CANR
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WEBSITE: http://www.mordicaigerstein.com/
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COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 347
Wife is Susan Yard Harris, an illustrator.
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PERSONAL
Born November 24, 1935, in Los Angeles, CA; died September 24, 2019, in Westhampton, MA; son of Samuel and Fay Gerstein; married Sandra MacDonald (a painter), 1957 (divorced, 1969); married Susan Yard Harris (an artist and illustrator of children’s books), May, 1984; children: (first marriage) Jesse (deceased), Aram; (second marriage) Risa Faye.
EDUCATION:Attended Chouinard Art Institute, 1953-56.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, designer, and illustrator of books for children; animated film writer, director, and producer; painter. United Productions of America, artist-designer at studio in Los Angeles, CA, 1956- 57, and New York, NY, beginning 1957; freelance animation designer in New York; Summer Star Productions (animation company), New York, founding owner, 1969-79.
AVOCATIONS:Painting, drawing, reading, bicycling and bicycle touring, occasionally playing the banjo and mandolin, cooking, eating, running, traveling.
AWARDS:Award of the Film Clubs of France, 1966, for film The Room; CINE Golden Eagle Award, International Film and Television Festival of New York, 1967, for film The Magic Ring; Outstanding Books of the Year citation, New York Times, 1983, for Arnold of the Ducks; Parents’ Choice Award, 1986, for Tales of Pan; Ten Best-Illustrated Children’s Books and Notable Book citations, New York Times Book Review, both 1987, both for The Mountains of Tibet; CINE Golden Eagle Award, Gold Medal, first prize for children’s entertainment, American Film Institute Video Awards, first prize for short video, Chicago International Festival of Children’s films, and Parents’ Choice Award, all 1989, all for film Beauty and the Beast; Best Illustrated Book of the Year citation, New York Times, “The Best of 1998” citation, School Library Society, Fanfare List selection, Horn Book, Editors’ Choice Award, Booklist, and Parents’ Choice Award, all 1998, all for The Wild Boy; Notable Book of the Year citation, New York Times, 1998, for Victor: A Novel Based on the Life of the Savage of Aveyron; Parents’ Choice Award, and Notable Book selections, Horn Book and American Library Association, all 2002, all for What Charlie Heard; Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, 2004, and Caldecott Medal, 2004, both for The Man Who Walked between the Towers; National Jewish Book Award, 2006, for The White Ram: A Story of Abraham and Isaac.
WRITINGS
Creator of “The Inner Man,” editorial cartoons for periodicals such as Village Voice and Oui; author of children’s films The Room, 1965, and The Magic Ring, 1966; adapter of children’s film The Nose.
Arnold of the Ducks was adapted as an animated film and broadcast on the Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS- TV) program Storybreak, 1985; Beauty and the Beast was adapted for film by Stories to Remember, 1989; The Seal Mother and Prince Sparrow were adapted for filmstrips by McGraw-Hill; The Room was published in a Braille edition.
SIDELIGHTS
Mordicai Gerstein was the author and illustrator of more than thirty books for young readers, including picture books, chapter books, and novels. In addition, his illustrations for works by other writers, especially those of Elizabeth Levy, earned him dozens more publishing credits. Gerstein also worked for many years in animation, but beginning in the early 1980s he devoted his time to children’s books. In 2004, he was awarded the prestigious Caldecott Medal for his picture book The Man Who Walked between the Towers. “The important question for me has been: how do you write anything?,” Gerstein stated in his Caldecott acceptance speech, transcribed on his home page. “As a painter, animated- film maker and illustrator, I came late to writing, and it was to make picture books, a fascinating art form, which is mostly for children. And so I’m always looking for things that puzzle and disturb or amuse me, things that are fun to make pictures of. I make books for people, most of whom happen to be children, and I try to address the most essential parts of all of us.”
Born in 1935 in southern California, Gerstein grew up in East Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley and was introduced to literature and art at an early age. His mother loved painting and books, and his father, Samuel Gerstein, was a playwright who also made his living in business. Deeply influenced by the stories and books he read as a youngster, Gerstein began drawing illustrations for his favorites even as a child. “It seems my parents wanted an artist,” Gerstein stated on his home page. “I never thought I’d be anything else. I never dreamed I’d be an author. Writing stories and creating characters that spoke and had lives that seemed real was, to me, an amazing and mysterious ability.”
After high school, Gerstein studied painting privately in New Mexico and then attended the Chouinard Art Institute in California. Leaving school in 1956, he worked for the animation studio United Productions of America, painting in his spare time. Married for the first time, he moved to New York, continued painting, and also began making his own animated films, earning a living from animated films, commercial animation, and a weekly cartoon he drew for the Village Voice. In 1973, Gerstein turned to illustrating, entering an ongoing working partnership with children’s writer Elizabeth Levy and providing illustrations as well as ideas for her children’s books.
The collaboration between Gerstein and Levy continued, with Gerstein providing the illustrations for Levy’s popular “Something Queer Is Going On” mystery series, as well as for her “Fletcher” mystery series, a spin-off of Levy’s “Queer” works. The books in the first series trace the adventures of best friends Gwen and Jill, while the books in the second series feature Jill’s canine, Fletcher, as he solves comical mysteries in books intended for children just beginning chapter books. Reviewing Something Queer at the Ball Park, a contributor for Publishers Weekly claimed Gerstein’s “tongue-in-cheek asides … move the action right along.” Judy Greenfield, reviewing Something Queer in Rock ‘n’ Roll for School Library Journal, praised the book’s “hilarious cartoon-like illustrations.” Anne Connor, writing for School Library Journal, also found Gerstein’s illustrations for Something Queer in Outer Space to be “full of humor,” while Sharon R. Pearce, writing in the same periodical, praised Gerstein’s artwork for 1997’s Something Queer in the Wild West, noting that his “detailed” gouache and black-line illustrations add “tidbits of information and a lighthearted tone.”
In the early 1980s Gerstein began to write and illustrate his own stories, even as he continued to illustrate the work of others. Gerstein, who taught himself the technique called color separation, used a wide range of media in his illustrations, which critics generally praised for their ability to communicate, to show detail, and to capture the sense of movement.
Gerstein’s first book, Arnold of the Ducks, combines memories of the author/illustrator’s childhood and the boy-raised-by-wild-animals theme shared by stories such as Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. In Gerstein’s whimsical fantasy, young Arnold is plucked from a shallow pool by a pelican with bad eyesight who deposits the human child in a nest of recently hatched ducklings. Accepted by the mother duck, Arnold is raised along with her offspring, first learning to swim and then to fly. Eventually, through a mishap with a flying kite, Arnold is returned to his natural parents via the family dog. Years after he has readjusted to being human again, the sound of familiar quacking passing overhead causes him to vainly try to follow the soaring ducks. But like Arnold’s innocence, that part of his life is forever gone.
In The Room, a 1984 adaptation of his film of the same title, Gerstein provided a history of all the tenants who lived in a small New York apartment. The odd assortment of renters includes twin bank robbers, a magician, and a dentist who keeps a throng of ducks. While his theme concerns the passage of time, Gerstein’s story focuses on the events of everyday life. Commenting on The Room in the New York Times Book Review, Martha Saxton praised “its richly detailed illustrations … full of vivid people and fascinating objects.” Like a friend “whose good qualities emerge slowly,” Saxton further remarked, “one wants to keep this book around for a long time.”
