Can you imagine explaining to someone that you mailed your child? Normal Person: "where's your kid?" Lambchops: "Oh we mailed him." NP: "Oh, like... like on a train? Ive heard of parents sending their kids as mail when they couldn't afford a train ticket but I thought that had been illegal for decades." Ls: "Oh... didn't even know about the train thing. No we just put him in an envelope" NP: "what?" Ls: "Yeah, it was easy, he's flat now." NP: "WHAT?!?" Ls: "Don't freak out, we gave him a sandwich."
It's not actually as horrifying as it sounds. The kids would ride the train like passengers, but as long as they were under the weight limit for packages the parents only paid what they would for a package
I used to sleep with a bulletin board above my bed, and the moment I read this book, I instantly sent it across the room so it was above my dresser instead.
Gosh, the extremely nonchalant reactions of everyone in Stanley's life (including himself) to him being flattened and somehow surviving is so funny. I know it's a children's book and all, but I'm almost tempted to write a reconstruction where everyone has realistic reactions to the event - Mrs. Lambchop divided on whether to embrace her rattled, recently flattened son, or to vomit is one scene that I keep tossing around in my mind.
The original author of Flat Stanley was originally writing a horror novel, but accidentally put his book in the Children's Series publication section, and, well, the rest is history!
I remember feeling really bad for Arthur every time we read these books in elementary school. Stanley got to go on tons of cool adventures and do so many amazing things, and Arthur was always left out. Nothing cool ever happened to him.
We had a project about this book in 3rd grade! We mate flat versions of ourselves for family to spend time with and take pictures of our life as a flat person. I sent mine to my uncle in Florida who ended up on tour with his band in Europe! So I had Disney and Belgium pics! Needless to say, I had the coolest project in the class! I didn't know it was a whole project around the nation.
@@morgancrabtree6248It’s a short story (which was adapted into a TV special) where the Gruffalo attempted to eat the small mouse before the small mouse scared the Gruffalo by casting his shadow, making sure that the Gruffalo thinks that the mouse’s shadow is the big mouse. It’s sequel, the Gruffalo’s Child (which also got adapted as a TV special), involves the daughter of the Gruffalo attempting to scare the big mouse (aka the mouse’s shadow) before the mouse used his shadow to scare her away.
I sent my flat stanley to my aunt who lived in Japan at the time. She sent me a whole box of Japanese snacks and stuff that I could share with my class; and a whole book full of pictures of stanley visting places around Japan. Needless to say, I was the coolest kid in 3rd grade for a minute. I still have a binder with my flat stanely in it and the pictures and letters my aunt wrote. You're the best, love you Auntie Amanda 🥰
Flat Stanley (the books not the character) was so freaky to me. A boy gets crushed, permanently changed, and his parents have to deal with their kid being disabled. All while his brother’s jealousy nearly gets him killed
I was going to joke about how not even flat stanley could escape being milked into oblivion, but thats actually true like none of these books have anything to do with flatness.
If you ever get the time, could you also cover ‘A Bad Case of Stripes’. It was one of my favorite books growing as a kid as it’s basically eldritch horror but for kids 😂
This series was terrifying- I have a CORE MEMORY of the book where Stanley disguised himself into a painting just to catch a criminal 😭😭 Also the time he went abroad and the dad of his friend from another country was so obsessed with him that he tried to flatten his daughter 😭
“Why were his parents okay with this?” If you think this is bad, please remember the way parents in KND tend to react to their kids being operatives and specifically Nigel’s parents literally letting him go to s p a c e for-presumably-ever in the last episode-
I never did that, but if my class had I could totally see myslef having that problem. Not all kids go on cool vacations during break, I can only imagine the amount of kids who didn't have "fun" places to bring their Stanley. Still a cute concept tho, it'd be fun to set him up around the house :)
@@Abu_ATCthat’s a big part of the reason I hated holiday writing in primary school. I always just stayed home over the holidays so I never had anything to write about. So glad I never had a task like this.
i ended up sending mine to my grandma's house, mind you she only lived about an hour away from where my family and i lived at the time lol. my project ended up being really boring, meanwhile one of my classmates had sent theirs all the way to paris to their aunt and uncle.
When I was in second grade, I sent my little paper Flat Stanley to my great-grandmother’s ancient brother Stanley. My twin sister got all kinds of cool souvenirs, cards, etc. from our great-aunt who lived at the beach in South Carolina, but Stanley waited like two months and then sent me a PRINTED email to no one that said he didn’t have internet or something😂 he had no clue what the project was and I could tell my teacher felt bad because I was the last kid to get mine back and had been so excited.
Sometime between first and third grade, my class read Flat Stanley. After reading the book, we had to draw ourselves and cut them out, and then we mailed them to distant relatives. Mine was mailed to my mom's family in Germany (I think it was sent to my great-aunt and great-uncle). Because it was over twenty years ago, I don't remember if they ever sent a response. I do remember that I drew myself wearing my favorite red dress.
When I was a kid, we had a school project in 2nd grade where everyone colored their own Flat Stanley and we had to take him/ send him to someone across the world. He would come back with pictures and stuff from his 'journey' I sent my Flat Stanley to my Uncle Rick, and he just never sent him back... Yeah... I'm 19 now... Edit: 8:55 This. This is literally what we did.
18:31 Why couldn't they replace the "except"s with "even"s? For example : "Our child is flat, even his hands, even his toes". That just makes more sense and it's such a simple fix.
