The Australian Boomerang Bonanza Read online

Together Again

  Standing in front of the Sydney Opera House, Mr. Wallaby had his arms around Stanley and Arthur as he addressed the crowd. The magnificent building rose up behind them like a collection of giant sails.

  “Today is about much more than a contest on the back of a cereal box,” he said into the microphone. “It’s about the bond of brotherhood that unites us all, as nations and as people. It is about finding what once was lost, and treasuring it all the more. I’ll never forget what these young boys have taught me. They showed me what being a good brother is all about! Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce my own long-lost brother, Wally Wallaby!”

  Cameras flashed as Wally stepped up and laid a hand on Stanley’s shoulder. The crowd burst into applause. Off to the side, Bongo whistled loudly as Ms. Perth wiped her eyes. “Ace!” cried Sheila.

  “Beyond that, I have only one thing to say,” said Mr. Wallaby. His eyes twinkled and his eyebrows wiggled. “I . . . JUST . . .”

  Arthur, Stanley, and the hundreds of people around them jumped up and down. “JUMP . . . FOR . . . KANGA ROOS!”

  Back at home, around the breakfast table, Stanley and Arthur stuffed Kanga Roos cereal into their mouths as fast as they could.

  “Can we be excused?” Arthur and Stanley said together.

  Mr. Lambchop nodded from behind his newspaper, and they darted out of the kitchen and down the hall to their bedroom. On the bulletin board over Stanley’s bed hung a boomerang, which Wally and Mr. Wallaby had given them the day they left Australia. They’d both signed it: “To Arthur and Stanley, Our Long-Lost Brothers. Yours, Wally & Billy.”

  “So kangaroos really can box?” said Arthur, jumping up and down on his bed.

  “Uh huh,” said Stanley, folding his feet beneath him, resting on his shins, and springing up and down.

  Arthur hopped down to the ground, and for a moment they bounced in front of each other, grinning wildly and brandishing their fists.

  They both threw a jab. And just like that, another round began.

  WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE DOWN UNDER

  The name Australia comes from the Latin Terra Australis Incognito, which means the Unknown Southern Land.

  Australia has an average of three people per square kilometer. It has one of the lowest population densities in the world.

  Sheep outnumber people in Australia by almost eight to one: there are 150 million sheep and only 20 million people!

  Australia is the only continent on Earth occupied by only one nation. It is also the lowest and flattest continent.

  The Great Barrier Reef is more than 2,000 km long (bigger than England!) and is the largest organic construction on Earth. It is the only living thing that astronauts in the International Space Station can see from space without a telescope.

  The Great Barrier Reef has a mailbox! You can take a ferry out there and send a postcard from it, stamped with the Great Barrier Reef stamp.

  The “Surf Lifesavers”—surfers who act as lifeguards—originated in Australia over a hundred years ago. They have since spread to many other countries.

  Australian English has plenty of its own slang, including “clobber” (clothes), “mozzies” (mosquitos), and “ripper” (terrific). Go on, give it a burl! (That means, give it a try!)

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

  Stars and Stripes

  Every Fourth of July, Stanley Lambchop dreamed of being in the local Independence Day parade—that is, until the year that his bulletin board fell on him in the middle of the night and flattened him.

  “Can’t I be Abraham Lincoln?” Stanley pleaded. Moments before the parade was about to begin, he found himself sitting in the center of the Grammar Society float, with his legs rolled up tightly to his chest.

  “I cannot tell a lie,” intoned his father, George Lambchop. He towered over Stanley majestically in a white wig and ponytail. “I think you look patriotic.”

  “Oh, George,” blushed Stanley’s mother, Harriet Lambchop, who was wearing an old-fashioned blue gown and a ribbon in her hair. “You are such a good father . . . of our country. George Washington!”

  Stanley’s father winked. “No, Betsy Ross. It is you who deserves our gratitude for giving birth to such a fine flag.” He gestured grandly down toward Stanley, and Mrs. Lambchop curtsied with a giggle.

  “How many times do I have to tell you,” interrupted Stanley, “I don’t want to be the—”

  His younger brother, Arthur, appeared from the other side of the float. Arthur had stretched a pale bathing cap over his head and had fringed it with strands from an old gray mop. “It’s not too late to be my kite, Stanley!” He peered down at Stanley from over his tiny spectacles and patted his huge belly, which was actually a pillow stuffed under his shirt.

  “I beg your pardon, Mr. Benjamin Franklin,” their father said, shaking his head gravely. “I cannot allow your brother to be struck by lightning.”

  “Aw,” said Arthur. “Even if it means discovering electricity?”

  Suddenly, a nearby brass band launched into a bouncy rendition of “America the Beautiful.” The float lurched forward.

  “The parade is starting!” squealed Stanley’s mother. She picked up a wooden pole and poked it at Stanley. “Stanley, get up! You have to wave!”

  “Can’t I just wave with my hands,” Stanley said, “like everyone else?”

