The Australian Boomerang Bonanza Read online

  FLAT STANLEY’S

  WORLDWIDE ADVENTURES 8

  The Australian Boomerang Bonanza

  CREATED BY Jeff Brown

  WRITTEN BY Josh Greenhut

  PICTURES BY Macky Pamintuan

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Chapter 1 - The Grand Prize

  Chapter 2 - The Aussie Crew

  Chapter 3 - Getting Down Under

  Chapter 4 - An Almost Perfect Day

  Chapter 5 - To the Back of Beyond

  Chapter 6 - The Bush Tracker

  Chapter 7 - Uluru

  Chapter 8 - Together Again

  What You Need to Know Before Your Own Adventure Down Under

  And take a sneak peek at Stanley’s next adventure— The US Capital Commotion!

  Stars and Stripes

  About the Authors and Illustrator

  Catch All of Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures

  Credits

  Back Ad

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Chapter 1

  The Grand Prize

  Snow whipped through the air in thick blankets. Stanley Lambchop trudged on, trying not to flap in the wind.

  Up ahead, Stanley could just make out his younger brother, Arthur. “Keep going!” Arthur’s voice called. “We’re almost there!”

  Since the morning Stanley Lambchop had awakened to discover that he had been flattened by the bulletin board over his bed, he had traveled far and wide. He had trekked through the Mexican jungle. He had crossed the African savannah. He had braved the Canadian Arctic.

  But this just might be his most difficult journey of all.

  And it’s only the walk home from school! thought Stanley.

  He strained to take another step, but the wind blew him off his feet yet again. He flew backward into the side of a bus shelter with a slap.

  Stanley groaned.

  Since being flattened, Stanley could do all sorts of useful things. He could travel by mail, slide under doors, and fly like a kite. But being half an inch thick also had its disadvantages.

  It sure doesn’t help one bit in a blizzard! Stanley thought.

  Arthur ran up. “Are you okay?” he cried over the howling wind.

  Stanley gritted his chattering teeth. “I hate this weather!”

  Arthur nodded and held out his hand. “Hold on to me!”

  Stanley couldn’t grab his brother’s outstretched mitten. So Arthur leaned into the wind and battled down the sidewalk, dragging Stanley’s body flapping behind him like a cape.

  “I wish we lived somewhere hot!” Stanley grumbled.

  “Tell me about it!” Arthur called over his shoulder. “Can you believe that right now it’s summer in Australia?!”

  “We could be on a beach!” said Stanley.

  “If only I’d won that Kanga Roos contest!” said Arthur. Kanga Roos was Arthur and Stanley’s favorite breakfast cereal. Several months ago, Arthur had cut out a form from the back of their cereal box and entered a contest whose grand prize was a trip to Australia. Nothing ever happened, though.

  Arthur pulled Stanley up the front steps of their home. Pushing the door closed behind them, Stanley flattened himself against it and took a deep breath. A row of icicles fell from the side of his body.

  “Thank you, Arthur,” he said. “I don’t know how I would have made it without you.”

  Arthur shrugged. “I don’t know how you make it anywhere without me.” He pulled off his boots. “After all, who was it that saved you on Mount Rushmore? Who solved all your problems over the telephone when you were in China? Who got us down that river in Africa?”

  “You’re the one who dropped the paddle!” cried Stanley, suddenly thawed under the collar.

  “I did not!” replied Arthur. “You dropped the paddle!”

  “I did not!” huffed Stanley.

  “Arthur, is that you?” their mother’s voice called from the next room.

  Arthur held up his hands. “I’m just saying,” he said in a low voice, “the next time you go somewhere, take me along, will you?” Then he added, “Especially if it’s Hawaii or Florida.”

  Stanley couldn’t help it. He smiled.

  “You’re here!” Mrs. Lambchop came bustling down the hall, her eyes fixed on Arthur. She seemed very excited. “Wait until you—” The smile fell from her face. “Why, you look like a wet dog!”

  Arthur scoffed. “I just walked through a blizzard!”

  Their father, George Lambchop, appeared with a comb and started dragging it roughly through Arthur’s hair.