I remember doing the flat Stanley project. We drew our own Stanley's and sent them with homemade "passports" to friends and family around the world. Everyone got to present our Stanley's adventures, with photos and diary entries written by the recivers of Stanley.
You know what’s funny, in your Elena of Avalor video you made a few days ago, I saw this book in the back of your room and I was here thinking that Athena has a good taste in books, but not only that she’s NOW MAKING A VIDEO ABOUT IT! I knew it was a good idea to subscribe to you!
The Flat Stanley Project was the bane of first grade me’s existence. During spring break, we had to take the cutout on vacation and take pictures. I found it incredibly embarrassing and it made that vacation unenjoyable. I was watching this video with my mom, and when you got to this part of the video, we simultaneously groaned.
There was supposed to be a film adaptation of the original book, and I'm both disappointed and glad it never ended up happening because that sounds kind of scary lol
This book made me scared of ever sleeping with anything hanging above me again, I swear most of these people that wrote these books like a bad case of stripes and chocolate fever had some sort of weird fetish that should be examined very closely. Who knows what these weirdos might come up with next, nothing but pure nightmare fuel.
i adored bad case of the stripes! honestly as a kid i was just kinda into creepy/scary things so bad case of the stripes was the perfect baby level body horror for me i also think seeing someone make a weird/freaky thing and immediately jumping to "its a fetish" is on the same level of assuming that people who made weird things were high when they made them. in that its a really narrow way of viewing art and writing. sometimes people are just creative
Anybody else remember Stanley being crushed by a TV? I had an extrinsic fear of being crushed by my flat screen TV if I slept on the couch. I even remember "measuring" to see if the TV could fall on me if I slept there. The fear would crop up every time I saw that book in the library. It was awful!
omg I used to read these books all the time and was terrified that his backstory could actually happen so I (tried to) refuse to sleep unless until my parents proved that it couldn't. 😭 Also on a separate note, have you thought about reviewing "Sid the Science Kid" I think it could be funny because genuinely I don't remember anything except for that the way they moved was....really realistic but still cartoony?
i remember loving this book series when i was in 1st grade (by that i mean the revamped series) just re read it a few months ago, and i thought the plot was horrifying. I am never sleeping under a bulletin board again-
While I do agree for some situations, (and this is personal opinion and bias) I think matpat is more likely to FORCE- sorry, ‘theorize’ genuinely wholesome stories to be evil blood thirsty murder stories, while Athena breaks down the facts the story gives us and shines a little light on the weirder creepier parts of the story that our suspended disbelief hides from us /nm
@@mj-sw2nhevery approach is different but matpat does hours of research so he’s not making anything up he just thinks differently Everyone’s approach is unique
@@mj-sw2nhviews are views and if he’s not doing anything wrong who rly cares, it’s just a theory not him going “THIS THING HAPPENED” it’s more like “maybe this happened and here’s why”
I had the Flat Stanley project in third grade, we sent him to my moms friend who lives in California. We got a picture of him in front of the Hollywood sign which was pretty neat! Overall better location than some of the other kids in my class
I played flat Stanley in a Christmas play in my early school years. I wore a piece of paper draped over my body as a costume and I got paper cuts on my neck so that was fun
Flat Stanley was my favorite book series when I was a kid. I remember when I was in the 4th grade we had an assignment where we had to make a character cut out of a book we read. Obviously I did Stanley. But I never realize how dark & scary this book series actually was, and how irresponsible Stanley's parents actually were. Never the less great vid & grest song. 👍
You know, they adapted this into a musical, and I was in a production of it. The thing was that he wished to be able to travel the world. And then the bulletin board comes to life and sings to him, and then crushes him. I played the bulletin board, and I played the painting of Napoleon in the museum.
Invisible Stanley is actually my favorite invisibility lore ever, but I forgot about that while writing this comment and instead wrote an entire breakdown of the invisibility mechanics in the book series "Invisible Inc." by Elizabeth Levy. The thing that always really bothered me about "Invisible Inc." was how Chip's invisibility worked. I get that it's just a childrens book and it was way too lighthearted to deal with the phycological ramifications of no one even being able to see any part of this kid, but even as a little boy I found it really weird that his teachers let him bring his invisible clothes to school for hide and seek (serious safety issue!) and that he got naked so often, and I was always really REALLY concerned about when in the digestive system his food turned invisible, and when his poop became visible again. Flat Stanley handles this perfectly. Everything directly touching him and up to a few inches around him is fully gone. There is some weirdness, like the ground beneath his feet still being there, so you don't have to worry about when his food counts as part of his body and he doesn't have to take off his clothes to go fully unseen. I mean, Invisible Inc. lore is that only things that made physical contact with the invisibility water, such as Chip's skin, one set of clothes, and most of his dog, are invisible. That implies that his internal organs are VISIBLE, and the only reason you can't see them is because they're being shielded by his handwaved invisible skin. So if this is true, and his organs can't be seen because they're inside his invisible skin, WHY CAN WE SEE FOOD GO DOWN HIS THROAT? That being said, I loved how Invisible Inc. included a disabled character as a main hero of the story. I was just a very anxious little kid who loved to overthink.
this vid is so fresh?? also one time on a road trip my mom was reading this to my siblings and i and my sister got so scared when he became flat she threw up
In diary of a wimpy kid the long haul(the book not the awful movie) Greg mentions flat Stanley and how Greg developed a fear of getting crushed by a bulletin board
@@FreakyWingedAngel A drunk driver drove into our ditch while I was asleep, it woke my Dad up, and he looked out on the security cameras and saw the dude getting in and out of his car, trying to get it out of the ditch while it was on fire, and it exploded, I was still asleep. I guess my brain thought it was thunder. The dude was okay, at least I think he was, he ran off before the cops and fire department could get there. My dad did wake me up telling me that some guy's car was on fire and I just gave him the sour look like, "Really? at this time of the night?" XD it didn't help that our security camera caught him screaming this very Windhelm like scream lol.
