Flat Stanley Reports to His Third Grader

by Jennifer A. Howard

Flat Stanley knows the routine script of a routine murder. The fresh breakfast and the unplanned baby, the middle-parted hairstyle and the unsexy sock, the ex-husband and the household hierarchies—all follow Flat Stanley from mail post to mail post. What is it to harm? What is it to hurt? What is it to want a love in which one is safe? Jennifer A. Howard’s Flat Stanley Reports Back to his Third Grader considers the context: does watching every episode of Forensic Files give one the ability to avoid injury

68 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2021

Reviews

[Allison Renner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is so much fun and such a journey. Flat Stanley deals with serious topics like family relationships but is still getting mailed around the world, so there’s a delightful juxtaposition of the well-known character with standard life issues. Towards the end, the stories are a window into the writer’s life, which adds another wonderful layer that demands you think about these stories long after you’re done reading them. I’m already planning on re-reading them to get a bigger picture.