Although he started a degree in finance at the University of Pennsylvania, he left school to enlist in the military at the onset of World War II.
Immediately following the end of the war, he returned to his studies at the Philadelphia College of Art.
At the age of 28, Bernard married Ethel Bernstein, and the couple moved to New York City and had three children.
When his children were young, Waber worked in the art department of Condé Nast Publications, writing his books at night and on the weekends.
[2] At the time of his death, his publishing company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, said that his 33 books had sold a total of 1.75 million copies.