Read all of Stanley Lambchop’s adventures
by Jeff Brown
Flat Stanley
Stanley and the Magic Lamp
Invisible Stanley
Stanley in Space
Stanley’s Christmas Adventure
Stanley, Flat Again!
And lots of new adventures!
by Sara Pennypacker and Josh Greenhut
Flat Stanley: The Japanese Ninja Surprise
Flat Stanley: The Big Mountain Adventure
Flat Stanley: The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery
Flat Stanley: The Epic Canadian Expedition
Flat Stanley: The Amazing Mexican Secret
Flat Stanley: The African Safari Discovery
Flat Stanley: The Flying Chinese Wonders
Flat Stanley: The Australian Boomerang Bonanza
Flat Stanley: The US Capital Commotion
The Flying Chinese Wonders First published in the United States 2011 as Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures 7: The Flying Chinese Wonders First published in Great Britain 2015 by Egmont UK Limited The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road London, W11 4AN
Text copyright 2011 by the Trust u/w/o Richard C. Brown a/k/a Jeff Brown f/b/o Duncan Brown
Illustrations copyright 2015 by the Trust u/w/o Richard C. Brown a/k/a Jeff Brown f/b/o Duncan Brown
First e-book edition 2015
ISBN 978 1 7803 1505 8
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Cover
Front series promotional page
Title Page
Copyright
1 Unlucky Day
2 ‘Knee How’
3 Chinese Food
4 Learning to Fly
5 To Beijing
6 The Lucky One
7 In Balance
8 Small Wonders
Back series promotional page
The fact that Stanley Lambchop was flat did not mean he enjoyed being treated like a poster.
Stanley trudged back and forth outside the school auditorium with a giant piece of cardboard taped to the front of his body. It read:
People streamed inside. A beefy boy from Stanley’s class called out, ‘Look, it’s the poster boy for flat kids!’
Stanley grimaced. He hoped no one else would notice him.
‘Well, hello there, Stanley Lambchop!’ It was Doctor Dan, whom Stanley had visited just after he was flattened. It wasn’t long ago that he’d woken up to find that his bulletin board had fallen on him in the middle of the night. ‘Helping out with the big performance, are we? Well, good for you for making positive use of an unusual condition!’
How embarrassing, Stanley thought.
After Doctor Dan left to take his seat, Stanley’s family appeared. ‘My little star!’ squealed his mother, Harriet Lambchop.
Stanley tried to smile as she kissed the edge of his head.
His little brother, Arthur, rolled his eyes. ‘He’s not even in the show, Mum.’
‘Now, Arthur,’ said Mrs Lambchop, ‘those behind the scenes are just as important as those onstage.’
‘And nobody is behind the scenes like our Stanley.’ Mr Lambchop winked. Stanley sighed. He’d always liked being in plays. Now, all anyone wanted him to do was move the sets, because his shape made him hard to see when he crossed the stage.
‘I’m not even moving scenery today,’ Stanley grumbled.
‘Why not?’ asked Mr Lambchop.
‘Are you in charge of the giant pandas?’ said Mrs Lambchop hopefully. ‘They have always been my favourite wonders from China!’
‘No.’ Stanley pouted. ‘There aren’t any pandas. The spotlight blew a fuse, so . . .’ He held up a giant flashlight from behind his poster. ‘I have to hang upside down from the ceiling with this.’
‘Hey, Stanley,’ called his friend Carlos, who lived next door to the Lambchops. ‘Don’t break a leg!’
Stanley’s mother chuckled. ‘He means, “Break a leg,” dear. That’s a common figure of speech in the theatre. It means good luck!’ Harriet Lambchop took great interest in the proper use of the English language.
‘I don’t think so, Mum,’ said Arthur. ‘I think Carlos meant, “Don’t fall from the ceiling and break your leg.”’
‘Be quiet, Arthur,’ huffed Stanley.
Once everyone was seated, Stanley took his place. He hung with his lower body rolled around a bar high over the crowd.
It’s not fair! he thought. Why do I have to save the day any time somebody needs something flat or flexible?
On the one hand, Stanley’s new shape allowed him to do lots of fun and exciting things, like fit between the walls of an Egyptian pyramid and be a cape in a Mexican bullfight. On the other hand, he was often asked to do uncomfortable, humiliating, and boring things that would never be expected of a rounded person. For instance, he was rolled and tied to the back of a horse in South Dakota and forced to ride with baggage in the cargo hold of an airplane to Africa.
Stanley didn’t want to hang high in the air holding a heavy flashlight. He didn’t even know what to expect onstage. The performers had arrived only moments before the show was about to begin.
The lights went down. With a sigh, Stanley lifted his flashlight and flicked it on as the curtains squeaked open.
In the centre of the bare stage stood a teenage boy and girl. They wore matching red outfits. ‘Lucky people of America!’ A Chinese man in a tuxedo stepped on to the stage. ‘All the way from the People’s Republic of China, we bring to you . . . the Flying Chinese Wonders!’
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