Bodecker, N. M.

N.M. [ Niels Mogens] Bodecker was born January 13, 1922 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He studied and served in the military in Denmark during the 1930s and 1940s and published his first poetry and book illustrations there during the 1940s. N.M. Bodecker came to the United States in 1952 and illustrated his first American children's book, Half Magic by Edward Eager, in 1954. For the next three decades, N.M. Bodecker illustrated a number of books by other authors, particularly Edward Eager and Robert Kraus. In 1972 he published his own story, Miss Jaster's Garden. N.M. Bodecker also wrote verse for children, especially nonsense verse that drew on his own childhood "recollections" and critics called these verses "whimsical," and "sharp but not cruel," full of clever "manipulation of rhymes." He also translated Danish verses into English in his self-illustrated book It's Raining Said John Twaining, which was an American Library Association and School Library Association Notable Book for 1973. N. M. Bodecker's illustrations reflect his sense of humor and whimsey and imagination. N.M. Bodecker died on February 1, 1988 in Hanover, New Hampshire, and his last book, Water Pennies, was published posthumously in 1991.

From the guide to the N.M. Bodecker Papers, 1954-1991, (University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections)

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