Tales of Pan features the antics of the mischievous half-man/half-goat god of Greek mythology. During the course of this story, Gerstein introduced readers to a number of Pan’s relatives, whose adventures are presented along with the behavior of the prankish deity. Entertained by Gerstein’s depiction of feats involving the supernatural changes of gods into various animals, New York Times Book Review contributor Jacques d’Amboise wrote that Pan’s death comes “too soon. I want to know more.” Affirming, too, that Tales of Pan “succeeds in pleasing,” Amboise expressed disappointment in Gerstein’s encouragement to merely “watch for Pan…. You might see him, close by and up to his old tricks”—and called instead for a sequel on the mythical being’s return.
The Mountains of Tibet was inspired by the ancient volumes collectively known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead. When recited properly, the Book of the Dead was meant to deliver the deceased’s soul through a safe journey to the plane of death, thus avoiding the hazards associated with afterlife. Addressing the issue of souls returning to Earth to live another life, Gerstein’s story chronicles a small boy’s passage into manhood, where he learns the trade of woodcutting, and finally old age. After death, the elderly woodcutter is mysteriously given a choice between experiencing another life and going to heaven. The man opts for rebirth, hoping to see another part of the world, but ironically he is reborn in the same Tibetan valley of his former home. Discussing The Mountains of Tibet in the New York Times Book Review, John Bierhorst noted that “a charming surprise” is revealed at the story’s end. The reviewer added that Gerstein’s colorful pictures present some features of Tibetan art and make a classic picture book.
In 1993 Gerstein produced The Story of May, a fanciful tale about the girlish month and her efforts to meet her father, December. She travels throughout the year, meeting up with various relatives such as Uncle July and Aunt February, and learns from them how the months came to be ordered and why her mother, April, was separated from her father. “What could easily be coy becomes touching,” a Publishers Weekly contributor noted, due to May’s quest to discover her roots. Ruth K. MacDonald, writing in School Library Journal, observed that “the story is both light and serious, given its mythic roots and the general silliness of the stereotypical characters.” Gerstein’s illustrations colorfully portray each distinct month; “each is a dazzling embodiment of the month for which he or she is named,” New York Times Book Review contributor Janet Maslin observed. Praising the “inspired playfulness” of the book’s pictures and prose, the critic concluded that young readers will “embrace Mr. Gerstein’s enchanting calendar and make it a permanent memory.”
Throughout the 1990s, picture books continued to be Gerstein’s primary endeavor. These books took their inspiration from many quarters, including myths and the Bible, as well as from contemporary events. His father’s passing in 1991 led to The Shadow of a Flying Bird: A Legend of the Kurdistani Jews, a story dealing with the theme of death. In this tale, Moses, 120 years old, grouses when God tells him it is finally time for him to die. His prayers for continued life are barred from heaven, and the sun and moon turn a deaf ear to his pleas for more life so that he can finally reach the land of milk and honey. When God must finally take the soul of Moses himself, he sits down and weeps. John Crowley, writing in the New York Times Book Review, found Gerstein’s book, illustrated with oil paintings, “both intriguing and visually compelling enough to last a long time.” Crowley commended the fact that Gerstein’s treatment of death “does not diminish the toughness of the matter.” Booklist‘s Ilene Cooper called the picture book “a moving fable,” and dubbed its illustrations “Chagall- like” and “full of magic.” Hanna B. Zeiger lauded Gerstein’s oil paintings in a Horn Book review, noting that they “convey the magnitude of the heavenly debate,” and adding that “this Biblical legend leaves a powerful image of death as the inevitable partner of life.”
Further biblical legends from the Old Testament are served up in Jonah and the Two Great Fish and Noah and the Great Flood. In a review of the first book, Janice M. Del Negro commented in Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books that “in simple prose Gerstein retold the story of the reluctant prophet, Jonah, enriching the Biblical account with details from Jewish legend.” Patricia Pearl Dole also had praise for Jonah in a School Library Journal review, calling it “a delightful version” that will make “a lively and colorful read- aloud.”
Gerstein tackled the story of the Ark in Noah and the Great Flood, an “exuberant picture book,” according to a reviewer for Publishers Weekly. Again combining Jewish legend with a Biblical tale, Gerstein created a work that both “children and adults will marvel at,” according to the same critic, who went on to laud the “bold energy” of the oil- painting illustrations. Horn Book reviewer Jennifer M. Brabander was pleased that Gerstein did not feel compelled to invest his Noah with “a trendy environmental or moralistic slant,” instead treating the tale as the “blockbuster of a story” it is. Del Negro concluded in a review for the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books: “Gerstein’s gift for retelling Bible stories is evident,” with his text and pictures providing “a cheerful reverence to this familiar tale.”
With Queen Esther the Morning Star, Gerstein retold the Biblical story of Esther, the young Jewish girl who saved her people by becoming the queen of Persia. “He has followed the Old Testament tale closely,” noted Susan Scheps in School Library Journal, the critic further praising Gerstein’s cartoon artwork which gives “a strong Persian flavor” to this “appealing” retelling. Writing in Publishers Weekly, a critic found the same title to be a “dynamic, evocatively-illustrated retelling” in which Gerstein’s story “proceeds at a masterly pace.”
Gerstein again served as Biblical reteller with The White Ram: A Story of Abraham and Isaac, published in 2006. In this picture book, he relates the story of Abraham, who agrees to God’s request that he sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a test of his faith. In a unique twist, Gerstein narrates the story from the viewpoint of a white ram God created and placed in the garden of Eden, instructing the animal to wait until he is summoned. When the ram hears God’s call, he endures many travails (including temptation) on his journey to reach Abraham and offer himself as a sacrifice in place of the child. While the ram ultimately gives up his own life, in Gerstein’s retelling the selfless animal’s soul is returned to God, while his remains are used in the construction of a holy temple. While acknowledging that the subject matter “is not for the fainthearted,” Booklist‘s Ilene Cooper commented that Gerstein’s “art does not shy away from the fearsomeness of the story but it, too, attempts to offer hope.” Writing in School Library Journal, Lisa Silverman called the work “a masterful melding of illustration and story,” while a Publishers Weekly contributor remaked: Gerstein’s artwork “will have young readers repeatedly poring over these pages.”
The Old Country was inspired by the tales Gerstein’s maternal grandparents told about growing up in the Ukraine, as well as his father’s childhood in Poland. The story concerns Gisella, a young girl living in a war-torn nation who mysteriously trades bodies with a sly fox. Separated from her human family, Gisella begins an arduous journey accompanied by a woodland sprite. In The Old Country, “Gerstein explores whether evil is inherent in the world, the costs of war, and the existence of magic,” observed School Library Journal contributor Susan Hepler. Writing in Horn Book, Joanna Rudge Long noted that “wise questions are raised but—wisely—remain open; that the subtext concerning man’s inhumanity remains a subtext makes this an even more thought-provoking and engaging fantasy.”
Often working the everyday and contemporary concerns of young readers into his works, Gerstein spins two tales around young Daisy: Daisy’s Garden and Bedtime, Everybody! In collaboration with his wife, Susan Yard Harris, Gerstein takes young readers through the growing season of a garden in the first tale, from early spring to late fall. On each page Daisy and her animal friends complete some garden task, from tilling to planting to harvesting. The text is in simple rhyme accompanied with watercolor illustrations. Jane Marino, reviewing the title in School Library Journal, called it “a soft, appealing book,” while Leone McDermott, writing in Booklist, praised the “cheery rhymes and sweetly detailed drawings.”
Bedtime, Everybody! finds Daisy trying to get her stuffed animals ready for bed, but they are not cooperating. Only after Daisy herself nods off does her animal entourage get tired eyes. A critic Kirkus Reviews contributor dubbed this story “an amiable bedtime tale,” although Cynthia K. Richey, reviewing the same title in School Library Journal, found it a “bland fantasy.” Richey nonetheless thought that Gerstein’s “stylized, cartoonlike characters are well realized.”
