Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures #13 Read online

  “Stanley Lambchop,” he said in surprise. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your big night?”

  Stanley still hated to let him down. But he couldn’t let himself down, either!

  This time, he got right to his point. “Dr. Dan,” he said, “I can’t give a speech tonight!”

  “Oh no!” he said. Dr. Dan looked just the way he did back home in his office. He looked worried about Stanley! “Are you feeling all right? Are you hurt?”

  Stanley laughed. “No . . . nothing like that! I’m fine! It’s just that . . . I don’t want to talk about the way your research could help me. Even though it sounds amazing,” he added quickly. “I’m sure you’ll help tons of people someday. But . . . I don’t think I need any help myself, thanks.” He was pretty sure he was turning red with embarrassment! But at least he had spoken up. At last!

  For some reason, Dr. Dan was smiling. “Was that you, on the Green Monster? Covering the hole?” he asked.

  Stanley’s eyes widened. “How did you know about that? Did you see me?”

  “I have my ways,” said Dr. Dan. “And I have many friends in Boston, including a famous player named Richie Rogers.”

  Stanley’s jaw dropped. “You know him?” he asked.

  Dr. Dan said, “Yes, I know him well. Just like I know you. And I would never want either of you to change, unless you wanted to.”

  Judging from his house, Stanley was pretty sure Richie Rogers loved being part of the Red Sox. He probably didn’t want to change his life any more than Stanley did.

  Dr. Dan continued, “The whole point of the research is to give people a choice. If they want to lose weight, or gain weight, they will be able to do it. But people who want to stay the way they are, should stay the way are. People who are flat should stay flat!”

  Stanley let out a long breath. Dr. Dan understood what he was worried about. What a relief! But that wasn’t the only thing he was worried about.

  “Thanks, Dr. Dan!” said Stanley. “I feel so much better now! But what about Dr. Deb? What about the speech? The doctors at the conference are expecting me!”

  “Well, maybe you could talk about something else,” said Dr. Dan.

  “Like what?” said Stanley. What else would anyone want to hear from a flat boy?

  Dr. Dan rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a second. Then his eyes lit up.

  “There may be people in the audience who would like to be flat themselves, someday. That is probably a long way off,” Dr. Dan admitted. “But could you tell them some of the amazing things you get to do because you are flat?”

  Stanley thought about being a life preserver. He thought about traveling back in time—sort of—and riding with Paul Revere. He thought about saving the game for the Red Sox. Maybe someday other people would get to have adventures like these, too.

  Stanley grinned at Dr. Dan. He would do the speech, he decided. But now he had one more question.

  “How much time would I get?” Stanley asked Dr. Dan. “Because I have a lot to say!”

  What You Need to Know About Boston and Paul Revere!

  The John Hancock Tower is officially named 200 Clarendon, but everyone still calls it the John Hancock Tower. The building is sixty stories tall and contains thirteen acres of glass!

  There are colored lights on the top of the John Hancock Tower that show the weather:

  “Steady blue, clear view.

  Flashing blue, clouds due.

  Steady red, rain ahead.

  Flashing red, snow instead.”

  The oldest public park in the United States is the Boston Common. It dates back to 1634.

  Fenway Park is the oldest original Major League Baseball stadium still in use. It opened in 1912.

  The Green Monster of Fenway Park is the thirty-seven-foot-high wall located beyond left field. It’s named after the green paint color that covers the wall.

  Boston is the home of North America’s first college, Harvard University, which was founded in 1636.

  In 1716, the first American lighthouse was built on a small island in Boston Harbor.

  On March 18, 1990, the largest art theft in the history of the United States happened in Boston. The stolen paintings have never been recovered.

  Originally, the town of Boston was named Shawmut. But on September 17, 1630, colonists renamed it Boston, after a town in England called Boston.

  The Red Sox were named in 1907 by their owner at the time, John I. Taylor. Before that, they had many different names, including the Americans, the Pilgrims, the Somersets, the Puritans, and the Plymouth Rocks.

  On top of the gold dome of the State House in Boston sits a golden pinecone.

  Paul Revere’s ride to warn the colonists of the British became famous because of an 1861 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem. But the poem got several facts wrong!

  The horse that Paul Revere rode on the night of April 18, 1775, was borrowed from a merchant named John Larkin. The horse was a mare named Brown Beauty.

  Many people say that as he rode to warn the colonists, Paul Revere shouted out “the British are coming!” But he never actually said this!

  In addition to being a silversmith and artist, Paul Revere was also the leader of a group of colonists that spied on British soldiers.

  Boston Duck tours have been around since October 4th, 1994, when they had four duck boats. Now, they have twenty-eight boats!

  A bronze statue in Boston’s Public Garden commemorates a famous children’s book called Make Way for Ducklings. The story is about a pair of mallards who decide to raise their ducklings on an island in the garden.

  Since 1742, Faneuil Hall has been both a marketplace and a meeting hall. It was destroyed by fire in 1761, and only the brick walls survived. In 1762 the colonists had it rebuilt, and in 1775, when the British were occupying Boston, it was used as a theater.

  The Ted Williams Tunnel is ninety feet below the surface of Boston Harbor, making it the deepest tunnel in North America.

  The Boston Cream Pie is the official state dessert of Massachusetts. It was invented at the Omni Parker House.

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  About the Authors and Artist

  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.

  KATE EGAN is a children’s book editor and the author of five books, including the Magic Shop series and the picture book Kate and Nate Are Running Late! She lives with her family in Brunswick, Maine.

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

  Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

  Books by Jeff Brown

  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

  The US Capital Commotion

  Showdown at the Alamo

  Framed in France

  Escape to California

  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 Erin Fitzsimmons

  Copyright

  FLAT STANLEY’S WORLDWIDE ADV
ENTURES #13: THE MIDNIGHT RIDE OF FLAT REVERE. Text copyright © 2016 by the Trust u/w/o Richard C. Brown f/b/o Duncan Brown. Illustrations by Macky Pamintuan, copyright © 2016 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  www.harpercollinschildrens.com

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  Library of Congress Control Number: 2016938988

  ISBN 978-0-06-236604-7 (trade bdg.) — ISBN 978-0-06-236603-0 (pbk.)

  EPub Edition © September 2016 ISBN 9780062366054

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