Mordicai Gerstein, born November 24, 1935 in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

, writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, and film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, best known for illustrating

Illustration

An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...

 and writing children's books

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

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In 2004, Gerstein received the Caldecott Medal

Caldecott Medal

The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children , a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published that year. The award was named in honor of nineteenth-century English...

 for his book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. Published in 2003, the book tells the true story of Philippe Petit, a man who walked between the twin towers of the World Trade Center on a tightrope...

. Written in response to the September 11 attacks, the book tells the story of Philippe Petit

Philippe Petit

Philippe Petit is a French high-wire artist who gained fame for his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, on 7 August 1974...

's August 7, 1974 unauthorized high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center

World Trade Center

The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

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Gerstein lives in Westhampton, Massachusetts

Westhampton, Massachusetts

Westhampton is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,607 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...

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