The versatile Gerstein served up humor in several of his picture books, including Stop Those Pants! and The Absolutely Awful Alphabet. In the first title, the author/illustrator takes a “witty look at unexpected delays in getting dressed,” according to Booklist reviewer Shelle Rosenfeld. Getting up in the morning, young Murray cannot find his pants; they have become bored and are now in hiding, hoping to find adventure. Murray and the missing pants play hide and seek until they finally come to an interesting compromise. In her review, Rosenfeld noted the story demonstrates the virtues of “being brave, persistent, and sharp.” A reviewer for Publishers Weekly called the same book a “surreal escapade.” Susan Pine, writing in School Library Journal, similarly referred to Stop Those Pants! as “an entertaining look at morning mayhem.”
More chaos is served up in The Absolutely Awful Alphabet, as each letter represents some dreadful monster or demon. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews noted that “fiends and ghouls abound in a tongue-in-cheek take on standard alphabet fare.”
Gerstein also tackled longer works such as chapter books and beginning novels. Zachary discovers a magical world behind the couch in search of his stuffed purple pig, Wallace, in Behind the Couch, a “delight” and a “fast-paced romp,” according to Christina Dorr writing in School Library Journal. A boy and a wily fox change places in Fox Eyes, a chapter book recounting the amazing month Martin spends with his aunt, including the day he is able to live inside the body of Sharpnose the fox. “Gerstein’s easy chapter book opens with whimsy,” noted Janice M. Del Negro in Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, “but the matter-of-factness of the prose … anchors the fantasy.” Similar praise came from a Kirkus Reviews contributor who concluded that “new chapter book readers will be won over by the episode’s engaging cast and well-tuned sense of wonder.”
Gerstein devoted both a novel and a picture book to the story of the so- called Savage of Aveyron, a boy found naked and abandoned in the woods of the south of France in 1800. With no language and barely any human social skills, the boy had clearly been living in the wild alongside animals. Under the tutelage of a doctor, the boy subsequently was force-fed civilization and renamed Victor. He did not, however, lose his wild ways, did not learn to speak, and his short life “was spent on the cusp of a society that could neither fully form nor accept him,” according to Kathryn Harrison, writing in the New York Times Book Review. Gerstein produced both the picture book The Wild Boy and the novel Victor: A Novel Based on the Life of the Savage of Aveyron to explore this fascinating tale.
A Publishers Weekly contributor, in a review of Victor, noted that Gerstein gives an “arresting account” of the doctor’s attempts at socializing the boy in this “compelling intellectual and social history.” Roger Leslie, writing in Booklist, remarked on the novel’s “emotional remoteness” but also commented that the book “remains intriguing thanks to well-researched details.” Jennifer A. Fakolt, reviewing Victor in School Library Journal, found it to be a “dark, often complex novel for older readers that is well worth the time, effort, and thought.”
Reviewing The Wild Boy, a Publishers Weekly contributor noted that “nature and civilization collide in this thought-provoking picture book.” The same reviewer also praised Gerstein’s “smoothly- paced writing.” Del Negro, writing in Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, found the story “much simplified in text but beautifully evoked in watercolor illustrations.” Horn Book contributor Mary M. Burns also lauded the picture book, noting it “has a haunting, wistful charm captured in a minimal space through a well-honed poetic text accompanied by delicately limned, impressionistic illustrations.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor captured the essence of the novel’s appeal, noting the wild boy never really gives up the wildness at his center, concluding this is “a fact that will rivet children.”
Gerstein occasionally turned his hand to biography in his picture books, as in the title What Charlie Heard, which is about American composer Charles Ives, and Sparrow Jack, which is about English immigrant John Bardsley. Reviewing What Charlie Heard, a Publishers Weekly contributor noted: Gerstein “plies an artistic style as densely and consciously layered as one of Ives’s compositions” in his profile. Gerstein provides details such as the sounds Ives might have heard as a child, his efforts in high school to compose, and the competing needs of his job as an insurance agent and his desire to create music in this “inspired picture-book biography,” as the same reviewer typified it. A Kirkus Reviews contributor also lauded Gerstein’s effort, calling the book an “unusual and joyful treatment of an unusual and joyful subject.” John Peters, writing in Booklist, had further praise: “Not only a fine book about following one’s own star, this is also a glimpse at a composer many children won’t know about.”
Sparrow Jack features the little-known story of John Bardsley, an Englishman who settled in Philadelphia during the middle of the nineteenth century. When the greenery in his adopted city was being devoured by an invasion of leaf-eating inchworms, Bardlsey devised a simple solution that, despite the skepticism of the other citizens in the city of brotherly love, proved to be effective. A lover of sparrows in his native country, Bardlsey returned to England and captured one thousand of these birds, transporting them back to America by ship and tending to them in his house throughout the winter. The next spring, as all the sparrows sought food for their newly-hatched offspring, the abundant supply of inchworms turned out to be an excellent source, thereby ridding the city of the pest. Describing the book as “an enjoyable and unusual bit of history,” School Library Journal contributor Steven Englefried called Sparrow Jack a “pleasing blend of history and legend.” “In Gerstein’s skilled hands,” according to a Publishers Weekly contributor, “this odd historical tidbit … shapes up into a funny and engrossing tale.”
In 2003 Gerstein published The Man Who Walked between the Towers, a memorial to the World Trade Center buildings that were destroyed on September 11, 2001. Based on an actual event, The Man Who Walked between the Towers recounts a daring 1974 stunt performed by Philippe Petit, a French tightrope walker. Disguised as construction workers, Petit and several friends suspended a cable between the twin towers; the next day Petit performed tricks high above the New York City streets. The inspiration for Gerstein’s story came after the 9/11 attacks, he told Jeffrey Brown on PBS Online: “I started to think about the towers, and I remembered Philippe Petit’s walk, and remembered that I used to see him perform on the street back in the ’70s at that time, and that he was a brilliant street performer, great juggler, great unicyclist. He did amazing things. And when the towers went down, I remembered Philippe’s walk. I found an old New Yorker with a profile of him in it, and I started to write the story.”
The Man Who Walked between the Towers received strong reviews, with several critics complimenting Gerstein’s playful yet dramatic illustrations. “An inventive foldout tracking Philippe’s progress across the wire offers dizzying views of the city below; a turn of the page transforms readers’ vantage point into a vertical view of the feat from street level,” observed a contributor in Publishers Weekly, and Wendy Lukehart, reviewing the work in School Library Journal, noted that “the vertiginous views paint the New York skyline in twinkling starlight and at breathtaking sunrise. Gerstein captures his subject’s incredible determination, profound skill, and sheer joy.” “The story of Philippe Petit’s walk is, for me, one that addresses the question, what is a human being?,” Gerstein stated in his Caldecott acceptance speech. “He proposes that we are creatures who can leave fear behind and walk through the air—that life can be exciting and fun and may be lived in learning to do the impossible—that the human imagination has no bounds. For Philippe, the Towers were there for no other reason than to provide two anchors for his wire, just as for a spider the most magnificent statue is only a place to spin a web.”
Though Gerstein occasionally continued to illustrate works for other authors, he preferred creating the artwork for his own tales. “Generally I find it more satisfying to illustrate my own writing,” he told Publishers Weekly interviewer Sally Lodge. “It’s great to come across a story by someone else that intrigues and makes me want to draw, but it doesn’t happen very often. Illustrating my own work gives me more freedom.”
In A Book, Gerstein tells the story of a family living in a book and only coming alive when the book is opened. However, a young pigtailed girl is the only one in the family who does not have a story of her own. Although she looks for her story, she never finds one but does discover a reader and a world full of possible tales. “Gerstein is playing at meta-fiction at a higher level than most authors do for this target group,” wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. Acknowledging that “children might find some of the finer points of the concept to be challenging,” Booklist contributor Ian Chipman went on to note that the character’s “quest is a terrifically sweet and humorous one.”
