by Susanne Caro, Government Documents Librarian
You may have heard of Flat Stanley, a book by Jeff Brown published in 1964 which centers on a young boy who is flattened and then mailed to California by his parents. Starting in 1995, many school children were introduced to Stanley and started mailing him to different places across the globe for school projects. This was a fun way to learn geography and work on writing skills as students recorded the adventures of Flat Stanley on his travels.
Recently, the New Mexico State Library received a similar visitor named Flat Franklin. This little fellow came to us from a class of 5th graders in San Jose, California. Flat Franklin had already been to Alaska, Virginia and Hawaii before arriving in the Land of Enchantment. The goal of the class is for Flat Franklin to visit all 50 states by April.
He joined us for Halloween, and we took a photo of him with our own Little Ben. A postcard from Santa Fe was sent on to the students with some fun facts about New Mexico. Franklin’s next trip took him to Northern Arizona University in Yuma. Next he will head to the Temple of Justice in Olympia, Washington.
Bon Voyage, Ben!