Bruce Degen (born June 14, 1945) is an American illustrator and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

with over forty

children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younge ...

to his credit. He may be known best for illustrating ''

The Magic School Bus ''The Magic School Bus'' is an American edutainment media franchise that includes a book series, a TV series, a streaming series, and video games. Each of the stories within the franchise centers on the antics of a fictional elementary sch ...

'', a

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

series written by Joanna Cole. He has collaborated with writers Nancy White Carlstrom, on the Jesse Bear books, and

Jane Yolen Jane Hyatt Yolen (born February 11, 1939) is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 350 books, of which the best known is ''The Devil's Arithmetic'', a Holocaust novella. He ...

, on the Commander Toad series. He has written and self-illustrated ''Jamberry'', ''Daddy Is a Doodlebug'', and ''Shirley's Wonderful Baby''.

Life

Degen was born and raised in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. His youth was marked by the contrast between urban

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and the summertimes he spent in rural upstate New York, where he would pick wild berries. He credits those experiences as the inspiration for ''Jamberry'' (1993):
"It was green. It was soft. You could walk around in bare feet, and we used to go out and pick lots of berries that grew wild. I always thought of the world as being particularly generous and joyful. And when I was searching my memories, trying to write a book for very young children about being joyful, that popped right up." He attended elementary school in Brooklyn and went on to attend art schools in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, including

LaGuardia High School Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, often referred to simply as LaGuardia, is a public high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, located near Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square n ...

and Cooper Union for his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He then attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn where he obtained a Masters of Fine Arts degree with a major in printmaking and a minor in painting. Degen lives in Connecticut with his wife, Christine Degen, and their two sons, Benjamin and Alexander Benjamin Degen is a painter. Alex Degen writes and illustrates comic books.

Career

Degen's working life has included designing advertisements, teaching art to students, teaching children's book illustration to adults, painting scenery for opera productions, and running a lithography studio in Israel. He was encouraged by an elementary school teacher to become an illustrator, and pursue his primary love for art found in children’s books. Humor is one of his key values, which he expressed by comparing children's illustration with the fine arts: "You don't see many people walking around a gallery are chuckling. And I realized that I wanted a chuckle." Before creating the ''Magic School Bus'' series, he taught art and other subjects at Beach Channel High School in the Rockaway Park,

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

section of New York City, Edward R Murrow HS and at

John Dewey High School John Dewey High School is a public school in Gravesend, Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded and based on the educational principles of John Dewey. The school, under the supervision of the New York City Department of Education, was named a Ne ...

Patronage

Bruce and Christine Degen contribute "Gifts to the Garden" for the

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is a botanical garden in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded in 1910 using land from Mount Prospect Park in central Brooklyn, adjacent to Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Museum. The garden holds ...

. They sit as appointed members of the Newtown, Connecticut, Hattertown Historic District Commission.

Selected works

Bruce Degen with some of his work in the Mazza Museum

Credited authors are the writers of books illustrated by Degen. * ''Aunt Possum and the Pumpkin Man'' (1977) *''A Big Day for Scepters'' by Stephen Krensky (1977) *''Ig Lives in a Cave'' by Carol Chapman (1979) *''Brimhall Turns to Magic'' by Judy Delton (1979) *''Mr. Jameson and Mr. Phillips'' by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (1979) *''Commander Toad'' series, written by

(1980–1997) *''My Mother Didn't Kiss Me Good-Night'' by Charlotte Herman (1980) * ''The Little Witch and the Riddle'' (1980) *''Little Chick's Big Day'' by Mary DeBall Kwitz (1981) *''Dandelion Hill'' by Clyde Robert Bulla (1982) *''Upchuck Summer'' by Joel L. Schwartz (1982) *''Jamberry'' (1983) *''Little Chick's Breakfast'' by Mary DeBall Kwitz (1983) *''Daddy's Coming Home!'' by Lyn Littlefield Hoopes (1984) *''Lonely Lula Cat'' by Joseph Slate (1985) *''Grandpa Bear'' by Bonnie Pryor (1985) *''Best Friends Don't Come in Threes'' by Joel L. Schwartz (1985) *''Jesse Bear'' series, written by Nancy White Carlstrom (1986–2012) *''The Josefina Story Quilt'' by Eleanor Coerr (1986) *''The Good-Luck Pencil'' by Diane Stanley (1986) *''Grandpa Bear's Christmas'' by Bonnie Pryor (1986) *''

'' series, written by Joanna Cole (1986–2020) *''The Forgetful Bears Meet Mr. Memory'' by Larry Weinberg (1987) *''If You Were a Writer'' by Joan Lowery Nixon (1988) *''Tim Kitten and the Red Cupboard'' by Jan Wahl (1988) *''The Forgetful Bears Help Santa'' by Larry Weinberg (1988) *''Lion and Lamb'' by William H. Hooks and Barbara Brenner (1989) *''Dinosaur Dances'' by Jane Yolen (1990) *''Lion and Lamb Step Out'' by William H. Hooks and Barbara Brenner (1990) * ''Teddy Bear Towers'' (1991) *''Goblin Walk'' by Tony Johnston (1991) *''Ups and Downs with Lion and Lamb'' by William H. Hooks and Barbara Brenner (1991) *''Little Chick's Friend, Duckling'' by Mary DeBall Kwitz (1992) *''Mouse's Birthday'' by Jane Yolen (1993) *''A Beautiful Feast for a Big King Cat'' by John Archambault (1994) *''Will You Give Me a Dream?'' by Joan Lowery Nixon (1994) * ''Sailaway Home'' (1996) *''Shirley's Wonderful Baby'' by Valiska Gregory (1999) * ''Daddy Is a Doodlebug'' (2000) * ''I Gotta Draw'' (2012) * ''I Said, "Bed!"'' (2014) * ''Snow Joke'' (2014) * ''Nate Likes to Skate'' (2016)

References

External links

JamberryDaddy Is a Doodlebug
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Degen, Bruce 1945 births Living people American children's writers Artists from New York City Artists from Connecticut American children's book illustrators People from Brooklyn