Applesauce Season revolves around a little boy and his observations about applesauce. Like his grandmother, the boy has a passion for apples and applesauce, which readers clearly learn as the boy describes his family making applesauce from apples bought at the farmer’s market. “Preparing this delicious dish is an apt metaphor for familial warmth and sharing,” wrote Ilene Cooper in Booklist. Writing in Horn Book, Jennifer M. Brabander called Applesauce Season a “warm portrait of family and food.”
Although focused on creating his own self-illustrated books, Gerstein continued to collaborate with Levy. In Danger and Diamonds: A Mystery at Sea, Levy tells of a family who lives on a cruise ship where the parents work. Phillippa is eleven years old and is soon involved in a mystery with the recently arrived son of the ship’s new captain. “The story maintains interest with unusual vocabulary (commodore, merengue) and vignettes about cruise ship life,” noted a Publishers Weekly contributor. In a review for Booklist, Ilene Cooper noted that Gerstein’s “artwork is of a higher caliber than is found in most series fiction.” Gerstein also illustrated Barb Rosenstock’s The Camping Trip That Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Our National Parks. Commenting on the historic account with fictionalized dialogue, Horn Book contributor Joanna Rudge Long noted: “Thanks to Rosenstock and Gerstein, we have a fine example of an effective government responding to a vital need in a timely manner.
In the picture book Dear Hot Dog: Poetry and Pictures about Everyday Stuff, Gerstein presents a series of poems about everything ranging from puppies and crayons to the sun and water. “Anthropomorphism is a running theme–a particularly apt one for young children,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. The young narrator of How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers: A Simple but Brilliant Plan in 24 Easy Steps presents a plan that begins with building a giant slingshot made out of truck tire inner tubes. The plan also includes more than 238,000 miles of garden hose that will serve as a tightrope for a person in a NASA spacesuit to traverse all the way to the moon via a bicycle clamped to the hose, which will also transport water for the sunflowers. “The pacing is perfect, and illustrations add to the humor,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. In a review for Booklist, Carolyn Phelan remarked: “The imaginative, first-person text will be riveting for process-minded kids.”
In The First Drawing, Gerstein ponders the question of who was the person to make the first drawing and why the drawing was made at all. In Gerstein’s tale, the artist is a young boy who is living with his family and pet wolf 30,000 years ago. The story follows the boy as he uses his imagination to see animals and other shapes in clouds and rocks. When he describes what he sees to his family, they cannot picture the shapes. As a result, the young boy begins to draw what he sees. “Echoing the simplicity of cave drawings with simply sketched figures, Gerstein enhances them with expressive pen-and-ink detail and luminous acrylics,” commented Joanna Rudge Long in a review for Horn Book. A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted the “solid storytelling, satisfying narrative circularity, and masterful, creative illustrations.”
You Can’t Have Too Many Friends! is a retelling of a French folktale. Farmer Duck begins a quest to recover the valuable jellybeans he has grown but have been taken by the king’s son. Along the way, Duck meets various animals, including a shaggy dog and wasps, who ultimately play a key role in helping the farmer recover his jellybean crop from the nefarious king. “Children will anticipate the role of each of Duck’s pals,” wrote Horn Book contributor Susan Dove Lempke. Writing in Kirkus Reviews, a reviewer commented: “A mixture of blocks of text and dialogue balloons carries the action along with verve.”
In The Night World, a young boy who, along with his cat, wakes up in the middle of the night and experiences the particular wonders of the dark until daybreak comes. “Establishing a standard perspective across a number of spreads, Gerstein highlights the gentle change to the environment” as darkness slowly evolves into daylight, wrote Thom Barthelmess in Horn Book. The Sleeping Gypsy provides an imaginative background story to the artist Henri Rousseau’s painting of the same name. Noting that the painting “has long intrigued critics and viewers,” Booklist contributor Kay Weisman went on to remark: “Gerstein isn’t the first to suggest it has dreamlike qualities.” Horn Book contributor Lolly Robinson noted: “Gerstein’s story is an example of the visual thinking strategies often used when children visit museums.”
Gerstein provided young readers with an introduction to the mischievous Greek god Pan in his book I Am Pan! “It’s every bit the wild and woolly ‘autobiography’ that a chaotic spirit like Pan deserves,” remarked a Publishers Weekly contributor. The Boy and the Whale is a tale about a boy who once nearly drowned when caught in a net. When the boy recalls his own fear, he sets out to rescue a whale caught in a similar situation. Horn Book contributor Minh Le noted: “At times the art is dazzling.” I Am Hermes! is the last book Gerstein completed before his death. This time he tells the story of Pan’s father, who narrates his own tale. “Gerstein’s version is witty, tricky, and deliciously satisfying in both words and pictures,” wrote Sarah Ellis in Horn Book.
In an obituary for Gerstein in the New York Times, Katharine Q. Seelye noted: “Most of Mr. Gerstein’s books wrestled in some way with questions about human behavior that worked themselves out through storytelling, though they were never preachy or saccharine. And they did not shrink from subjects like the inevitability of death.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Ward, Martha E., and others, Authors of Books for Young People, 3rd edition, Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ), 1990.
PERIODICALS
American Music Teacher, December, 2002, Jane Cassidy, review of What Charlie Heard, p. 82.
Booklinks, July, 2005, Cyndi Giorgis and Nancy J. Johnson, “Talking with Mordicai Gerstein,” pp. 50-53.
Booklist, October 1, 1994, Ilene Cooper, review of The Shadow of a Flying Bird: A Legend of the Kurdistani Jews, p. 330; July 15, 1995, Leone McDermott, review of Daisy’s Garden, pp. 1882-1883; June 1, 1996, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Bedtime, Everybody!, p. 1731; April 15, 1997, Kay Weisman, review of Something Queer in the Wild West, p. 1429; October 1, 1997, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Jonah and the Two Great Fish, p. 322; July, 1998, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of Stop Those Pants!, pp. 1885-1886; October 1, 1998, Roger Leslie, review of Victor: A Novel Based on the Life of the Savage of Aveyron, p. 324; January 1, 1999, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Noah and the Great Flood, p. 881; April 1, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of The Absolutely Awful Alphabet, p. 1416; December 15, 1999, Ellen Mandel, review of Queen Esther the Morning Star, p. 787; April 1, 2002, John Peters, review of What Charlie Heard, p. 1338; April 1, 2003, Michael Cart, review of Sparrow Jack, p. 1402; November 1, 2003, Hazel Rochman, review of The Man Who Walked between the Towers, p. 498; October 1, 2006, Ilene Cooper, “Fathers and Sons,” p. 63; March 15, 2009, Ian Chipman, review of A Book, p. 60; August 1, 20098, Ilene Cooper, Ilene, review of Applesauce Season, p. 76; November 1, 2010, Ilene Cooper, review of Danger & Diamonds: A Mystery at Sea, p. 67; March 15, 2013, Carolyn Phelan, Carolyn, review of How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers: A Simple but Brilliant Plan in 24 Easy Steps, p. 76; April 1k 2014, Kay Weisman, Kay, review of You Can’t Have Too Many Friends!, p. 95; September 15, 2016, Kay Weisman, review of The Sleeping Gypsy, p. 60.