@@FreakyWingedAngel not the only crazy thing to happen there where I lived. The store that we lived next to had a habit of getting broken into by the same guy, because the cops are incompetent in that area. My dad prevented a robbery at that store because the dude was literally trying to hammer his way in through the concrete on the opposite side of the building.. the dude was literally trying to break in. There was also a limousine that broke down and also caught fire and stayed like that for like 2 hours.. the fire department was just spraying a constant stream of water on it, it just kept reigniting like a trick candle. The old house I also lived in was also for lack of a better word haunted, but I don't really like talking about those stories.
I'm so glad you brought up the Flat Stanley Project! I have such fond memories of doing that as a kid, and I actually still have the paper Stanley and Stella I made! They're pinned to a bulletin board in my room currently because I like irony.
I remember being TERRIFIED of these books as a kid. Seeing him get crushed as a kid was WILD. We read "The Rushmore Calamity" if I remember correctly he was dared by his brother to stand on the edge of one of the heads and when Stanley did it, knowing it was dangerous, he got (almost?) carried away. I don't remember exactly if he actually got carried away or if he got pulled back, my memory is terrible. I also recall participating in The Flat Stanley Project. I'm not sure if the family friend ever got my letter, but I'm kind of glad I wasn't reminded of any of that. It genuinely scared me as a kid. It's the children's media equivalent of being scared of quicksand.
Does anyone remember Pie by Sarah Weeks? It’s about a girl named Alice whose Aunt Polly passes away and left behind pie recipes. My fifth grade teacher read it to us and idk if it was just my school or other schools. If it was popular enough, maybe Athena could do a vid on it? Wouldn’t be surprised if it was just my school though 😅
when i was a kid, flat stanley scared me so goddamn much i used to sleep with all of my plushies on me so they could protect me in case i got flattened by a painting or literally anything that could fall in my room
Here's an interesting story: one of my first ever stories I ever made up when I was a kid was basically an OC crossover with Stanley and Arthur. Basically, this girl goes to her friends all like "I started reading the Flat Stanley books but pictures of some of the characters are missing! D:" and then two new kids pull up to their school, very obviously Stanley and Arthur. The girl kinda recognizes the two but doesn't ask them incase she's just imagining things and ends up inviting her friends, Stanley and Arthur to a sleepover. All I remember next is that the last part I wrote was the kids getting traumatized because Stanley rolled and bumped into the bulletin board on the girl's wall in his sleep and that's how the kids realized that's why the girl's books were messed up 😭
In The Flying Chinese Wonders, Stanley slips through the bars at the Zoo and gets too close to a panda cub and the panda mother slashes at him. In fact she slashes STRAIGHT THROUGH HIM and I believe the narration describes it from Stanley's POV as a sudden searing pain across his whole chest and through to his back. And he spends like 2 chapters not wanting to do any adventures anymore because he was nearly mauled to death by a bear and his friends are like "come on man stop being such a wet blanket we have a circus show to put on" and they fix him up with scotch tape
When I was in second grade my teacher read us the book and then after that she had us make our own Flat Stanley so we can do that project as it was a few weeks before Spring break and some of us would be going on vacation by then. My mom and I went to go visit family during that time and we took a lot of pictures and had to write in a journal about what we did. When we went back to school we shared those pictures and journal entries. It was probably the best homework assignment we were given that Spring Break.
I did the flat Stanley project and had to do it like 4 times cause once he got lost in the mail, once we didn't know my cousin eloped and it was sent to her old address, and then the next try the person who got him got sick, so my mom convinced my teacher to let me do it myself when I went to Vegas
5:19 🤔Isn't that one of the plots from the movie Stewart Little 2 (Mom thinks she lost her ring & Stewart tries to find it)? Anyways, very happy Athena covered the Flat Stanley book series! I always thought that series was illogical and very strange! Loved to hear Athena's comments & her song over Flat Stanley lore!
I remember Stanley: Flat Again only vaguely, because Stanley brought the bully food when he was saving her and she got mad cause she didn't like grape juice, and I was SO offended as a child because I thought grape juice was delicious. Anyway, great video! Was a lot of fun remembering this series
This is the oddest take on the gingerbread man I’ve ever seen. I knew about the flat Stanley school projects but didn’t know it was an actual book series
you should consider covering coraline, the book. it was honestly one of my favorite horror books as a kid. even now i find that book creepy as hell. its great!
Bro I used to have a flat Stanley book and it was a Christmas book where they helped Santa I think (I don’t have it anymore but this video made me remember)
I loveeeeee flat Stanley When we read it in school we had a project to send our flat Stanley on his own adventure. Well my gma took him to China and had him exploring highschools and meeting students along with meeting some people working in offices. It was the coolest thing ever as a kid and always made me love reading
Considering the stories my Boomer parents have told me about dangerous shit they did as kids (e.g. playing with mercury from a broken thermometer), Stanley's parents' under-reactions track. They lived through the Great Depression and one World War. Mr. Lambchop will probably be in 'Nam in a couple of years. What do they care if one of their children becomes half flounder and imprisoned by aliens 😂. Maybe if Stanley had become a communist...
