A few years ago, Mal Stamper’s game was airplanes, not animal stories. As the developer of the 747 jetliner, the former Boeing vice chairman helped make the world smaller for air travelers. Now he has a loftier goal: to make the world more literate-by introducing a series of children’s books about friendly beasts. After retiring from Boeing two years ago, Stamper, now 67, founded Storytellers Ink, a family-funded publishing venture. He then hooked up with the American Humane Education Society, a group that promotes better treatment for animals. Together, they crafted a not-for-profit program, called Operation Outreach-USA, around Storytellers’ titles. So far, Outreach has raised $250 000 from corporate giants like Chrysler, Bell South, Woolworth and Japan Airlines. The funds will be used to sponsor in-school reading programs and provide free books. Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca views the operation as an investment in tomorrow’s workers: “Lots of programs teach reading,” he says. " Mal’s tries to go a step further and instill values like compassion and respect for living things."

That’s a weighty mission for a company inspired by a blind raccoon. The animal, a former guest in the Stamper household, was the subject of a book by his son Jamie. The tale played so well with kids that the elder Stamper decided to build a company around it, adding 13 more original works and adaptations. In addition to professional writers, the authors include a doctor, a sculptor and an environmentalist. Stamper runs the company with the same bottom-line consciousness he once used to sell airplanes. He spends much of his time riding on the aircraft he helped build, hopping from city to city to promote Operation Outreach. He’s even drawn up an aeronautical-style flow chart representing the “Vicious cycle” of illiteracy and its effect on corporate America. His only permanent employee, daughter Mary, says he often sends her scurrying to research publishing topics. " I have to remind him that he no longer has 160,000 people working for him," she says, “he just has me.”

By 1994, Stamper hopes to raise $5 million for Operation Outreach, which plans to provide at least one free book every year to each elementary-school child in America. Until then, he will measure his success by the responses of his loyal readers the books because they teach children … why dogs do the stuff they do," wrote a third grader. To Mal Stamper, that’s the publishing equivalent of a perfect takeoff.