Books for Keeps, November, 1993, review of The Mountains of Tibet, p. 31.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, November, 1985; July-August, 1986; November, 1986; January, 1988; April, 1993, pp. 248-249; November, 1997, Janice M. Del Negro, review of Jonah and the Two Great Fish, pp. 84-85; December, 1998, Janice M. Del Negro, review of The Wild Boy, p. 131; February, 1999, Janice M. Del Negro, review of Noah and the Great Flood, pp. 200-201; September, 2001, Janice M. Del Negro, review of Fox Eyes, p. 14; December, 2003, Elizabeth Bush, review of The Man Who Walked between the Towers, p. 152.
Catholic Library World, June, 1999, review of Victor, p. 63.
Childhood Education, summer, 2004, Jennifer L. Doyle, review of The Man Who Walked between the Towers, p. 212.
Five Owls, January, 1995, review of The Story of May, p. 51; May, 1995, review of The Seal Mother, p. 95.
Horn Book, March-April, 1995, Hanna B. Zeiger, review of The Shadow of a Flying Bird, pp. 205-206; November-December, 1998, Mary M. Burns, review of Victor and The Wild Boy, p. 714; March-April, 1999, Jennifer M. Brabander, review of Noah and the Great Flood, p. 222; November- December, 2003, Lolly Robinson, review of The Man Who Walked between the Towers, pp. 763-764; July-August, 2004, “Caldecott Medal Acceptance,” pp. 405-409, and Elizabeth Gordon, “Mordicai Gerstein,” pp. 411-414; January-February, 2005, “The Man Who Walked between the Towers,” pp. 19-22; May-June, 2005, Joanna Rudge Long, review of The Old Country, pp. 323-324; September-October, 2005, Susan P. Bloom, review of Carolinda Clatter!, p. 563. May-June, 2009, Nina Lindsay, review or A Book, p. 281; January-February, 2012, Joanna Rudge Long, review of The Camping Trip That Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Our National Parks, p. 118; May-June, 2013, Joanna Rudge Long, review of How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers, p. 60; September-October, 2013, Joanna Rudge Long, review of The First Drawing, p. 73; March-April, Susan Dove Lempke, review of You Can’t Have Too Many Friends!, p. 102; May-June, 2015, Thom Barthelmess, review of The Night World, p. 87; May-June, 2016, Sarah Ellis, review of I Am Pan!, p. 118; November-December, 2016, Lolly Robinson, review of The Sleeping Gypsy, p. 57; September-October, 2017, Minh Le, review of The Boy and the Whale, p. 69; May-June, 2019, Sarah Ellis, review of I Am Hermes!, p. 159.
Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 1996, review of Bedtime, Everybody!, p. 226; August 1, 1998, review of The Wild Boy, p. 1117; March 1, 1999, review of The Absolutely Awful Alphabet, p. 375; June 1, 2001, review of Fox Eyes, p. 801; January 15, 2002, review of What Charlie Heard, p. 104; July 15, 2011, review of Dear Hot Dog: Poems about Everyday Stuff; December 1, 2011, review of The Camping Trip that Changed America; February 15, 2013, review of How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers; August 1, 2013, review of The First Drawing; February 1, 2014, review of You Can’t Have Too Many Friends!; August 15, 20176, review of The Boy and the Whale; February 15, 2019, review of I Am Hermes!
Language Arts, January, 2003, review of What Charlie Heard, p. 238.
Library Talk, May, 1995, review of The Shadow of a Flying Bird, p. 54.
New York Times Book Review, April 10, 1983; June 10, 1984, Martha Saxton, review of The Room, p. 35; August 10, 1986, Jacques d’Amboise, review of Tales of Pan, p. 25; November 8, 1987, John Bierhorst, “Going around Once or Twice,” p. 44; June 6, 1993, Janet Maslin, review of The Story of May, p. 32; November 20, 1994, John Crowley, review of The Shadow of a Flying Bird, p. 30; November 15, 1998, Kathryn Harrison, “Who Is the Real Savage?,” p. 50; December 3, 2000, Molly E. Rauch, review of The Jar of Fools: Eight Hanukkah Stories from Chelm, p. 85; May 19, 2002, Abby McGanney Nolan, “The Sounds of Music,” p. 34; November 16, 2003, Robin Tzannes, “A Walker over the City,” p. 31.
Publishers Weekly, July 6, 1984, review of Something Queer at the Ball Park, p. 65; April 12, 1993, review of The Story of May, p. 62; August 15, 1994, review of The Shadow of a Flying Bird, pp. 95-96; April 27, 1998, review of Stop Those Pants!, pp. 65-66; July 13, 1998, review of The Wild Boy, p. 77, and review of Victor, p. 79; February 22, 1999, review of Noah and the Great Flood, p. 86; March 15, 1999, review of The Absolutely Awful Alphabet, p. 57; February 21, 2000, review of Queen Esther the Morning Star, p. 53; January 27, 2002, review of What Charlie Heard, p. 290; January 27, 2003, review of Sparrow Jack, p. 258; March 17, 2003, review of Three Samurai Cats: A Story from Japan, p. 76; September 1, 2003, review of The Man Who Walked between the Towers, p. 89; April 18, 2005, Sally Lodge, “Building on Childhood Memories,” p. 63, and review of The Old Country, p. 64; July 31, 2006, review of The White Ram: A Story of Abraham and Isaac, p. 77; January 26, 20098, review of A Book, p. 118; October 4, 2010, review of Danger & Diamonds, p. 47; December 2, 105, review of The Night World, p. 40; April 20, 2015, review of The Night World, p. 75; Publishers Weekly, December 2, 2016, review of I Am Pan!, p. 28.
Reading Teacher, November, 2002, review of What Charlie Heard, p. 312.
Riverbank Review, spring, 2003, review of Sparrow Jack, p. 35.
School Library Journal, January, 1988, Judy Greenfield, review of Something Queer in Rock ‘n’ Roll, p. 67; April, 1993, Ruth K. MacDonald, review of The Story of May, p. 96; February, 1994, Anne Connor, review of Something Queer in Outer Space, p. 88; September, 1994, pp. 207-208; April, 1995, Jane Marino, review of Daisy’s Garden, pp. 101-102; June, 1996, Cynthia K. Richey, review of Bedtime, Everybody!, p. 100; July, 1996, Christina Dorr, review of Behind the Couch, p. 65; May, 1997, Sharon R. Pearce, review of Something Queer in the Wild West, p. 104; August, 1997, Patricia Pearl Dole, review of Jonah and the Two Great Fish, pp. 147-148; June, 1998, Susan Pine, review of Stop Those Pants!, p. 103; October, 1998, Jennifer A. Fakolt, review of Victor, p. 135; April, 1999, Torrie Hodgson, review of Noah and the Great Flood, p. 113; May, 1999, Robin L. Gibson, review of The Absolutely Awful Alphabet, p. 106; April, 2000, Susan Scheps, review of Queen Esther the Morning Star, p. 119; November, 2001, Blair Christolon, review of Fox Eyes, pp. 123- 124; March, 2002, Lisa Mulvenna, review of What Charlie Heard, p. 214; June, 2003, Steven Englefried, review of Sparrow Jack, p. 99, and Miriam Lang Budin, review of Three Samurai Cats, p. 129; November, 2003, Wendy Lukehart, review of The Man Who Walked between the Towers, p. 125; May, 2004, Anita Silvey, “Sitting on Top of the World,” pp. 54-57; May, 2005, Susan Hepler, The Old Country, pp. 126-127; November, 2005, Julie Roach, review of Carolinda Clatter!, p. 92; September, 2006, Lisa Silverman, review of The White Ram: A Story of Abraham and Isaac, p. 172.
Teacher Librarian, March, 1999, Shirley Lewis, review of The Wild Boy, p. 44; June, 2003, review of What Charlie Heard, p. 37.
Teaching Music, October, 2003, review of What Charlie Heard, p. 76.