There was also a Christmas book made in the Flat Stanley series and it was very interesting. On an unrelated note, would you still consider reviewing the Junie B. Jones series?
the song at the end absolutely incrediable , unbelievible insprational OMG I CANT EVEN TYPE THE LYRICAL GENIUS IS SO GOOD IT FUCKED WITH THE COSMOS AND INTERCEPTED MY BRAIN WAVES CAUSING ME TO LOSE MINOR CONTROL incredibla get athena signed immediately that voice that poise that revenlutionary brain INCREDIABLE ,INSANE WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS
Great outro song, better than Flat, Invisible, Stabbed, Dead, Sad, Flat again, Skewered Stanley deserves. Love the content, I have some ideas for books and shows to cover I think you would enjoy. First, the book: Hank the Cowdog. It's a classic. It's a dog. His name his Hank. What's not to love? Show idea: Pound Puppies. Mostly the newer animated series but the original could be fun too. I'm in a dog loving mood right now. Maybe cover Air Bud and the Buddies lore too. All the dogs, forever.
Can you imagine explaining to someone that you mailed your child?
Normal Person: "where's your kid?"
Lambchops: "Oh we mailed him."
NP: "Oh, like... like on a train? Ive heard of parents sending their kids as mail when they couldn't afford a train ticket but I thought that had been illegal for decades."
Ls: "Oh... didn't even know about the train thing. No we just put him in an envelope"
NP: "what?"
Ls: "Yeah, it was easy, he's flat now."
NP: "WHAT?!?"
Ls: "Don't freak out, we gave him a sandwich."
Apparently, in real life, at some point mailing children wasn’t illegal
The “Don’t freak out, we gave him a sandwich” got me, lol
@@MV96_a Lot of horrifying things have, at one point, not been illegal. As they Say: sometimes reality surpasses fiction.
@@MV96_ It was one of those things where it wasn't illegal because nobody thought it had to be until people started doing it
It's not actually as horrifying as it sounds. The kids would ride the train like passengers, but as long as they were under the weight limit for packages the parents only paid what they would for a package
Stanley got the sleeping style of a dead body with how he was still asleep after being crushed 💀
And not even being upset about being crushed, but rather woken up by his brother
Stanley's parents suck at protecting their children
His Skeleton got pulverized🙃
Isn't there the Possibility to be so shocked that you at first don't even feel any Pain?
@@Firestar-TV how
@@jacindajohnson6786 how else would he be flat?
His Bones must be completely destroyed from the Accident
I used to sleep with a bulletin board above my bed, and the moment I read this book, I instantly sent it across the room so it was above my dresser instead.
I like to imagine you have magic powers and you used them to fling the bulletin board to the other side of the room then going to bed
Tbh as a kid I thought being flat like stanley would've been cool
@@freshcupofangstthe book was about how great being flat was but the only reason Stanley didn't like it anymore because society bullied him.
It was for the best
Dead Stanley implies that’s Skewered Stanley and Stabbed Stanley are still alive and suffering
Gosh, the extremely nonchalant reactions of everyone in Stanley's life (including himself) to him being flattened and somehow surviving is so funny. I know it's a children's book and all, but I'm almost tempted to write a reconstruction where everyone has realistic reactions to the event - Mrs. Lambchop divided on whether to embrace her rattled, recently flattened son, or to vomit is one scene that I keep tossing around in my mind.
id read that
I'd love to read your flat stanley fanfic/retelling tbh
Me too
If you do it send the link!
dude tell me if u write this this is sick
The original author of Flat Stanley was originally writing a horror novel, but accidentally put his book in the Children's Series publication section, and, well, the rest is history!
For a second I deadass thought this was a legitimate fun fact lmao
I would honestly not be surprised if this was actually true
Lmfao
Are you sure that’s true??? 🙄
@@darthestar8791 ik it's not, I said that IF it was I wouldn't be surprised
I remember feeling really bad for Arthur every time we read these books in elementary school. Stanley got to go on tons of cool adventures and do so many amazing things, and Arthur was always left out. Nothing cool ever happened to him.
I remember relating to arthur hardcore as someone with an overachieving sibling.
And Geronimo Stilton got to do the most out of ALL those guys XD
I read this in second grade and sent the paper version to my relatives in New Zealand, NEVER FREAKING HEARD FROM THEM AGAIN AFTER THAT
Stanley was busy
OMG I can't believe they took him prisoner like the aliens did.
Stanley killed your relatives, dude.
@@PalisadePeryton Such a shame he never took a selfie with the bodies
Until Athena uploaded this video, I hadn't thought about these books in YEARS.
The lack of concern from the parents makes a little sense when you consider he's basically invincible. He serviced being flattened multiple times!
and the reason there’s so many versions is that they’re actually a different species
@@wornouthoodie the fact that apparently flattened is a biological function of theirs also supports that
@@jaidenfrench6744 yess!!
We had a project about this book in 3rd grade! We mate flat versions of ourselves for family to spend time with and take pictures of our life as a flat person. I sent mine to my uncle in Florida who ended up on tour with his band in Europe! So I had Disney and Belgium pics! Needless to say, I had the coolest project in the class! I didn't know it was a whole project around the nation.
Same!
