by jeff brown
Water pattered down in the bathroom into the sink, and from the shower into the tub.
“Whooosh… whooosh!” said Arthur, and Mrs. Lambchop struck her skillet with the wooden spoon. The crash! was much like thunder.
“Lightning, please,” Arthur said.
Mr. Lambchop aimed his flashlight and flicked it on and off while Stanley finished the apple.
“Now the raisins,” said Arthur. “One at a time. Whooosh!”
Stanley opened the little box and ate a raisin.
Still whoooshing, Arthur conducted as if an orchestra sat before him. His left hand signaled Mrs. Lambchop to strike the skillet, the right one Mr. Lambchop to flash the light. Nods told Stanley when to eat a raisin.
Patter… splash went the water in the bathroom. “Whooosh!” went Arthur. Crash! went the skillet. Flash!… Flash! went the light.
“If anyone should see us now,” Mrs. Lambchop said softly, “I would be hard put to explain.”
Stanley looked down at himself. “It’s no use,” he said. “I’m still invisible.”
“Twist around!” said Arthur. “Maybe the noise and light have to hit you just a certain way!”
Twisting, Stanley ate three more raisins. The light flickered over him. He heard the water splashing, Arthur whoooshing, the pounding of the skillet with the spoon. How hard they were trying, he thought. How much he loved them all!
But he was still invisible.
“There’s only one raisin left,” he said. “It’s no use.”
“Poor Stanley!” cried Mrs. Lambchop.
Arthur could not bear the thought of never seeing his brother again. “Do the last raisin, Stanley,” he said. “Do it!”
Stanley ate the raisin and did one more twist. Mrs. Lambchop tapped her skillet and Mr. Lambchop flashed his light. Arthur gave a last Whooosh!
Nothing happened.
“At least I’m not hungry,” Stanley said bravely. “But—” He put a hand to his cheek. “I feel … sort of tingly.”
“Stanley!” said Mr. Lambchop. “Are you touching your cheek? I see your hand, I think!”
“And your pajamas!” shouted Arthur, switching on the light.
A sort of outline of Stanley Lambchop, with hazy stripes running up and down it, had appeared by the window. Through the stripes they could see the house next door.
Suddenly the outline filled in. There stood Stanley in his striped pajamas, just as they remembered him!
“I can see my feet!” Stanley shouted. “It’s me!”
“I, dear, not me,” said Mrs. Lambchop before she could catch herself, then ran to hold him tight.
Mr. Lambchop shook hands with Arthur, and then they all went into the bathroom to watch Stanley look at himself in the mirror. It hadn’t mattered when he was invisible, Mrs. Lambchop said, but he was greatly in need of a haircut now.
LShe made hot chocolate to celebrate the occasion, and Arthur’s cleverness was acknowledged by all.
“But false storms cannot be relied upon,” Mr. Lambchop said. “We must think twice before eating fruit during bad weather. Especially by a window.”
Then the brothers were tucked into bed again. “Good night,” said Mr. and Mrs. Lambchop, putting out the light.
“Good night,” said Stanley and Arthur.
Stanley got up and went to have another look in the bathroom mirror. “Thank you, Arthur,” he said, coming back. “You saved me from being flat, and now you’ve saved me again.”
“Oh, well …” Arthur yawned. “Stanley? Try to stay, you know, regular for a while.”
“I will,” said Stanley.
Soon they were both asleep.
The End
About the Author
Jeff Brown created the beloved character of Flat Stanley as a bedtime story for his two sons. He has written other outrageous books about the Lambchop family, including Flat Stanley, Stanley and the Magic Lamp, Invisible Stanley, Stanley’s Christmas Adventure, Stanley in Space, and Stanley, Flat Again! You can learn more about Jeff Brown and Flat Stanley at www.flatstanleybooks.com.
Macky Pamintuan is an accomplished illustrator. He lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, with his wife and dog.
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The Call
It was Saturday morning, and Mr. and Mrs. Lambchop were putting up wallpaper in the kitchen.
“Isn’t this nice, George?” said Mrs. Lambchop, stirring paste. “No excitement. A perfectly usual day.”
Mr. Lambchop knew just what she meant. Excitement was often troublesome. The flatness of their son Stanley, for example, after his big bulletin board settled on him overnight. Exciting, but worrying too, till Stanley got round again. And that genie visiting, granting wishes. Oh, very exciting! But all the wishes had to be unwished before the genie returned to the lamp from which he sprung.
“Yes, dear.” Mr. Lambchop smoothed down wallpaper. “Ordinary. The very best sort of day.”
In the living room, Stanley Lambchop and his younger brother, Arthur, were watching a Tom Toad cartoon on TV. The sporty Toad was water-skiing and fell off, making a great splash. Arthur laughed so hard he didn’t hear the telephone, but Stanley answered it.
“Lambchop residence?” said the caller. “The President of the United States speaking. Who’s this?”
Stanley smiled. “The King of France.”
“They don’t have kings in France. Not anymore.”
“Excuse me, but I’m too busy for jokes.” Stanley kept his eyes on the TV. “My brother and I are watching the Tom Toad Show”
“Well, you keep watching, young fellow!” The caller hung up, just as Mr. and Mrs. Lambchop came in to watch the rest of the show.
“Hey, guess what?” Stanley said. “Hay is for horses,” said Mrs. Lambchop, mindful always of careful speech. “Who called, dear?”
Stanley laughed. “The President of the United States!”
Arthur laughed too. “Stanley said he was the King of France!”
Tom Toad vanished suddenly from the TV screen, and an American flag appeared. “We bring you a special message from the White House in Washington, D.C.,” said the deep voice of an announcer. “Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States!”
The screen showed the President, looking very serious, behind his desk.
“My fellow Americans,” the President said. “I am sorry to interrupt this program, but someone out there doesn’t realize that I am a very busy man who can’t waste time joking on the telephone. I hope the particular person I am talking to—and I do not mean the King of France!—will remember that. Thank you. Now here’s the Toad show again.”
Tom Toad, still water-skiing, came back on the TV.
“Stanley!” exclaimed Mrs. Lambchop. “The King of France indeed!”
“Gosh!” Arthur said. “Will Stanley get put in jail?”
“There is no law against being a telephone smarty,” Mr. Lambchop said. “Perhaps there should be.”
The telephone rang, and he answered it. “George Lambchop here.”
“Good!” It was the President. “I’ve been trying to get hold of you!”
“Oh, my!” Mr. Lambchop said. “Please excuse—”
“Hold on. You’re the fellow has the boy was flat once, got his picture in the newspaper?”
“My son Stanley, Mr. President,” Mr. Lambchop said, to let the others know who was calling.
“I had to be sure,” said the President. “We have to get together, Lambchop! I’ll send my private plane right now, fetch you all here to Washington, D.C.”
Travel to www.flatstanleybooks.com for games,
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activities for kids, parents, and classrooms!
DON’T MISS ANY OF THESE
OUTRAGEOUS STORIES:
Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure!
Stanley in Space
Invisible Stanley
Stanley’s Christmas Adventure
Stanley, Flat Again!
AND CATCH FLAT STANLEY’S
WORLDWIDE ADVENTURES:
The Mount Rushmore Calamity
The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery
The Japanese Ninja Surprise
Copyright
Invisible Stanley
Text copyright © 1996 by Jeff Brown
Illustrations by Macky Pamintuan, copyright © 2009 by HarperCollins Publishers.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © JULY 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-03382-6
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Library of Congress catalog card number: 2009927742
ISBN 978-0-06-009792-9
09 10 11 12 13 LP/CW 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21
First paperback edition, 2003
Reillustrated edition, 2009
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