  “Dad!” protested Arthur.

  Mrs. Lambchop bit her lip. “And his socks are all wet!”

  Their parents didn’t even seem to notice that Stanley’s socks were wet, too.

  “What is going on?” Arthur and Stanley both cried.

  “There’s someone important to see you, Arthur,” Mr. Lambchop said in a strange voice. He stepped back to examine his handiwork and then wrinkled his nose.

  “Just say you haven’t had a chance to wash up,” Mr. Lambchop whispered, and led the boys into the living room.

  A barrel-chested man wearing a leather wide-brimmed hat was standing in the middle of the room. An official-looking young woman holding a clipboard stood behind him.

  Arthur stopped in his tracks. “It’s— But you’re—” he sputtered.

  Stanley stared at the man. He did look very familiar.

  “G’day, Arthur,” the man said in an accent that sounded . . . British? “Do you have something to say to me?”

  Arthur looked at him blankly. “I haven’t had a chance to wash up,” he blurted.

  The man’s thick eyebrows danced up and down with amusement. Then, very mysteriously, he said: “Isn’t there something else you should say, mate?”

  Arthur gulped. He opened and shut his eyes. He swallowed. He pinched Stanley.

  “Ouch!” Stanley cried.

  “I’m not dreaming,” Arthur croaked under his breath. Then, in a very loud, careful voice he began, “I JUST . . .”

  Suddenly, Stanley knew exactly who the man was!

  “JUMP . . . FOR . . . KANGA ROOS!” he and his brother shouted together, hopping up and down in time with the words, just like in the Kanga Roos commercials.

  For the man standing before them was none other than Billy Wallaby, the Australian cereal magnate whose face graced the front of every box! This could mean only one thing:

  “Looks like Arthur and a guest are coming with me to Australia!” Billy Wallaby announced.

  The living room went wild. The woman with the clipboard clapped. Arthur did a crazy dance. Harriet Lambchop started to cry. George Lambchop shook everybody’s hand. Mr. Wallaby himself slapped Stanley on the back so hard that Stanley flipped over.

  “I can’t believe it!” said Arthur. “I never thought when I cut out that form from the back of the cereal box—”

  “Never say never, mate,” said Mr. Wallaby. “So, who are you going to take with you? Your mum or your dad?”

  Stanley looked at the ground. He understood, of course. He had gone on so many trips without Arthur. It was only fair that Arthur got to have his own adventure for once.

  And then Arthur did something that surprised Stanley even more than an Australian billionaire showing up in their living room and giving away a trip to the other side of the world. He said, “Can Stanley come?”

  Chapter 2

  The Aussie Crew

  It had not been easy for Arthur to convince Mr. and Mrs. Lambchop to allow him and Stanley to travel to the other side of the globe without them. But the rules of the contest stated clearly that only two people could
go, and Mr. Wallaby and his assistant, Ms. Perth, both promised that the boys would be carefully looked after.

  Now, the Lambchop family stood on the tarmac in front of a small private jet, saying their good-byes as snow fell lightly around them.

  Mrs. Lambchop hugged Stanley and Arthur tightly. Finally, Stanley whimpered, “Mom, you’re going to wrinkle me.”

  “Of course,” she said, letting them go and forcing a brave smile onto her face. “You know, there is a great deal of unusual slang in Australia, such as rhyming slang, where a rhyming word is used to signify another word. For instance, dog and bone means ‘telephone,’ and plates of meat means ‘feet.’ Isn’t that fascinating? Did you know—”

  “Mom,” Arthur groaned.

  “We’ll be fine, Mom,” Stanley said, more gently. He knew his mother was just rambling about the English language to make herself feel better. After all, it was her favorite subject.

  Mr. Lambchop put a comforting arm around his wife. “Stanley,” he said, “you are a more experienced traveler than your younger brother. We expect you to stay with him at all times.”

  Stanley saluted.

  “Arthur,” said Mr. Lambchop. “Keep the flat kid out of trouble.”

  Arthur cracked a smile.