Time, December 14, 1987, p. 79; December 5, 2005, Christopher Porterfield, “Destination: Make Believe,” review of Carolinda Clatter!, p. W1.
Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), December 7, 2003, review of The Man Who Walked between the Towers, p. 5.
Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 1999, Megan Isaac, review of Victor, p. 433.
ONLINE
Mordicai Gerstein, http: / /www.mordicaigerstein.com (November 15, 2019).
Public Broadcasting Service, http://www.pbs.org/ (February 16, 2004), Jeffrey Brown, interview with Gerstein.
OBITUARIES
Israeli National News, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/ (September 26, 2019), Penny Schwartz, “Acclaimed Artist and Author Mordicai Gerstein Dies at 83.”
New York Times, October 4, 2019, Katharine Q. Seelye, “Mordicai Gerstein, Illustrator of Magical Worlds, Dies at 83.”
Mordicai Gerstein is the author and illustrator of The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, winner of the Caldecott Medal, and has had four books named New York Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year. Gerstein was born in Los Angeles in 1935. He remembers being inspired as a child by images of fine art, which his mother cut out of Life magazine, and by children's books from the library: "I looked at Rembrandt and Superman, Matisse and Bugs Bunny, and began to make my own pictures."
He attended Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and then got a job in an animated cartoon studio that sent him to New York, where he designed characters and thought up ideas for TV commercials. When a writer named Elizabeth Levy asked him to illustrate a humorous mystery story about two girls and a dog, his book career began, and soon he moved on to writing as well as illustrating. The author of more than forty books, Gerstein lived in Westhampton, Massachusetts.
Acclaimed artist and author Mordicai Gerstein dies at 83
Mordicai Gerstein, artist and award-winning author of children's books, dead at 83.
Penny Schwartz, JTA, 26/09/19 15:28
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Acclaimed artist and children’s book author Mordicai Gerstein died at the age of 83.
Gerstein won the 2006 National Jewish Book award for “The White Ram: A Story of Abraham and Isaac,” and the Caldecott Medal in 2004 for “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. ”
The artist’s death Tuesday was confirmed by his gallerist, Richard Michelson, of R. Michelson Galleries, in Northampton, Massachusetts, where Gerstein lived.
Gerstein, also a painter, sculptor and designer of animated films, and admired for his often whimsical, playful illustrations, penned and illustrated nearly 50 books. Among his many Jewish titles are “The Jar of Fools: Eight Hanukkah Stories From Chelm,” written by Eric A. Kimmel, and “Sholem’s Treasure,” by Erica Silverman, which garnered the 2006 Sydney Taylor Book Award given by the Association of Jewish Libraries.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Gerstein took to art from an early age, encouraged by his parents, both Jewish immigrants. After a decades-long career designing and directing animated television commercials and children’s’ television shows, in 1971, he collaborated with writer Elizabeth Levy for “Something Queer is Going on Here,” a popular children’s mystery series. In 1980, he began writing and illustrating his own books.
His Jewish-themed books drew on his love of midrashim, Jewish storytelling based on biblical stories. “I seem to have always known the stories from the Torah, as if I’d absorbed them by osmosis,” he told the American Jewish Library Association in a speech posted on his website.
“Mordicai was a mensch, the sweetest man,” Michelson, also an award-winning Jewish children’s author, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “His work transcended the borders between fine art and illustration and he developed his own distinct style.”
Gerstein is survived by his wife, Susan Yard Harris, also an illustrator, and two children.
Mordicai Gerstein
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Mordicai Gerstein (November 24, 1935 – September 24, 2019) was an American artist, writer, and film director, best known for illustrating and writing children's books. He illustrated the comic mystery fiction series Something Queer is Going On.
Gerstein was born in Los Angeles, California. He illustrated the "Something Queer" series, written by Elizabeth Levy, from 1973 to 2003. He won the 2004 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing The Man Who Walked Between the Towers (Roaring Brook Press, 2003), which he also wrote.[1] Created in response to the September 11 attacks, it features the story of Philippe Petit's unauthorized high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on August 7, 1974.
Gerstein directed four holiday specials for NBC TV in the late 1970s and early 1980s based on the Berenstain Bears book series, the most notable being The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree, which premiered on December 3, 1979.[2]
Gerstein lived in Westhampton, Massachusetts.
Works[edit]
Gerstein wrote and illustrated the following books,:[3]
The Boy and the Whale (2017)
I Am Pan! (2016)
The Sleeping Gypsy (2016)
The Night World (2015)
You Can't Have Too Many Friends! (inspired by Drakestail; 2014)
The First Drawing (2013)
How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers (2013)
Dear Hot Dog (2011)
A Book (2009)
Minifred Goes to School (2009)
Leaving the Nest (2007)
Carolinda Clatter! (2005)
The Old Country (2005)
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers (2003)
Sparrow Jack (2003)
What Charlie Heard (2002)
Fox Eyes (2001)
Queen Esther the Morning Star (2001)
The Absolutely Awful Alphabet (1999)
Noah and the Great Flood (1999)
Victor (1998)
The Wild Boy (1998)
Stop Those Pants! (1998)
Jonah and the Two Great Fish (1997)
Behind the Couch (1996)
Bedtime Everybody! (1996)
The Giant (1995)
The Shadow of a Flying Bird (1994)
The Story of May (1993)
The New Creatures (1991)
The Sun's Day (1989)
Beauty and the Beast (1989)
William, Where Are You? (1989)
The Mountains of Tibet (1987)
The Seal Mother (1986)
Tales of Pan (1986)
The Room (1985)
Roll Over (1984)
Prince Sparrow (1984)
Follow Me! (1983)
Arnold of the Ducks (1983)
Gerstein has written two books that were illustrated by his wife, Susan Yard Harris:
Daisy's Garden (1995)
Anytime Mapleson and the Hungry Bears (1990)
Gerstein has also illustrated numerous books by other writers, including:
Frankenstein Moved In On The Fourth Floor (1981), by Elizabeth Levy
Dracula Is A Pain in the Neck (1983), by Elizabeth Levy
Gorgonzola Zombies in the Park (1993), by Elizabeth Levy
Apple Sauce Season (2009), by Eden Ross Lipson
How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird (2007), by Jacques Prévert (1900–1977)
Something Queer Is Going On (1973 to 2003), mystery series by Elizabeth Levy
Mordicai Gerstein, Illustrator of Magical Worlds, Dies at 83
He wrote and illustrated more than 40 children’s books, many of which dealt with the messy business of being human.
The illustrator and author Mordicai Gerstein in 2004 with his most famous book, “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers,” published the previous year. True to his style, he celebrated the World Trade Center towers but didn’t ignore their fate on Sept. 11, 2001.
Credit...
Bob Stern/The Republican, via Associated Press
By Katharine Q. Seelye
Oct. 4, 2019
Mordicai Gerstein, a writer, illustrator and master storyteller whose books created magical worlds where young readers could ponder big questions, died on Sept. 24 at his home in Westhampton, Mass. He was 83.
His wife, Susan Yard Harris, herself an artist and illustrator, said the cause was metastatic esophageal cancer.
Mr. Gerstein wrote and illustrated more than 40 books. Although they were intended for children, they also resonated with adults.
They ranged across a variety of styles and subjects, including contemporary fantasy (“How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers,” published in 2013), biblical retellings (“Noah and the Great Flood,” 1999) and Greek myths (“I Am Pan!,” 2016). Some were rooted in Jewish shtetl lore, and one (“The Mountains of Tibet,” 1987) sprang from the centuries-old “Tibetan Book of the Dead.”
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Others, like “What Charlie Heard” (2002), were based on real people or events — in this case, the life of the composer Charles Ives.
