Flying Chinese Wonder
By Josh Greenhut (created by Jeff Brown)
Illustrated by Mackey Pamintuan
Stanley Lambchop has many more adventures now that he is flat. A bulletin board fell on him one night while he was asleep and it seems that flattened is now his normal self. People don’t take him seriously which is how he becomes back stage help rather than being in the play. Unfortunately he causes an accident for one of the performers, one of the twins who do a tumbling act called the Flying Chinese Wonders. Stanley feels even worse when he learns that the twins won’t be able to do their biggest performance of their careers at the Chinese New Year show. The twins, Yin and Yang, insist that Stanley take Yin’s place. He sees all the wonders of China and learns important Chinese philosophy. In the end, it takes all three of them to perform the act.
Cooperation saves the day in this formulaic story. Flat Stanley is a part of many second grade geography projects in which a flat Stanley travels with family members. These “easy” chapter books take another step and have a story to go along with Stanley’s fantastic adventures all the while showing another culture.
This book tests out at a much higher grade level earmarking this as a read aloud or a book that a second-grader will need help reading. Details of China are woven into the story making this a wonderful accompaniment to a unit on China. Students can compile a reading list of aspects about Chinese culture. Other titles in the series focus on other places in the world if this fits the second-grade curriculum better.
Traveling for vacation this summer? Take along several Flat Stanley stories:
TITLE: Flying Chinese Wonders. (Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures)- AUTHOR: Josh Greenhut (created by Jeff Brown)
- ILLUSTRATOR: Mackey Pamintuan
- PUBLISHER: 2011, HarperCollins, 82 pages, fantasy
- REVIEWER: Risa Brown
- ISBN: 978-0-06-143003-9
