Mordicai Gerstein author page

Mordicai Gerstein biography

Mordicai Gerstein (1935–2019) was an author and illustrator of children’s books. He was born in Los Angeles in 1935, attended Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and began his career in animation after taking a job in an animated cartoon studio that sent him to New York.

Gerstein’s book career began after Elizabeth Levy asked him to illustrate a humorous mystery story about two girls and a dog. He later wrote as well as illustrated books, and he created more than forty books during his career.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers was written and illustrated by Gerstein. The picture book recounts Philippe Petit’s 1974 tightrope walk between the towers of the World Trade Center, and Roaring Brook Press published it on 1 September 2003.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers won the 2004 Caldecott Medal and the 2004 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Picture Books. It also won the 2006 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children’s Video.

Gerstein also wrote The Old Country, an audiobook edition of which was published on 24 May 2005, and The Sleeping Gypsy, a 32-page picture book published on 12 September 2016 that was inspired by characters in Henri Rousseau’s painting The Sleeping Gypsy.