He is best known for his translations of Winnie-the-Pooh, Mary Poppins, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and other children's classics.

Boris Zakhoder was born to a Jewish family in Kagul (now Cahul, Moldova) and grew up in Moscow.

His father was a lawyer, a graduate of Moscow University, and his grandfather was the first crown rabbi of Nizhny Novgorod.

Zakhoder started publishing translations of children's literature in 1960 with A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

His version was also the basis for the Soviet 1969 animated film Winnie-the-Pooh and its sequels.