His most famous book, “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers” (2003), which won the Caldecott Medal, tells of the breathtaking moment in 1974 when Philippe Petit, the French high-wire artist, secretly strung a cable between the twin towers of the World Trade Center and walked — and also danced and pranced — across. There was no net below, only slack-jawed New Yorkers looking up and wondering if he would make it.
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Most of Mr. Gerstein’s books wrestled in some way with questions about human behavior that worked themselves out through storytelling, though they were never preachy or saccharine. And they did not shrink from subjects like the inevitability of death.
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Mr. Gerstein’s books were intended for children but resonated with adults. In “The Shadow of a Flying Bird” (1994), he confronted the inevitability of death.
Credit...
Hyperion Books
In “The Shadow of a Flying Bird” (1994), Moses asks to live longer than his 120 years, which to him seem like one short day. God replies that life is like the shadow of a flying bird: “Even if you lived a thousand years, at the end it would seem but one day.” The story is a retelling of a midrash, a rabbinical commentary on the Scriptures.
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“All stories, in one way or another, are about this mystery of being a human being,” Mr. Gerstein said in a 2005 interview with TeachingBooks.net. “What are we here for and what are we doing? What are we supposed to do? How am I supposed to be a kid? How do I be a teenager? How do I be me?”
He often called the business of being human messy, difficult, even incomprehensible — and yet wonderful. Despite the weightiness of some of his subjects, he was a mirthful man who reveled in life’s mysteries, took delight in mischief-making and retained his capacity for wonder. Many of his books were laugh-out-loud funny.
“Mordicai had an unrestrained joy about life,” said his longtime friend Richard Michelson, a poet and author and the owner of the R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, Mass., which represented Mr. Gerstein for more than three decades.
Mr. Michelson contrasted Mr. Gerstein’s work with that of another author he knew well, Maurice Sendak, who in “Where the Wild Things Are” and other books explored the melancholy and terror in children’s lives.
“Maurice plumbed the darkness in the joy,” Mr. Michelson said. “Mordicai brought out the joy in the darkness.”
That was evident in “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers,” which Mr. Gerstein wrote after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It was a sign of his creative spirit that out of that tragedy he chose to celebrate Mr. Petit’s fantastical feat, a glorious day for the towers. But true to his style, he didn’t ignore the towers’ fate.
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“The Man Who Walked Between the Towers,” which won a Caldecott Medal, tells of the moment in 1974 when the French high-wire artist Philippe Petit strung a cable between the twin towers of the World Trade Center and walked across.
Credit...
Roaring Brook Press
After several pages of rollicking illustrations, one page is blank, except for these words: “Now the towers are gone.” That simple sentence lets adults decide how much to impart. The book ends with this:
“But in memory, as if imprinted on the sky, the towers are still there. And part of that memory is the joyful morning, August 7, 1974, when Philippe Petit walked between them in the air.”
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Mr. Gerstein dedicated the book to Mr. Petit, “for the gifts of his courage, his impeccable art and his mythic sense of mischief.”
Mordicai Menachem Mendel Gerstein was born in Los Angeles on Nov. 24, 1935. His father, Samuel, was a wholesale grocer, a restaurant owner and later a playwright. His mother, Faye (Chornow) Gerstein, was a homemaker who nurtured his early love of art by making scrapbooks of famous paintings for him and hanging reproductions of Picasso and Cézanne on the walls of their tiny basement flat.
He attended the Chouinard Institute of Art in Los Angeles (now the California Institute of the Arts). A longtime fan of cartoons, he went to work as an artist-designer for the UPA animation studio in 1956.
In 1957 he married Sandra MacDonald, a painter; they divorced in 1969. He married Ms. Harris in 1984.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Gerstein is survived by their daughter, Risa Faye Harris-Gerstein; a son, Aram Amadeus Gerstein, from his first marriage; his brother, Robert Sar Gerstein; two grandchildren; and one great-grandson. Another son from his first marriage, Jesse Simcha Gerstein, died in 1991.
UPA transferred Mr. Gerstein to its Manhattan studio in 1957. He was thrilled. As he wrote on his website, he saw New York “as the world capital of the arts.”
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He designed and directed animated television commercials and children’s shows, a job he liked because it drew on multiple disciplines. “Even a 30-second commercial involved drawing and painting, as well as storytelling, not to mention actors, music and sound effects,” he said.
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“I Am Hermes!” (2019) was Mr. Gerstein’s last book to be published. Like his other books, it captured his capacity for wonder.
Credit...
Penguin Random House
A turning point came in 1970 when he met Elizabeth Levy, an author who was writing a children’s mystery about two sleuths, Jill and her best friend, Gwen, and Jill’s basset hound, Fletcher, who never moved. The book, “Something Queer Is Going On,” was published in 1973 with Mr. Gerstein’s illustrations.
That led to their collaboration on a popular series of a dozen books over the next three decades. During the 1970s and ’80s, Mr. Gerstein also directed four animated holiday specials for NBC based on the Berenstain Bears book series, including the popular “The Berenstain Bears’ Christmas Tree.”
It was working on the “Something Queer” series that prompted him to think about creating his own picture books — a medium he loved, he said on his website, because “it was film and drawing and theater all in one.”
His first book as author and illustrator, “Arnold of the Ducks,” about a boy raised by ducks, was rejected by seven publishers before it was published in 1983. Despite the slow start, Mr. Gerstein eventually received multiple awards and honors.
His last book to be published, “I Am Hermes!” (2019), was edited by Grace Maccarone, the executive editor at Holiday House. After Mr. Gerstein died, she told Publishers Weekly in a tribute:
“When I think about Mordicai, I think of a particular panel in ‘I Am Hermes!’ The newborn Hermes goes outdoors for the first time and exclaims: ‘THE WORLD! It’s even better than I expected. I love it!’”
Katharine Q. “Kit” Seelye has been the New England bureau chief, based in Boston, since 2012. She previously worked in the Washington bureau for 12 years, has covered six presidential campaigns and pioneered The Times’s online coverage of politics. @kseelye
Mordicai Gerstein is the author and illustrator of dozens of works for young readers, among them the critically acclaimed The Night World, Sleeping Gypsy, and I Am Pan! In addition, Gerstein has provided the artwork for numerous works by other writers, especially those of Elizabeth Levy. Gerstein was awarded the prestigious Caldecott Medal for his self-illustrated picture book The Man Who Walked between the Towers.
After more than four decades as an illustrator of children’s books, Gerstein still manages to find inspiration in the world around him. “I’m always looking for things that puzzle and disturb or amuse me, things that are fun to make pictures of,” Gerstein stated in his Caldecott acceptance speech. “I make books for people, most of who happen to be children, and I try to address the most essential parts of all of us.”
Unable to copy the rest of bios in bio section.
