On February 18, 1997 in Washington, DC, the U.S. Postal Service issued these self-adhesive Helping Children Learn 32¢ stamps, for the 100th anniversary of the National Congress of Parent and Teacher Associations (PTA).

The stamp art is by Caldecott medal-winning children’s author and illustrator Chris Van Allsburg of Providence, RI (who authored famous books Jumanji (1981) and Polar Express (1985)). Van Allsburg tried a number of poses for the adult and child on the stamp, finally settling on the two sitting in an armchair to express the close relationship between parent and child. The design was created using cut-paper techniques the artist said “tries to present the information or communicate the idea through really simple, bold graphic shapes, rather than the kind of fussy and detail-laden images that I might make for a book illustration.”