This is Not a Boat #12, A Celebration Day for Amos McGee

Today is day four of our celebration of A Sick Day for Amos McGee. So far we've celebrated in elephants, in tortoises, and in penguins. Today we celebrate in rhinoceroses. First, to the Belgian Congo, a country defunct since 1960. I like the Belgians. They have a wonderful tradition of children's illustration both past and present. I hear they really made a mess of the Congo though. In the future they should probably stick to kid's lit.

Next we visit French Equatorial Africa. This country went out of business in 1958. It was a bad few years for European imperialism.
This next stamp, from South Africa, is just great. It bears a strong resemblance to Erin's illustration beneath which is purely (and strangely) coincidental. I guess there are only so many ways to draw a rhinoceros.

Come back tomorrow for our closing ceremony. There will be owls!

This is Not a Boat #11, A Celebration Day for Amos McGee

Today is day three of our celebration of A Sick Day for Amos McGee. On Sunday Amos was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2010! We've celebrated elephants and tortoises. Today is a celebration in penguins. Can you believe that in my entire stamp collection, a collection of ten of thousands of stamps from just about every current and defunct country in the world that has ever had a post office, I have only one penguin. One penguin! This is a situation that is going to have to be remedied.

Tristan da Cunha, by the way, is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean, and also the name of the main island of that group (thus spake Wikipedia). It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world. Sounds like a great place for a shy penguin.

Speaking of shy penguins, here we have one of my favorite illustrations that Erin has ever done:
Come back tomorrow. We'll be celebrating in rhinoceroses!

This is Not a Boat #10, A Celebration Day for Amos McGee

Today is day two of our celebration of A Sick Day for Amos McGee. On Sunday Amos was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2010! Today is a celebration in tortoises. First, to Vietnam:

And now to Korea:
Lastly, we have Erin's tortoise from Amos:
Come back tomorrow. The celebration continues with penguins!

This is Not a Boat #9, A Celebration Day for Amos McGee

I'm very pleased to announce that A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by my wife, Erin, has been named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2010. Ten books are selected annually. You can view this year's entire list here. To celebrate I thought we'd take a break from our regular scheduled boat countdown and spend some time getting to know the animal characters from Amos McGee—an elephant, a tortoise, a penguin, a rhinoceros, and an owl. I'll have to dig deep into my stamp collection to find some of these animals. After all, not many countries have penguins! I'm sure I'll find some though.

This Thai elephant is great, don't you think?

And this set from Laos is one of my all time favorite. Fantastic!

And here of course is Erin's elephant from Amos.

One last elephant before I go. This elephant is from Jonathan and the Big Blue Boat. For those of you new to 365 Boats, Jonathan will be published this coming June. A certain amount of plagiarism happens in the studio between Erin and I. My elephant here definitely bears a resemblance to Erin's.

Thanks for stopping by 365 Boats. Come back Monday. We'll be celebrating tortoises!

P.S. - Notice the stamp in the elephant's back? It's the Thai elephant (in a different denomination) from the beginning of this post.

Boat #169, Uruguay

Boat #170, Gambia

Boat #171, Nigeria

Nice cancellation!

Boat #172, East Germany

The 1972 Olympics were the first year for a new rowing event then known as "slalom canoeing". The steroid addled East Germans were able to snag 5 of the 12 possible medals, including all four golds. Go team!

Boat #173, Poland, Part 2

I liked yesterday's stamp so much that I decided to show another from the same set.

Boat #174, Poland

This is Not a Boat #8, PIRATES! - A Halloween Special

Happy Halloween!

Boat #175, Jersey - Devil's Night

Mischief on the high seas, befitting of the day...

Boat #176, Poland

Boat #177, Niue

Boat #178, Poland

Boat #179, Fiume

Anyone out there know anything about Fiume? Be honest. I didn't think so. I didn't either. Fiume was a tiny little country (11 square miles) with a short and bloody history, 1920-1924. Fiume was a port city-state on the Adriatic Sea, connected to Italy along its western border. Its territory is now part of modern day Croatia. Fiume was merely a blip on the ever changing map of Europe in the 20th century. But it'll always have a home here at 365 Boats.

This is Not a Boat #7, Gambia - And Thus Concludes Elephant Week

And thus concludes our first Elephant Week.

This is Not a Boat #6, Cameroon - Elephant Week (continued)

This is Not a Boat #5, South Africa - Elephant Week (continued)

This is Not a Boat #4, Poland - Elephant Week (continued)