"There were three heroes on the British cruiser Barkham when it docked in Sydney, Australia. They were known throughout the world as The Stoppers of the Great War.
One was a bulldog named Buckingham
Another was a man named Spider Max
The third was the mysterious Lady Adelaide...the famous Kangaroo boxing champ..."
From Wikipedia:
William Sherman Pène du Bois (1916 – 1993) was an American writer and illustrator of books for young readers. He is best known for The Twenty-One Balloons, published in April 1947 by Viking Press, for which he won the 1948 Newbery Medal. He was twice a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal for illustrating books written by others, and the two Caldecott Honor picture books, which he also wrote.
From 1953 to 1960, Pène du Bois was art editor of The Paris Review, working alongside founder and editor George Plimpton.