  Mr. Lambchop said nothing for a moment, and then he stepped forward and put one gloved hand on Arthur’s shoulder and the other on Stanley’s. Stanley could feel his father’s hand resting near his cheek, like a warm blanket.

  “Do you solemnly promise that you will take care of each other, no matter what?”

  “We promise,” Arthur and Stanley intoned.

  Behind them, Ms. Perth had stepped out onto the top of the metal staircase that connected the plane to the tarmac.

  “Time to go!” said Arthur. And before their parents could say another word, he grabbed Stanley’s hand and sprinted for the plane.

  “Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!” called Stanley, his body once again flapping in the air behind his brother.

  “Wow!” said Arthur, bouncing up and down. “Leather seats!”

  “Arthur, Stanley, I’d like to introduce you to a few people,” said Ms. Perth. An unshaven man wearing shorts, a T-shirt, and hiking boots ambled into the aisle. “This is Mr. Billabong, Mr. Wallaby’s butler.”

  “You don’t look like a butler,” said Stanley.

  Mr. Billabong grinned. “Yeah, well, you don’t look like a person, but you are, aren’t ya? Call me Bongo!”

  “And this,” continued Ms. Perth, “is our chef, Sheila.” She was an athletic-looking woman with curly red hair.

  “How d’ya do, boys? Hope you like Vegemite!”

  “What’s Vegemite?” asked Arthur.

  “I was hoping you’d say that!” cried Sheila, producing a plate from behind her back with two pieces of toast spread with a thin of layer of dark brown jam. “Try some!”

  Arthur and Stanley each took a piece of toast. Exchanging looks, they took a bite.

  Stanley stopped chewing at once. It tasted like beef stew with old socks.

  “Isn’t it ace?!” said Sheila excitedly.

  “That means ‘great,’” Ms. Perth whispered.

  “Oh, yes,” said Arthur, his eyes watering as he forced himself to swallow.

  “May we please have some water?” Stanley croaked.

  “Two waters, coming right up!” said Bongo.

  “Ready to see the pilot?” Ms. Perth asked.

  She led them to the front of the plane and opened the door to the cockpit. The pilot turned to greet them, and Stanley and Arthur gasped: It was Mr. Wallaby himself!

  “Take a seat, copilots,” the billionaire said, his eyebrows dancing. “Let’s get this boomerang in the air!”

  Chapter 3

  Getting Down Under

  High over the Pacific Ocean, Mr. Wallaby’s voice filled the dim cockpit.

  “The United States and Australia are like brothers, in my view,” he said. “Almost exactly on opposite sides of the world, but we both have the same mum and dad, don’t we? England. Then we traveled across oceans, made our own destinies. Americans and Australians, we’re explorers and adventurers. Our countries are almost the same size. Did you know that? Excluding Hawaii and Alaska, of course. You boys and me, we have a lot in common.”

  The last six hours had flown by. Stanley, Arthur, and Mr. Wallaby had spent the entire time swapping stories of adventure. Mr. Wallaby had climbed Mount Everest and jumped off the tallest building in Asia. He had driven race cars and sailed around the world. He had been poor as a child, and then he made himself into one of the richest men in Australia.

  Arthur sighed. “I wish I could do everything well, like you,” he said.

  Mr. Wallaby shook his head. “No, mate, you got it wrong. It’s the people who think they can do everything that get into trouble. What’s most important is to face up to what you can’t do, and make up for that. I learned that the hard way.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Arthur.

  “Take Stanley here,” said Mr. Wallaby. “He’s flat. What’s he have to worry about?”

  Arthur thought. “Getting sat on?”

  “The ends of escalators?” guessed Stanley.

  “No!” shouted Mr. Wallaby. “The wind! The wind is your greatest adversary, mate! You were blown off Mount Rushmore, blown halfway across Canada, thrown from the Great Wall of China! You can barely make it home from school on a windy day! If I were you, I’d worry about the wind, mate. That’s the greatest threat to your well-being.”

  Stanley nodded. He’d never thought about it that way before. “So what do you have to worry about, Mr. Wallaby?”

