OTR: The World is 'Flat'

My latest traveling companion arrived in the mail...in an envelope. This was only possible because he's about the size of my hand and flat. Meet Flat Stanley.

My latest traveling companion arrived in the mail...in an envelope. This was only possible because he's about the size of my hand and flat. Meet Flat Stanley.

Flat Stanley is a character in a Jeff Brown book originally published in 1964 by HarperCollins Publishers. In the story, a bulletin board falls on Stanley Lambchop one night making him half an inch thick. The book recounts some of his adventures, such as sending himself in an envelope to California to visit a friend.

Since 1995, different versions of Stanley have been traveling all over the world as thousands of children participate in the Flat Stanley Project. The project was created by Dale Hubert, an elementary school teacher in Ontario, Canada.

“I was thinking: How can I encourage these students, especially in writing,” said Hubert, who today still works as the project facilitator.

Hubert got the idea for the project while showing his class how to search on the still unknown World Wide Web. During his search, an image of a kindergarten class photographed with Flat Stanley popped up on the screen. He organized a penpal-type exchange program for his new classes based on Flat Stanley.

Today, Hubert estimates that there are between 1,500 and 2,000 classes officially participating. Others may have developed their own projects outside the Flat Stanley Project website, so exact numbers are difficult to obtain. However, Hubert does not feel it is far fetched to say that millions of kids around the world probably know Flat Stanley.

My 8-year-old cousin, Samantha Allen is participating in the Flat Stanley project. I received her self-decorated paper-model Stanley in the mail about two weeks ago. This was after a stop in Buffalo, N.Y. to visit my sister. Each student in Samantha’s third grade class sent out a Flat Stanley model with a note asking the recipient to tell the class something about Stanley's visit to their town. According to the letter, the class is tracking his journey on a map. So far, he has been to Ireland and the Lord & Taylor Christmas windows in New York City, Samantha said.

"We get letters like every week at least," Samantha said. She went on to say the Christmas window was the best so far. (I think there might be some bias there as it was her mother, my aunt Lisa, who took Stanley there). Samantha suggested I take Flat Stanley to the White House and on my recent day off, I did. We also walked down to the Lincoln Memorial and past the Washington Monument. I plan to send my pictures and a short note to the class next week. From here, Stanley will travel to Erie, Pa. to another family member.

My cousin's class is not following the guidelines outlined on the Flat Stanley website exactly. Instead, they are relying on family and friends to send back notes instead of corresponding with other classes. Fortunately, there is no ‘wrong’ way to participate in the Flat Stanley project. “One of the reasons it has been a success, I think, is that it has been so open ended,” said Hubert.