Picture Book Pups: Reviewing Leonard Kessler classics

Leonard Kessler is one of the underrated heroes of children’s literature, particularly when it comes to picture books.

Leonard Kessler isn’t the first name that comes to mind when thinking of author/illustrators in children’s literature, but narrow the focus to picture books, and he’s definitely up there, especially if you zoom in even closer by thinking of “picture books featuring dogs.”

Kessler has illustrated over 200 books, and written many of those titles, according to his publisher HarperCollins. He’s probably best known for Mr. Pine’s Purple House and Here Comes the Strikeout.

In this edition of our “Picture Book Pups” series of book reviews, we’re going to look at three of his works today: 1966’s Kick, Pass and Run, 1980’s Super Bowl and 1972’s On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! 

Wesley’s grandmother Linda worked for several years at a university library, and she played an important role in his love of reading and writing stories. Two of these Leonard Kessler books were ones that she would read aloud to me often when I would visit, so much so that one day she made photocopies of both books and colored in the pictures with crayon so that I would always have a copy to read.

The third, On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!, was found at a library book sale years later, and picked up immediately because it was a Leonard Kessler featuring his recurring animal characters.

Since it would have been Linda’s 72th birthday this past Wednesday, it seemed like a perfect time to review these books.

While Kessler wasn’t incredibly creative with naming his characters, they all have distinct personalities. For example, there’s the bossy Owl, the impulsive Duck, the irritable and wise Turtle and the calm Dog,