Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and Rob Biddulph
| Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and Rob Biddulph | |
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| Category: Emerging Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: A welcome return to the best-seller lists for this series opener. Who'd've guessed it was fifty?! | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 80 | Date: July 2017 |
| Publisher: Egmont | |
| ISBN: 9781405288101 | |
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Stanley was four feet tall, about a foot wide, and half an inch thick.
Yes, there's proof that this is the original text of this classic children's book – at least it's not been updated to metric. So while the illustrations are new, we get the real deal, with the young Stanley squished one night, to such an extent he can limbo under shut doors, get airmailed to America to visit relatives, become a kite for his younger brother to play with, and more. But then you don't need to update perfection.
To cover those new illustrations, they're fine – they look very modern, and digital, but they accompany the text in a fine way, and while they don't break up every spread they're frequent visitors to the page and are always welcome. And there was never much text to break up anyway – this is a large-print, and quick, read, with just five chapters, meaning it's a suitable little achievement for the suitable little reader.
The sense of humour has certainly carried through across the years from the mid-60s when this book and its hero were invented. I don't know whether I ever read it as a youngster or not, for I recognised father's line about hay being for horses, not people. You get an almost whimsical nostalgia for a correct, earlier age, instead of out-dated and forced-upon-you morals, though, which helps these stories go down in 2017.
But you also get the gentle sense of absurdity as well, which must be why these books are so well-loved, and why the new editions of this and other titles in the series will surely be hits all over again. I found the Lambchop family, on this evidence, to be well worth spending time with.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy. We have a review of another book about Flat Stanley.
Odd Dog Out by Rob Biddulph is where our illustrator here does his day job.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and Rob Biddulph at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and Rob Biddulph at Amazon.com.
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