Bernard Wiseman (26 August 1922 – 11 January 1995) was an American author of children's books. He wrote ''Morris and Boris: Three Stories'' (1974) and other children's books. He was active from 1958 to 1995.

Early years

Wiseman was born in the

Canarsie Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin, East 108th Street, and Louisiana Avenue; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on th ...

section of

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

on August 26, 1922. He joined the U.S Coast Guard during World War II. He rose to the rank of

bosun's mate A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, or the third hand on a fishing vessel, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of ...

and saw action in the Atlantic Ocean on a

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

Career

After being honorably discharged in 1945, Wiseman began working as a

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

in New York City. His work was frequently published in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' and ''

Playboy magazine ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefn ...

''. Wiseman also created a series for ''

Boys' Life ''Scout Life'' (formerly ''Boys' Life'') is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Its target readers are children between the ages of 6 and 18. The magazine‘s headquarters are in Irving, Texas. ''Scout Life'' is published ...

'' magazine called Sir Nervous Norman, humorous stories of an insecure medieval knight. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Wiseman began writing and illustrating early reader children's books. His first major title was ''The Log and Admiral Frog''. Wiseman published over 80 books, his most popular being the Morris the Moose series. Morris and his pal Boris the Bear had adventures children could relate to. They had a pun-filled

Abbott and Costello Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work in radio, film, and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and 1950s, and the highest-paid entertainers in t ...

relationship. In 1977, Wiseman and his wife Susan and stepson Peter moved to

Melbourne, Florida Melbourne ( ) is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando, Florida, Orlando along Florida's Space Coast, named because of the region's proximity to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. The city ...

. There he had two sons of his own, Michael and Andrew. Wiseman died in 1995. He is interred in

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiseman, Bernard 1922 births 1995 deaths American children's writers United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II