I was looking for someone to mention this project :D
I remember I had to do it twice, once in kindergarten I believe, and then in 3rd grade Lol
I had to do it in 2nd grade but nothing really happened to flat me since we were too poor to travel
I also remember doing this kind of project. :D
I did a similar project in elementary school!
Flat Stanley absolutely scared the crap out of me. And whenever I read it, I cried, ran off, and read The Gruffalo
I Found it TERRIFYING
FINALLY, I THOUGHT I WAS ALONE
What's The Gruffalo?
@@morgancrabtree6248It’s a short story (which was adapted into a TV special) where the Gruffalo attempted to eat the small mouse before the small mouse scared the Gruffalo by casting his shadow, making sure that the Gruffalo thinks that the mouse’s shadow is the big mouse. It’s sequel, the Gruffalo’s Child (which also got adapted as a TV special), involves the daughter of the Gruffalo attempting to scare the big mouse (aka the mouse’s shadow) before the mouse used his shadow to scare her away.
samee
also love The Gruffalo, is it a thing outside the UK?
I sent my flat stanley to my aunt who lived in Japan at the time. She sent me a whole box of Japanese snacks and stuff that I could share with my class; and a whole book full of pictures of stanley visting places around Japan. Needless to say, I was the coolest kid in 3rd grade for a minute. I still have a binder with my flat stanely in it and the pictures and letters my aunt wrote. You're the best, love you Auntie Amanda 🥰
Flat Stanley (the books not the character) was so freaky to me. A boy gets crushed, permanently changed, and his parents have to deal with their kid being disabled. All while his brother’s jealousy nearly gets him killed
I was going to joke about how not even flat stanley could escape being milked into oblivion, but thats actually true like none of these books have anything to do with flatness.
If you ever get the time, could you also cover ‘A Bad Case of Stripes’. It was one of my favorite books growing as a kid as it’s basically eldritch horror but for kids 😂
THAT BOOK SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME, ITS LITERAL BODY HORROR PLUS THE REALISTIC ARTSTYLE 😭
I remember reading that book once, it was neat.
I read it in elementary school, but in high school I was getting into psychedelic rock, so it REALLY piqued my interest then.
I second this! That book weirded me the Frick out, but it was also strangely fascinating. The illustrations definitely added to this.
That book scared me so much as a kid! I picked it up once, years later, and wished I'd listened to the lesson tho XD
Athena said we’re only scratching the surface like there’s any deeper we can go with flat Stanley 😭 he’s only a surface
This series was terrifying- I have a CORE MEMORY of the book where Stanley disguised himself into a painting just to catch a criminal 😭😭 Also the time he went abroad and the dad of his friend from another country was so obsessed with him that he tried to flatten his daughter 😭
BRO ME TOO! As soon as she talked about the painting I instantly pictured it in my head.
@@dragon_playz2002Me three.
The mom takes "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" seriously.
Yep, even the end of the world won’t make the mom skip breakfast.
“Why were his parents okay with this?”
If you think this is bad, please remember the way parents in KND tend to react to their kids being operatives and specifically Nigel’s parents literally letting him go to s p a c e for-presumably-ever in the last episode-
Ooh, that’s crazy.
did anyone else hate the assignment where you had to send Stanley somewhere because i kinda did because i had no where to send mine.
I never did that, but if my class had I could totally see myslef having that problem. Not all kids go on cool vacations during break, I can only imagine the amount of kids who didn't have "fun" places to bring their Stanley. Still a cute concept tho, it'd be fun to set him up around the house :)
@@Abu_ATCthat’s a big part of the reason I hated holiday writing in primary school. I always just stayed home over the holidays so I never had anything to write about. So glad I never had a task like this.
@SorowFame omg same!! I remmeber in the 6th writing my narrative abt me and my mom going to the 71 😭
i ended up sending mine to my grandma's house, mind you she only lived about an hour away from where my family and i lived at the time lol. my project ended up being really boring, meanwhile one of my classmates had sent theirs all the way to paris to their aunt and uncle.
When I was in second grade, I sent my little paper Flat Stanley to my great-grandmother’s ancient brother Stanley. My twin sister got all kinds of cool souvenirs, cards, etc. from our great-aunt who lived at the beach in South Carolina, but Stanley waited like two months and then sent me a PRINTED email to no one that said he didn’t have internet or something😂 he had no clue what the project was and I could tell my teacher felt bad because I was the last kid to get mine back and had been so excited.
Sometime between first and third grade, my class read Flat Stanley. After reading the book, we had to draw ourselves and cut them out, and then we mailed them to distant relatives. Mine was mailed to my mom's family in Germany (I think it was sent to my great-aunt and great-uncle). Because it was over twenty years ago, I don't remember if they ever sent a response. I do remember that I drew myself wearing my favorite red dress.
When I was a kid, we had a school project in 2nd grade where everyone colored their own Flat Stanley and we had to take him/ send him to someone across the world. He would come back with pictures and stuff from his 'journey'
I sent my Flat Stanley to my Uncle Rick, and he just never sent him back... Yeah... I'm 19 now...
Edit: 8:55 This. This is literally what we did.
18:31 Why couldn't they replace the "except"s with "even"s? For example : "Our child is flat, even his hands, even his toes". That just makes more sense and it's such a simple fix.
I remember doing the flat Stanley project. We drew our own Stanley's and sent them with homemade "passports" to friends and family around the world. Everyone got to present our Stanley's adventures, with photos and diary entries written by the recivers of Stanley.
