Thursday, April 5, 2012

Flat Stanley


Titles: Flat Stanley, Stanley and the Magic Lamp, Invisible Stanley, Stanley's Christmas Adventure, Stanley in Space, Stanley Flat Again plus 10 Flat Stanley's World Wide Adventures (Mount Rushmore, Egypt, Japan, etc.)

Author: Jeff Brown

Rating: * (1 star out of 3 possible, "C")
Recommended with Reservations

Audience: ages 7 and up

Here is a beginning chapter book series appropriate for confident young readers. It receives one star not because of any reservations in particular, but because it is pretty basic storytelling.

Most 1st and 2nd grade readers will be thrilled with the adventures of Stanley Lambchop and his family as they sort out unusual dilemmas regular people can only dream of. Adults will find the series impossibly repetitive, but it is harmless fun for kids. Stanley and the Magic Lamp mentions spell-casting in passing in the prologue, but the main plot is a safe rehashing of magic lamp myths.

This series is certainly an acceptable option for kids who are ready for short chapter books although it offers no additional, unexpected artistic or literary advantages. A word that might be used to describe it is, in fact, "flat."

No comments:

Post a Comment