more okay with being half an inch thick than he is with wearing girl clothes. I understand this was originally written in 1964, but I'm afraid I can't give it a pass since it's been republished. If the art can be redone, so can the disrespect. ( )

I love this book and I love the fact that teachers use this book and incorporate it into their classroom. Teachers will have students do Flat Stanley project where they take Stanley around with them wherever they go, take pictures, and then write about it. I really enjoy the story of Flat Stanley. It starts off by Stanley waking up one morning flattened because a board has fallen on him. Stanley was really upset about this but his brother and people of the town gave him jobs to do. Fir example, he was a kite, a surfboard, a picture frame. This teaches kids that even if you are different, there is still a place for you in the world. It's not easy being different, but Stanley gets through it with the help of his family. I also like how Stanly and his brother came up with ideas of how to make him a normal boy again. I like how this book is set up. There are some big words and small words which are both appealing to the eye. This pictures are colorful and realistic.

Stanley Lambchop was in his room that he shared with his brother, Arthur. Arthur calls for their parents to come and look, what they see in the boys’ rooms astonished them. During the night Stanley’s bulletin board fell on him and smashed Stanley as flat as a pancake. They bring Stanley to the doctor and because Stanley feels fine there isn’t much the doctor can do. Stanley likes being flat. He slides through the cracks at the bottom of the doors, he is mailed in an envelope to California, he is used as a kite, and he also helps the art director catch art thieves. After helping the art director catch the thieves, Flat Stanley is hailed a hero. Eventually the hero title wears off and people begin to make fun of Stanley for how flat he was. Upset one night because of all the teasing, Arthur comes up with a plan to make Stanley regular shaped again. Arthur grabs the bicycle pump and tells Stanley to hole it in his mouth. As Arthur pumped and pumped, Stanley got bigger and bigger. Arthur was able to get Stanley round again. The boys’ parents walk in their room and are excited that Stanley is round again, they celebrate with hot chocolate. This book could be used to inspire children to write and get them involved in the creative writing process. After reading this book to students, teachers can tell students to use their imagination and write about what they would like and dislike if they could be flat for a whole day. ( )

Flat Stanley was a wonderful read! I liked this book for a couple reasons. The first is that the plot is continuously flowing. There is never a dull moment in this book. Stanley jumps from adventure to adventure and brings the reader along with him.The second reason I like this book is that the word choice is challenging for this age group, while still keeping the reader engaged. ( )