  “No!” his family shouted.

  Stanley let out a sigh, grabbed on to the top of the pole, and slowly unfurled his body.

  His mother had spent days sewing his costume. Thirteen red and white stripes ran down to his toes, while a square of blue with white stars covered half of his chest. He began swishing back and forth, as if he were fluttering in the breeze.

  “Check out the Stars and Stripes!” someone yelled.

  “Hey, flag boy!” someone yelled. “Smile!”

  A local television crew ran up and hopped alongside the float. Everywhere Stanley looked, people were pointing their fingers at him.

  Being flat had given Stanley the opportunity to do things most people never dreamed of. He had traveled around the world by airmail. He could slide under doors, slip between bars, and fold himself into origami ninja throwing stars. He had served as a cape used by the great matador Carmen del Junco in Mexico and performed with the acrobatic twins known as the Flying Chinese Wonders in Beijing.

  But being flat didn’t always make Stanley feel good. Sometimes, he felt as if people paid attention to him not because of who he was, but merely because of how he looked.

  The only reason everyone is so excited, thought Stanley as the float rolled on, is that I look weird. Nobody cares about what I’m really like.

  Around him, his father, mother, and brother waved excitedly to the screaming throngs of people. Meanwhile, Stanley’s body kept on waving, but he didn’t even feel like he was there.

  The next morning, Stanley was examining himself in the mirror that hung on the back of his bedroom door. He turned to the side, and it was as if his body suddenly disappeared. After all, he was only half an inch thick.

  Suddenly, the door flew open.

  “Guess who’s on the front page of the newspaper!” shouted Arthur.

  “Thanks for knocking,” Stanley grumbled. He pushed the door, and it swung away from the wall where he’d been abruptly flattened once again.

  “It’s my room, too,” huffed Arthur. “Anyway, look!”

  Sure enough, there was a photograph of the Lambchops atop the Grammar Society float—and right in the middle was Stanley, swinging from his mother’s flagpole. WHAT A COUNTRY! blared the headline.

  Just then, the telephone rang. “George,” called Stanley’s mother a moment later. “It’s a journalist from WUSA. They’re asking about our very own flag—Stanley!”

  Stanley felt something rise up from deep inside him. “I AM NOT A FLAG!” he screamed.

  Arthur gaped at Stanley, and suddenly
both their parents were standing in the doorway.

  “Stanley,” his mother said slowly. “Are you feeling all right?”

  Without answering, Stanley sprinted straight to the living room and slid under the couch, where nobody could bother him.

  About the Authors and Illustrator

  JEFF BROWN created the beloved character of Flat Stanley as a bedtime story for his 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.

  JOSH GREENHUT once mailed Flat Stanley, in costume, to a Halloween party 300 miles away. He is now married to the woman who was host of the party, and they live in Toronto with their two children.

  MACKY PAMINTUAN is an accomplished illustrator. He lives in the Philippines with his wife, Aymone, their baby girl, Alison, and their pet Westie, Winter.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

  CATCH ALL OF FLAT STANLEY’S WORLDWIDE ADVENTURES

  The Mount Rushmore Calamity

  The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery

  The Japanese Ninja Surprise

  The Intrepid Canadian Expedition

  The Amazing Mexican Secret

  The African Safari Discovery

  The Flying Chinese Wonders

  The Australian Boomerang Bonanza

  AND DON’T MISS ANY OF THESE OUTRAGEOUS STORIES:

  Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure!

  Stanley and the Magic Lamp

  Invisible Stanley

  Stanley’s Christmas Adventure

  Stanley in Space

  Stanley, Flat Again!

  Credits

  Cover art by Macky Pamintuan

  Cover design by Alison Klapthor

  Copyright

  Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures: The Australian Boomerang Bonanza

  Text copyright © 2011 by the Trust u/w/o Richard C. Brown a/k/a Jeff Brown f/b/o Duncan Brown.

  Illustrations by Macky Pamintuan, copyright © 2011 by HarperCollins Publishers.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Greenhut, Josh.

  The Australian boomerang bonanza / created by Jeff Brown ; written by Josh Greenhut ; pictures by Macky Pamintuan. — 1st ed.

  p. cm. — (Flat Stanley’s worldwide adventures ; #8)

  Summary: When his brother uses him as a boomerang on a beach near the Great Barrier Reef, the wind takes Flat Stanley halfway across Australia to the Outback.

  ISBN 978-0-06-157435-1 (trade bdg.) — ISBN 978-0-06-143018-3 (pbk. bdg.)

  [1. Australia—Fiction. 2. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 3. Brothers—Fiction.] I. Brown, Jeff, 1926–2003. II. Pamintuan, Macky, ill. III. Title.

  PZ7.G84568Au 2011

  [Fic]—dc22

  2010050514

  CIP

  AC

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  11 12 13 14 15 LP/CW 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  EPub Edition © AUGUST 2011 ISBN: 9780062102218

  FIRST EDITION

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