Judy Clabes: Flat Stanley among things I wouldn’t have known without grandchildren

For more reasons than any grandparent could name, we are grateful for our grandchildren, the proof that unconditional love is not earned, it’s given.

Without my grandchildren, for example, I would not know that fairies have blue wings. I would never have guessed that dinosaurs once dined on the leaves at the very top of our big burr oak. Or that clouds have not only shapes but stories. I would not be aware of the whispers of elves on the wind or that what looks like a plain ol’ stick is really a magical wand when wielded by a three-year-old who believes in the power of imagination. Don’t worry, she only casts good spells.

And so it was that I was ignorant of Flat Stanley until my oldest granddaughter, a very diligent third grade student, asked me to take him along on a trip. It turned out to be a great adventure, not because Flat Stanley was such good company (he, in fact, was not) but because he sent me on an enlightening educational experience of my own.

It turns out that Flat Stanley really is flat – and for a reason. And that he has thousands upon thousands of fans and quite an internet presence. Oh, and book upon book about his travels.

Flat Stanley first appeared in a 1964 children’s book by Jeff Brown, part of a series featuring Stanley Lambchop. Stanley gets flattened when a bulletin board falls on him in his sleep. He survives and makes the best of his flattened state. He can, after all, slide under doors, be a kite for his younger brother, visit friends by being mailed in an envelope, pose as a picture on the wall to catch art thieves . . . You get the picture.

Eventually in the series, Stanley gets back to his proper shape via a bicycle pump.

It wasn’t until 1995 that Flat Stanley became a world traveler, thanks to an inventive third-grade teacher in Canada who started the Flat Stanley Project as a comprehensive literacy program. The idea began as a way to facilitate letter-writing by schoolchildren who could mail him around and document where he had been. Then Flat Stanley started to travel around with the schoolchildren and their significant adults (which is where I came to have the care of a certain Flat Stanley). The children make paper Flat Stanleys, each a similar creation but all singularly creative, mail him or send him on his way, and keep a journal about his travels.

As a phenom, Flat Stanley would be hard to beat. He’s the subject of Harper Collins children’s books. He’s been on TV and in the company of presidents and pilots, sailors and soldiers and luminaries of all kinds and sorts, including queens. He’s on Facebook and Twitter. He has web sites, including www.flatstanleybooks.com. He has games and puzzles. He has maps and mobile apps.

If he sounds like a perfectly engaging fellow, he is in a way. As I traveled with him via automobile, he never complained or asked for the rest stop. We traversed four states and uncounted cities and visited restaurants , hotels and tourist stops. And, of course, as we went my human companion was game enough – though at times a bit self-conscious – to hold little Stanley up for some pictures. That is what our sweet granddaughter ultimately needed for her class assignment.

This is really a very cool literacy project. Don’t you wish you had thought of it?

One evening near the end of our trip, we rode to dinner with a business colleague, an old friend who does not have grandchildren. So, an explanation of Flat Stanley followed. When he dropped us off at the hotel, it was a bit later that I discovered I had left Flat Stanley right where I had put him – on the dashboard. Knowing I could not leave Flat Stanley stranded with a stranger (and that I did not want to explain my negligence to my granddaughter), I phoned him. He said he would drop Flat Stanley off at the front desk.

The next morning I received this text: “I left that Sponge-Bobby thing with the young clerk at the front desk. She knew exactly who he was and said she would take good care of him until you picked him up. I still don’t have a clue.”

When I told my youngest granddaughter — the magical three-year-old — this story about my unknowing friend, she got a huge laugh out of it, Sponge Bob being her favorite of the moment.

“Holy fish cakes, Grandma,” she said. “He needs some grandkids!”

Indeed. Doesn’t everyone?

Judy Clabes is editor and publisher of the NKTribune.  Contact her at judy@nkytrib.com.