BERNARD WABER'S house in Baldwin Harbor is filled with crocodiles. But Mr. Waber is not the curator of a suburban hall of reptiles. He is an award-winning writer and illustrator of more than 30 children's books, including a series about Lyle, a lovable crocodile who lives in a brownstone in Manhattan and has a penchant for Turkish caviar.

A tall soft-spoken man with a warm casual manner, Mr. Waber delights in his array of artificial crocodiles. A three-foot-long Lyle lolls in a miniature bathtub that Mr. Waber's wife of 43 years, Ethel, bought at an antiques shop. Further on, there are buttons showing Lyle's face as it breaks out in a toothy grin, as well as a recuperating crocodile with a hospital gown fashioned by Mrs. Waber.

In the den lies the highlight, a life-size Lyle curled up lazily on a couch. There are seven Lyle books, including the latest, "Lyle at the Office," in which the reptile goes to work with the father of his human family. Mr. Waber said, "It's kind of a takeoff on Take Our Daughters to Work Day."

In addition to the stories, Mr. Waber has two new books that feature characters other than Lyle. Published by Houghton Mifflin in the spring, one book, "Do You See a Mouse?" is the story of a slapstick search for a rodent in a plush hotel.

"Gina," due in the fall, tells of a young girl who moves into a neighborhood where all the children her age are boys.

Mr. Waber, 71, is one of four siblings born in Philadelphia to a Russian mother and an Austrian father. Growing up in the Depression, Mr. Waber experienced its financial difficulties. He and his family often created their own pastimes. "On cold winter nights," he said, "if there was a warm room in the house, our nightly entertainment was to go there and draw pictures of each other."

Although Mr. Waber had no formal literary education, he said, he always took pleasure in writing. "In elementary school," he recalled, "when my teachers told us to write compositions, I was always thrilled."

One strong influence on his writing was his love of film. "As a child," he said, "I loved the movies. But I didn't have enough money to see them. So I got an after-school job working at a movie theater. I had to pick up the seats and dispose of candy wrappers after the matinee performances. I got to see only the last 10 or 15 minutes of every movie that was produced. As a result, when I started to write I'd write the ending first."

As an adult, he studied drawing. "I went to art school in Philadelphia," he said. "And I always thought I'd like to work for magazines, and they were in New York. So that's what brought me here. In 1955, I got married, and Ethel and I honeymooned here, and we stayed."

Soon after, he began working as a designer in the art department at Life magazine, where he stayed for 20 years. "When Life folded," he said, "I worked with the group that developed People magazine." In addition to his steady jobs, Mr. Waber also took freelance assignments as an illustrator.

After Mr. Waber's three children were born, his career took a decisive turn. "When I had children of my own," he recounted, "I got interested in doing children's books. I already had a lot of whimsical animal drawings in my portfolio, and people who saw them suggested that I would be good at that type of endeavor."

Spurred on by his love of drawing and writing, Mr. Waber wrote on his lunch hours. "There was a lot of down time at Life," he said. "I used to write during those fantastic lunch hours for two hours or more."

Another source of inspiration was the time commuting on the Long Island Rail Road. "The rocking rhythms sort of turned things on for me," he said. "In fact now I have to rock when I'm writing here in my home office."

In 1961 his first children's book, "Lorenzo," the story of a fish, was published. Mr. Waber said the book had "a short, happy life."

His second book, which came out the next year, was "The House on East 88th Street," in which the character Lyle was introduced. "I don't know where the idea came from," Mr. Waber said, "but I always loved drawing animals. I especially like to draw crocodiles. I like the way they walk, and I like their eyes and their teeth and everything about them.

"When I lived in Philadelphia, I used to subscribe to The New Yorker, and I always loved the brownstone houses that were featured on their covers. I can't explain how it happened, but the two things that I like, brownstones and crocodiles, seemed to merge."

Nearly a million Lyle books have been sold, and they have been translated into languages including Japanese, German, Dutch, Danish and Afrikaans. There have been games, puzzles and stuffed animals, and even an animated cartoon, "Lyle: The Musical," which was on HBO. But there are no plans for Lyle designer fashions, because, Mr. Waber explained, "Lyle doesn't wear clothes."

Although some people might view creating children's books as a frivolous pastime, Mr. Waber takes his work seriously. He spends large blocks of time in his studio, which is connected to his bedroom.

While in the process of doing the art work for a book, he said, "I can put in 12 hours a day or more. Sometimes I work around the clock without sleeping. I just glance over at my bed longingly." —Linda Tagliaferro, October 1, 1995 New York Times