The Mount Rushmore Calamity (Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures Series #1) by Jeff Brown, Macky Pamintuan (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

Saddle up with Flat Stanley

Ever since Stanley was flattened by a bulletin board, every trip is an adventure!

The whole Lambchop family is off to see Mount Rushmore. But when Flat Stanley and his brother, Arthur, team up with a scrappy cowgirl named Calamity Jasper, their vacation turns into the Wild West experience of a lifetime. Pretty soon, they find themselves in a real tight spot—even for a flat boy like Stanley!

School Library Journal

Gr 2–4—Capitalizing on the extremely popular (and more than 40-year-old) character created by Jeff Brown, Pennypacker's new travel-themed series features the same tongue-in-cheek humor and earnest, goody-two-shoes sensibility of the original. Here, the flattened-by-a-bulletin-board boy and the rest of the Lambchop family go on vacation to Mount Rushmore, where Stanley and his brother share an adventure with a young gold miner named Calamity Jasper. Stanley's unique abilities allow him to shine as a hero, causing some friction with Arthur, but in the end, they work together to save the day. Readers will find authenticity and humor in the siblings' rivalry, and Calamity Jasper, with her over-the-top Western dialogue, is a perfect slapstick foil to the boys. As an added bonus, interesting historical and geographical information is included in the story and related facts are appended. Though the modernized, cartoon pencil sketches are not as delightfully ridiculous as the artwork in the original series, they integrate well with the plot. Educational and fun, this action-filled tale makes a great choice for early-chapter-book collections; it will surely cause a resurgence of interest in the original series, as well as a desire to read the subsequent installations in the reboot.—Nicole Waskie, Chenango Forks Elementary, Binghamton, NY

Kirkus Reviews

Flat Stanley is back and better than ever. Pennypacker's revival of this perennially popular character should engender great enthusiasm and may even create new fans for this old favorite. Broad humor, actionpacked adventure and a tinge of sibling rivalry combine to create a brisk tale that will ably entertain young readers. A most felicitous use of language mimics (and ohsogently mocks) the ingenuous, geewhiz tone of the original. The plot, naturally, is paperthin but full of incidents that allow Stanley to use his unusual qualities to save the day. In this series starter, Stanley and his family visit Mount Rushmore, where he prevents a rockslide and rescues his brother and a new friend from a cavein. His adventures continue in The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery (9780061429934; paper 9780061429927). The series focus on geography is an appealing nod to the oftassigned school project that asks children to mail their own versions of Stanley to faroff friends. Although Pamintuan's final illustrations were not seen, the sample sketches match the playful tone of the text. (Fiction. 79)

Product Details