Catholic school student becomes Obama’s pen pal

When students at Holy Name of Jesus School near West Palm Beach were asked to mail cutouts of a fictional child to a pen pal, they chose mostly friends and relatives.

Shannon White sent hers to President Obama. Shannon White was shocked and thrilled to hear back from Pres. Obama after she sent him a Flat Stanley.

The book, written by Jeff Brown, tells the uplifting story of Stanley Lambchop, a boy who is flattened when a bulletin board falls on him. Even though he’s only a half-inch thick, Stanley still has an amazing life.

And to her surprise, the president responded.

Not only did the White House return Shannon’s Flat Stanley, the title character in a 1964 children’s book, but it also sent an autographed picture, a letter and a cute snapshot of Bo, the family dog.

“I was, like, ‘Whoa!,’” said Shannon, 12. “I never thought I would actually get it back. My mom was so surprised and said he must care about kids in school.”

The Flat Stanley Project has been adopted by schools nationwide. Started in 1995, the project encourages children to learn more about the world and the people in it.

The project works like this: Kids mail a journal and a paper version of the character to someone. That person is asked to treat Stanley like a visiting guest and keep his or her own journal documenting Stanley’s activities and what he’s learned. Stanley is then returned to the student.

Marideth Slack, a social studies and religion teacher at Holy Name, said she wasn’t shocked the White House wrote back, but was surprised at the amount of time the president apparently spent with Stanley.

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