  “Me?” The man’s bushy eyebrows collapsed, and he sighed. “Ask Ms. Perth, she’ll tell you. I lose things. Computers, wallets, watches, papers. If I were a kangaroo, I’d lose my pouch. Lost my own brother in the bush once. Still looking for him, actually.”

  Stanley was about to ask Mr. Wallaby to explain when Arthur said, “And me?”

  “You?” said Mr. Wallaby. He studied Arthur carefully, and then his eyebrows rose like the sun. “Cheeseburgers. Your stomach’s growling louder than my jet engines! Bongo! Sheila!”

  Torches lit the beach and music filled the air. Hundreds of people danced in the sand. Arthur and Stanley leaned back against the bamboo counter, sipping their ginger ales.

  Bongo sauntered up beside them. “Quite a party you’re having, Mr. Lambchop!”

  Arthur grinned. “Thanks, Bongo.”

  “What do you say, boys,” called Sheila from behind the counter. “Should I throw some more prawns on the barbie?”

  Arthur leaned close to Stanley. “Maybe this is that rhyming slang Mom told us about,” he said under his breath.

  “Prawn means shrimp!” Bongo boomed between them. “And barbie is barbecue to you! That last bit rhymed, didn’t it?”

  “Oh, grilled shrimp!” said Arthur. “Sure, Sheila!”

  “Thanks, Sheila,” Stanley chimed in. “All the food’s delicious!”

  “No worries!” said Sheila.

  Two girls came up to them, giggling.

  “Are you Arthur Lambchop, the boy who won the contest?” said the one with long blonde hair.

  Arthur gulped. “Yes,” he said.

  “Congratulations!” said the girl. “I’m Mimi, and this is my sister, Juli. We read about you in the newspaper!”

  Juli leaned close to Stanley. “Is it true that you were flattened by a bulletin board?” Her eyes were wide and crystal blue like the ocean.

  All Stanley could think to say was, “Uh huh.”

  “We’re going to dance,” said Mimi.

  “You should come!” said Juli.

  Stanley and Arthur tried to resist, but Juli and Mimi wouldn’t take no for an answer. Soon, they were out in the sand, dancing and singing along with everyone else. Then Mr. Wallaby took the microphone and said, “To our grand prize winner, Arthur Lambchop, and to his brother, Stanley! To fate and the spirit of adventure! To Austral
ia!” The crowd’s cheers were louder than the sound of crashing waves. The next thing Stanley knew, both he and his brother had been hoisted into the air and were being passed over people’s heads in time with the music.

  Stanley looked up at the stars twinkling down on his flat body as he surfed atop the crowd. He twisted his head and caught Arthur’s eye.

  “Best trip ever!” screamed Arthur.

  Stanley couldn’t agree more.

  Chapter 4

  An Almost Perfect Day

  The next morning, Bongo and Sheila took the boys surfing. The breaking waves slapped into Stanley’s flat legs as they waded into the ocean. “Have either of you ever surfed before?” asked Sheila.

  Arthur and Stanley both shook their heads.

  “Stan here could be a surfboard all by himself!” Bongo said, laughing.

  “Hey, that’s a good idea,” said Arthur seriously. “Maybe I could surf on Stanley.”

  “I think I’d sink with you on my back,” Stanley said apologetically.

  Sheila looked Stanley up and down, and then looked at the very end of her surfboard. “He doesn’t have to stand on your back. He can balance on the bottoms of your feet!”

  She threw her belly on her surfboard and started paddling.

  “Bongo, put the boys on your board. Let’s go catch some big ones!”

  “Here it comes!” said Arthur. “Ready?” Stanley floated on the surface. He twisted his head around to find a wall of water rising behind them like a skyscraper.

  The giant wave thrust them forward like a shot, with Arthur balancing on the bottoms of Stanley’s feet. Stanley felt Arthur make a tiny movement, and Stanley’s body swung alongside the wave. Arthur twitched again, and Stanley’s body swung around the other way.

  They were surfing!

  Before Stanley’s eyes, the wave curled around them. Stanley could see blue sky at the end of the tunnel of water, and Arthur leaned forward. Stanley raced on, the tunnel getting smaller and smaller, until they burst through a curtain of white foam into calmer water.