Omg I remember doing that in kindergarten!!!
Flat Stanley is baby’s first body horror. Scared the shit out of me as a kid.
A bad case of stripes too
@@Shadows_emerald That book makes my skin crawl.
@@SodaCider641 me too
I remember him being crushed by a book shelf, which is considerably more brutal than a bulletin board
Oh my god, Flat Stanley brings up memories of elementary school I didn’t realize I had
I have such a vauge memory of this book 😭
It’s ok to enjoy the nostalgic stuff doesn’t mean we can’t respect the newer stuff imo because every era has its own charm 😊
You know what’s funny, in your Elena of Avalor video you made a few days ago, I saw this book in the back of your room and I was here thinking that Athena has a good taste in books, but not only that she’s NOW MAKING A VIDEO ABOUT IT! I knew it was a good idea to subscribe to you!
"We just got a letter, I wonder who it's from?"
"That's not a letter, that's a threat!"
I am once again begging for Athena to review Wild Kratts cause it’s so good
Ah yes, the book series that traumatized me so bad I refused to hang anything over my bed for several years.
The Flat Stanley Project was the bane of first grade me’s existence. During spring break, we had to take the cutout on vacation and take pictures. I found it incredibly embarrassing and it made that vacation unenjoyable. I was watching this video with my mom, and when you got to this part of the video, we simultaneously groaned.
A nostalgic book series you should consider is Junie B. Jones! I loved the original preschool run as a kid.
What a bop yet again!
With the invisible story, they are glad I didn't have that "power", would be misusing lol
There was supposed to be a film adaptation of the original book, and I'm both disappointed and glad it never ended up happening because that sounds kind of scary lol
Flat Stanley is one of my reoccurring intrusive thoughts. I’ll just be sitting there thinking “Flat Stanley Flat Stanley”
The only thing I remember about these books is thinking how easy it would be to kidnap Stanley.
This book made me scared of ever sleeping with anything hanging above me again, I swear most of these people that wrote these books like a bad case of stripes and chocolate fever had some sort of weird fetish that should be examined very closely.
Who knows what these weirdos might come up with next, nothing but pure nightmare fuel.
Bad case of stripes legit ruined me
@@Twat_Dirtloved that book😂
Omg, fellow Beatles cartoon avatar commenter!!!!!
Do the English have a word for this situation?
i adored bad case of the stripes! honestly as a kid i was just kinda into creepy/scary things so bad case of the stripes was the perfect baby level body horror for me
i also think seeing someone make a weird/freaky thing and immediately jumping to "its a fetish" is on the same level of assuming that people who made weird things were high when they made them. in that its a really narrow way of viewing art and writing. sometimes people are just creative
@@Twat_DirtOh my gosh, that book gave me NIGHTMARES.
This book made me sleep underneath a giant painting in hopes it would fall and i would be flat too
Anybody else remember Stanley being crushed by a TV? I had an extrinsic fear of being crushed by my flat screen TV if I slept on the couch. I even remember "measuring" to see if the TV could fall on me if I slept there. The fear would crop up every time I saw that book in the library. It was awful!
I forgot about that book's existence. I remember reading it back in elementary school.
omg I used to read these books all the time and was terrified that his backstory could actually happen so I (tried to) refuse to sleep unless until my parents proved that it couldn't. 😭 Also on a separate note, have you thought about reviewing "Sid the Science Kid" I think it could be funny because genuinely I don't remember anything except for that the way they moved was....really realistic but still cartoony?
Sid went into the backrooms and died
@@headphonesaxolotlwell, more like had his worldview shattered and then his mind wiped
This story made me terrified of bulletin boards for years
i remember loving this book series when i was in 1st grade (by that i mean the revamped series)
just re read it a few months ago, and i thought the plot was horrifying.
I am never sleeping under a bulletin board again-
I remember getting one of the books in a McDonald’s happy meal- 😭😭
What do Athena and matpat have in common
They take wholesome stories in dark directions lol 😅
While I do agree for some situations, (and this is personal opinion and bias) I think matpat is more likely to FORCE- sorry, ‘theorize’ genuinely wholesome stories to be evil blood thirsty murder stories, while Athena breaks down the facts the story gives us and shines a little light on the weirder creepier parts of the story that our suspended disbelief hides from us /nm
The bias is certainly powerful in this comment oh man
@@mj-sw2nhevery approach is different but matpat does hours of research so he’s not making anything up he just thinks differently
Everyone’s approach is unique
I wanna see her do a video on the lore of "LazyTown"...
@@mj-sw2nhviews are views and if he’s not doing anything wrong who rly cares, it’s just a theory not him going “THIS THING HAPPENED” it’s more like “maybe this happened and here’s why”
I had the Flat Stanley project in third grade, we sent him to my moms friend who lives in California. We got a picture of him in front of the Hollywood sign which was pretty neat! Overall better location than some of the other kids in my class
First day of grade 12 at lunch we had a very long discussion on the anatomy of Flat Stanley and how he works
Coma theory was one of them
I love discovering a franchise I’ve never heard of and finding it’s this massive thing I had no idea about for years.
I played flat Stanley in a Christmas play in my early school years. I wore a piece of paper draped over my body as a costume and I got paper cuts on my neck so that was fun
I remember as a kid my parents and I went to see a Flat Stanley musical.
I never saw it......
