The article gives background on Ungerer’s stellar career and notes that Phaidon has acquired all of his books and will begin reissuing them soon. That’s wonderful news. I will look for the books.

Don’t worry, I won’t be getting rid of the paperback! It’s just that it is really thin and hard to see on the shelves; that’s another reason I tend to prefer hardbounds.

Maybe you’ve seen this article about Ungerer and his work: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/arts/design/27kenn.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=books. We’ve got “The Three Robbers” and another one called “Crictor” (about a pet boa constrictor) in our collection.

Have you read any of the many sequels to “Flat Stanley”? I can’t recommend these without having seen them because there’s often a huge drop-off in quality with sequels. Even Louisa May Alcott’s are no match for “Little Women.”

I’ll be here for at least 11 more years and I’m the one who makes decisions about withdrawing children’s books, so don’t worry, the Ungerer is safe. Too bad it’s paperback though.

So there must be an additional abridged edition I didn’t see. This is one of the big challenges of having a library-driven site like mine: I can’t always get all the books I want when I want them, even with generous use of ILLs. I’ve actually been planning to “Flat Stanley” since last fall, but my library never had both on the shelf at the same time until now.

So I always appreciate knowing about other editions. Thanks!

[Your 1993 edition definitely is the full original text -- it's a reprint of the first edition. Don't ever let your library throw it away. The Nash seems to be displacing the Ungerer, wonderful as it is, which is getting harder and harder to find.]

The Flat Stanley project sounds wonderful, and I’m so glad that you explained more about it. I have a link to it buried at the end of the review, but it’s worth listing again http://www.flatstanleyproject.com/. I didn’t say more about the project only because this review was getting a bit long.

Thanks a million for explaining how the project works. What age children do you think would like taking part in the Flat Stanley Project? The average might be about 7-to-8. But I can see children as young as 5 or even 4 enjoying this with a little help from their parents.

Have you ever heard of Flat Stanley Projects? Many schools do this to encourage writing and study geography. Each student makes a Flat Stanley paper doll and mails it to a friend or family member. The recipient documents (with a journal, photos, etc.) the paper doll’s activities and mails it back to the sender. Often the class maps where all the Flat Stanleys have been, and shares the journals and photos.

My first grade nephew in Austin, Texas, sent his Flat Stanley (or Flat Noah, in this case) to me three years ago, when I was living in Seattle. In his accompanying letter, he asked that I take Flat Noah to the zoo. Flat Noah and I had a blast for a week, visiting Woodland Park Zoo, the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, the Ballard Locks, and riding the monorail and ferry. I took lots of pictures with Flat Noah in the foreground, and put those with other souvenirs (brochures, postcards) in a journal with a narrative of our adventures.

My nephew was thrilled. It was rather poignant for me as I’d been living in Seattle for 21 years at that point, but had decided to move home to Texas at the end of the year. It was a great way for me to visit some of my favorite places in Seattle before I left.