Mrs. Walter’s class is finding out. Flat Stanley is a character, in a book, who becomes flat when a bulletin board falls on him. Many things happen to Stanley while he is flat. He is able to fly like a kite and retrieve a ring that fell down through a grate. His family finds it is easier to send him to visit a friend in another state because they do not have to buy a plane ticket, they can mail him.

Our class made our own Flat Stanleys or Flat selves with our pictures in them. We have been sending them to friends and family not only in the U.S., but in some cases around the globe. The recipients are urged to write information about the places Stanley has visited or dress them up in local clothing and tell us how far he has traveled. So far Stanley has visited 14 different states (including 2 to Hawaii), both coasts, and three different continents (including North America). Stanley has traveled to the UK and to Uruguay, and has utilized several modes of transportation including planes, trains, convertibles, horse carriages, paddle wheel on the Mississippi, and ATVs. He has experienced sitting at Abraham Lincoln’s desk, visiting Dr. Seuss’ memorial garden, being in the cockpit of a plane, seeing a play, visiting an Emu farm, seeing a Rockies’ game, visiting a classroom in Chicago, visiting a castle in England, and both whale watching and seeing penguins in South America. Our Stanleys have easily racked up more than 40,000 travel miles. The round trip to Uruguay alone was more than 12,000 miles. It has been quite an adventure to have our Stanleys visit so many wonderful places and learn about them from people there.