Flat Stanley was my favorite book series when I was a kid. I remember when I was in the 4th grade we had an assignment where we had to make a character cut out of a book we read. Obviously I did Stanley. But I never realize how dark & scary this book series actually was, and how irresponsible Stanley's parents actually were.
Never the less great vid & grest song. 👍
I’ve read the first and sixth Flat Stanley books back in second grade, so it’s nice for you to post a video about Flat Stanley.
Didn't know that there was misinformation about gravity in there. Gravity exists in space... if it didn't we wouldn't have orbits
You know, they adapted this into a musical, and I was in a production of it. The thing was that he wished to be able to travel the world. And then the bulletin board comes to life and sings to him, and then crushes him. I played the bulletin board, and I played the painting of Napoleon in the museum.
Were you in the jr version?
@@dark_angel_1373 yea, I was lol
Invisible Stanley is actually my favorite invisibility lore ever, but I forgot about that while writing this comment and instead wrote an entire breakdown of the invisibility mechanics in the book series "Invisible Inc." by Elizabeth Levy.
The thing that always really bothered me about "Invisible Inc." was how Chip's invisibility worked. I get that it's just a childrens book and it was way too lighthearted to deal with the phycological ramifications of no one even being able to see any part of this kid, but even as a little boy I found it really weird that his teachers let him bring his invisible clothes to school for hide and seek (serious safety issue!) and that he got naked so often, and I was always really REALLY concerned about when in the digestive system his food turned invisible, and when his poop became visible again.
Flat Stanley handles this perfectly. Everything directly touching him and up to a few inches around him is fully gone. There is some weirdness, like the ground beneath his feet still being there, so you don't have to worry about when his food counts as part of his body and he doesn't have to take off his clothes to go fully unseen.
I mean, Invisible Inc. lore is that only things that made physical contact with the invisibility water, such as Chip's skin, one set of clothes, and most of his dog, are invisible. That implies that his internal organs are VISIBLE, and the only reason you can't see them is because they're being shielded by his handwaved invisible skin. So if this is true, and his organs can't be seen because they're inside his invisible skin, WHY CAN WE SEE FOOD GO DOWN HIS THROAT?
That being said, I loved how Invisible Inc. included a disabled character as a main hero of the story. I was just a very anxious little kid who loved to overthink.
this vid is so fresh?? also one time on a road trip my mom was reading this to my siblings and i and my sister got so scared when he became flat she threw up
the reasonable reaction
another song that absolutely slapped
In diary of a wimpy kid the long haul(the book not the awful movie) Greg mentions flat Stanley and how Greg developed a fear of getting crushed by a bulletin board
Athena: "That is a comically heavy sleeper."
Me: *Who has literally slept through a explosion.* "He he he... yeah...."
STORYTIME?????
@@FreakyWingedAngel A drunk driver drove into our ditch while I was asleep, it woke my Dad up, and he looked out on the security cameras and saw the dude getting in and out of his car, trying to get it out of the ditch while it was on fire, and it exploded, I was still asleep. I guess my brain thought it was thunder. The dude was okay, at least I think he was, he ran off before the cops and fire department could get there. My dad did wake me up telling me that some guy's car was on fire and I just gave him the sour look like, "Really? at this time of the night?" XD it didn't help that our security camera caught him screaming this very Windhelm like scream lol.
@@themysterylady842 That is actually WILD....
@@FreakyWingedAngel not the only crazy thing to happen there where I lived. The store that we lived next to had a habit of getting broken into by the same guy, because the cops are incompetent in that area. My dad prevented a robbery at that store because the dude was literally trying to hammer his way in through the concrete on the opposite side of the building.. the dude was literally trying to break in. There was also a limousine that broke down and also caught fire and stayed like that for like 2 hours.. the fire department was just spraying a constant stream of water on it, it just kept reigniting like a trick candle. The old house I also lived in was also for lack of a better word haunted, but I don't really like talking about those stories.
"Babe wake up, new Athena P video just dropped!"
I'm so glad you brought up the Flat Stanley Project! I have such fond memories of doing that as a kid, and I actually still have the paper Stanley and Stella I made! They're pinned to a bulletin board in my room currently because I like irony.
Stanley would be the best criminal ever. He can just slip under people's doors.
As long as he’s only stealing like… paper and shit lol
@@depressionpie4859 he can unlock the door from the inside to get out
@@Ark_gamer_ oh yeah good point. I was thinking he would just slip under the door to get in and out lmao
It’s always a good day when Athena uploads.
I never read Flat Stanley but this is wild.
where are his organs
I remember being TERRIFIED of these books as a kid. Seeing him get crushed as a kid was WILD. We read "The Rushmore Calamity" if I remember correctly he was dared by his brother to stand on the edge of one of the heads and when Stanley did it, knowing it was dangerous, he got (almost?) carried away. I don't remember exactly if he actually got carried away or if he got pulled back, my memory is terrible. I also recall participating in The Flat Stanley Project. I'm not sure if the family friend ever got my letter, but I'm kind of glad I wasn't reminded of any of that. It genuinely scared me as a kid. It's the children's media equivalent of being scared of quicksand.
I NEED to see you cover dork diaries
Does anyone remember Pie by Sarah Weeks? It’s about a girl named Alice whose Aunt Polly passes away and left behind pie recipes.
My fifth grade teacher read it to us and idk if it was just my school or other schools. If it was popular enough, maybe Athena could do a vid on it? Wouldn’t be surprised if it was just my school though 😅
This story actually haunted me when I was a child omg what a blast from the past
I forgot about "please clap" lol. Thanks for bringing that memory back
when i was a kid, flat stanley scared me so goddamn much
i used to sleep with all of my plushies on me so they could protect me in case i got flattened by a painting or literally anything that could fall in my room
oh my god this is so nostalgic
Here's an interesting story: one of my first ever stories I ever made up when I was a kid was basically an OC crossover with Stanley and Arthur. Basically, this girl goes to her friends all like "I started reading the Flat Stanley books but pictures of some of the characters are missing! D:" and then two new kids pull up to their school, very obviously Stanley and Arthur. The girl kinda recognizes the two but doesn't ask them incase she's just imagining things and ends up inviting her friends, Stanley and Arthur to a sleepover. All I remember next is that the last part I wrote was the kids getting traumatized because Stanley rolled and bumped into the bulletin board on the girl's wall in his sleep and that's how the kids realized that's why the girl's books were messed up 😭
In The Flying Chinese Wonders, Stanley slips through the bars at the Zoo and gets too close to a panda cub and the panda mother slashes at him. In fact she slashes STRAIGHT THROUGH HIM and I believe the narration describes it from Stanley's POV as a sudden searing pain across his whole chest and through to his back. And he spends like 2 chapters not wanting to do any adventures anymore because he was nearly mauled to death by a bear and his friends are like "come on man stop being such a wet blanket we have a circus show to put on" and they fix him up with scotch tape
When I was in second grade my teacher read us the book and then after that she had us make our own Flat Stanley so we can do that project as it was a few weeks before Spring break and some of us would be going on vacation by then. My mom and I went to go visit family during that time and we took a lot of pictures and had to write in a journal about what we did. When we went back to school we shared those pictures and journal entries. It was probably the best homework assignment we were given that Spring Break.
I did the flat Stanley project and had to do it like 4 times cause once he got lost in the mail, once we didn't know my cousin eloped and it was sent to her old address, and then the next try the person who got him got sick, so my mom convinced my teacher to let me do it myself when I went to Vegas
I think you should do a video on danger rangers since that is another pbs show everyone should remember
To this day I still question how Stanley’s bones weren’t crushed by that board
5:19 🤔Isn't that one of the plots from the movie Stewart Little 2 (Mom thinks she lost her ring & Stewart tries to find it)? Anyways, very happy Athena covered the Flat Stanley book series! I always thought that series was illogical and very strange! Loved to hear Athena's comments & her song over Flat Stanley lore!
I remember Stanley: Flat Again only vaguely, because Stanley brought the bully food when he was saving her and she got mad cause she didn't like grape juice, and I was SO offended as a child because I thought grape juice was delicious. Anyway, great video! Was a lot of fun remembering this series
The new flat Stanley looks adorable hot take
This is the oddest take on the gingerbread man I’ve ever seen. I knew about the flat Stanley school projects but didn’t know it was an actual book series
Hell yeah I knew I wasn't the only one who remembered this guy!
Stanley stepped into the broom closet, but there wad nothing there.
you should consider covering coraline, the book. it was honestly one of my favorite horror books as a kid. even now i find that book creepy as hell. its great!
These Books have given me a life long fear of bulletin boards
Can’t wait for the Diary of a Wimpy kid series review!
Bro I used to have a flat Stanley book and it was a Christmas book where they helped Santa I think (I don’t have it anymore but this video made me remember)
In elementary school we read the first book and made flat versions of ourselves to go on adventures that summer.
A teacher took mine to Disney world
I loveeeeee flat Stanley
When we read it in school we had a project to send our flat Stanley on his own adventure. Well my gma took him to China and had him exploring highschools and meeting students along with meeting some people working in offices.
It was the coolest thing ever as a kid and always made me love reading
Fun fact- i actually did flat Stanley the musical when I was young. I was the bulletin board
Considering the stories my Boomer parents have told me about dangerous shit they did as kids (e.g. playing with mercury from a broken thermometer), Stanley's parents' under-reactions track. They lived through the Great Depression and one World War. Mr. Lambchop will probably be in 'Nam in a couple of years. What do they care if one of their children becomes half flounder and imprisoned by aliens 😂. Maybe if Stanley had become a communist...
There was also a Christmas book made in the Flat Stanley series and it was very interesting. On an unrelated note, would you still consider reviewing the Junie B. Jones series?
the way you posted this after a young friend sent me a flat stanley to take pictures with for her theatre production.
the song at the end absolutely incrediable , unbelievible insprational OMG I CANT EVEN TYPE THE LYRICAL GENIUS IS SO GOOD IT FUCKED WITH THE COSMOS AND INTERCEPTED MY BRAIN WAVES CAUSING ME TO LOSE MINOR CONTROL incredibla get athena signed immediately that voice that poise that revenlutionary brain INCREDIABLE ,INSANE WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS
Great outro song, better than Flat, Invisible, Stabbed, Dead, Sad, Flat again, Skewered Stanley deserves. Love the content, I have some ideas for books and shows to cover I think you would enjoy.
First, the book: Hank the Cowdog. It's a classic. It's a dog. His name his Hank. What's not to love?
Show idea: Pound Puppies. Mostly the newer animated series but the original could be fun too. I'm in a dog loving mood right now.
Maybe cover Air Bud and the Buddies lore too. All the dogs, forever.
I was introduced to flat Stanley in the nineties with the steve bjorkman illustrations and I was always fascinated by the concept