* I Am Hermes!: Mischief-Making Messenger of the Gods
by Mordicai Gerstein; illus. by the author
Primary, Intermediate Holiday 72 pp. g
4/19 978-0-8234-3942-3 $18.99
e-book ed. 978-0-8234-4203-4 $11.99
Following I Am Pan! (rev. 5/16), here comes Pan's father, Hermes, the messenger god, eager to tell his own story. This Hermes is handsome, insouciant, impulsive, and bursting with self-esteem (his first word: "Gimme!"). His adventures and exploits are decorated with contemporary touches (for example, on the day he steals Apollo's cows, he also invents country-and-western music). These are bright, noisy, fast-moving stories, and here (as elsewhere) Gerstein proves himself a genius of the comics form, especially of the speech balloon, as he creates layered conversations, rich with interior monologue, gossip, and prevarication. The gem of the collection is a little-known tale, mentioned in The Iliad, of "Otus and Ephialtes, the Nasty Twin Giants." Gerstein's version is witty, tricky, and deliciously satisfying in both words and pictures; creepy thugs hoist with their own petards. What does it all add up to? Myths leave lots of room for interpretation, and Gerstein here suggests that Hermes was the force behind the internet. There's another cheekily implicit possibility: Gerstein's Hermes is the god of deceit, thievery, and business. He invents "the art of the deal." He's very orange. Some readers, even young ones, may make a connection.
g indicates that the book was read in galley or page proof. The publisher's price is the suggested retail price and does not indicate a possible discount to libraries. Grade levels are only suggestions; the individual child is the real criterion.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Ellis, Sarah. "I Am Hermes!: Mischief-Making Messenger of the Gods." The Horn Book Magazine, May-June 2019, p. 159. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A585800719/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=58615f0a. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A585800719
Gerstein, Mordicai I AM HERMES! Holiday House (Children's Traditional Literature) $18.99 3, 26 ISBN: 978-0-8234-3942-3
Gerstein follows up I Am Pan! (2016) with an account of the pranks and exploits of the goat-footed god's equally free-spirited father.
Bursting with self-confidence, golden from helmet to winged sandals, and, on the cover at least, sprayed with sparkles, Hermes literally outshines a multihued, caricatured supporting cast of gods, demigods, mortals, and monsters parading through the loosely drawn sequential panels. The boasting begins with his birth, first word ("GIMME!"), and--still but 1 day old--invention of the lyre from a tortoise shell and theft of Apollo's cattle by turning their hooves around so they can't be tracked. Charming his way out of punishment (and leaving Apollo happily strumming a cowboy song on the lyre), he goes on as messenger of the gods to hoodwink the nasty twin giants Otus and Ephialtes, become a father and a grandfather, rescue Hera's friend Io from the monster Argus (a knobbly, pitch-black boojum studded with eyes), bestow on Aesop the art of telling fables, and, as the other gods fade into retirement, ultimately find a bright new outlet for his particular talents: "The Internet!" It's a selective account, with all of Hermes' amorous adventures except the wooing of Penelopeta (Pan's mom) skipped over and the violence of the author's classical source material dialed down enough to, for instance, leave Argus alive and the giants not slaughtered but tricked into a permanent bout of arm-wrestling. Admitting in a closing note to a bit of embellishment (no kidding), Gerstein caps this rollicking revel with a short but scholarly resource list.
A highflying mythological memoir alight with joie de vivre. (Mythology. 7-11)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Gerstein, Mordicai: I AM HERMES!" Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2019. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A573768891/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=8e79f309. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A573768891
The Boy and the Whale
by Mordicai Gerstein
Primary Roaring Brook 40 pp. g
11/17 978-1-62672-505-8 $17.99
When a whale gets caught in their only fishing net, a boy and his father have drastically different reactions. The father leaves the ensnared animal in search of a replacement net, while the boy is focused on saving the whale. The book does not pass judgment on the father, whose practical concerns are rooted in the family's well-being and survival. But it does celebrate the boy for looking beyond those concerns. The boy listens to his heart and, against the advice of his father, risks his life to free the whale. There is a revealing moment when the boy looks into the whale's eye: "All I saw was my own reflection." The empathy of that moment points to the boy's motivation: for him, the whale's situation and his own are intrinsically connected. At times the art is dazzling, particularly when Gerstein (Caldecott Medalist for The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, rev. 9/03) shows the dappled sunlight on the glittering surface of the sea or conveys the whale's immensity. A series of spreads near the end that captures the boy's joy at freeing the whale, his uncertainty when it dives and disappears, and his awe when it explodes out of the water is cinematic and dramatically paced. A helpful reminder that when faced with insurmountable odds, the impractical choice may just turn out to be the necessary one. MINH LE
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Le, Minh. "The Boy and the Whale." The Horn Book Magazine, Sept.-Oct. 2017, p. 69+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A503641781/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6f9b3517. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A503641781
Gerstein, Mordicai THE BOY AND THE WHALE Roaring Brook (Children's Fiction) $17.99 11, 21 ISBN: 978-1-62672-505-8
A boy defies his father's warning and rescues a whale tangled in their sole fishing net.The story opens with two clear viewpoints. Papa is distressed their only source of income is in jeopardy; Abelardo is very concerned for the whale's survival. He remembers a time when he had been trapped in a net and almost drowned before his father saved him. Papa leaves to borrow another net, and Abelardo, alone on the beach, takes their outboard-equipped panga out to the ensnared whale, dives in, and bravely works with a small knife to cut the tough plastic netting, finally freeing the animal. The boy's daring determination and his emotional and physical struggles are evident in the succinct, first-person narrative, which builds urgency, fear, and suspense to a one-word crescendo--"...BREATHE!"--when Abelardo and whale must surface to do so. Realistic pen-and-ink-and-acrylic paintings alternate between sunny, glimmering sea and beach scenes and dark underwater scenes done in aquas and grays. The drama is vividly shown, paralleling the boy's passion with the whale's defeated resignation in a double-page image of the boy's grim face next to and as large as the gray whale's sad eye. The inspiring, humane adventure joyfully concludes with Gerstein's pinnacle scenes of the whale breaching joyfully. A Latin American coastal setting is indicated with naming conventions; Abelardo and his father have brown skin and straight, black hair. Bravo for a courageous boy's achievement. (Picture book. 5-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Gerstein, Mordicai: THE BOY AND THE WHALE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2017. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A500364796/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e2f96fdf. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A500364796
I Am Pan!
Mordicai Gerstein. Roaring Brook, $18.99 ISBN 978-1-62672-035-0
In roughly a dozen stories told through comics-style sequences, Gerstein (The Night World) delivers a wonderfully mischievous and joyful account of the life of the Greek god Pan, as narrated by the cloven-hooved deity himself. Gerstein draws from Ovid, Graves, and other familiar sources as he describes Pan's romantic misadventures, his music contest with Apollo, and his role in the battle of Marathon, among other myths, while also adding playful, modern touches throughout (when Zeus battles Typhon, the monster stuns the god with a screech that sounds like "one thousand fingernails on a blackboard"). Gerstein's jittery illustrations are perfectly suited to Pan's scruffy, goaty body and inexhaustible energy, and the lurid, zigzagging lettering he uses for Pan's panic-inducing screams is especially effective. Laughs come fast and frequently, whether it's Pan haplessly trying to court various nymphs ("But I glub you! Glub glub glub," he shouts as a waterfall nymph sends him tumbling) or the gods retiring to "Greece--or is it Canada" as the book comes to a close. It's every bit the wild and woolly "autobiography" that a chaotic spirit like Pan deserves. Ages 5-9.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"I Am Pan!" Publishers Weekly, 2 Dec. 2016, p. 28. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A475224443/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=cfb0da6b. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A475224443
* The Sleeping Gypsy
by Mordicai Gerstein;
illus. by the author
Primary Holiday 32 pp.
10/16 978-0-8234-2142-8 $16.95
e-book ed. 978-0-8234-3742-9 $16.95
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Many of Henri Rousseau's paintings appear to be telling a story, particularly The Sleeping Gypsy, which shows a woman sleeping on the desert sand with a mandolin on one side of her body and, on the other, a lion. What will happen next? Gerstein's version of the story, with a context-setting prologue, is more humorous than one might have expected from this potentially ominous setup, and he eschews his familiar line and color wash style for more Rousseaulike opaque acrylics. The text evokes a vivid reality, providing the reader with the feelings, sounds, and even the tastes of the desert setting. After a long walk, a young woman sits down on the sand and plays her mandolin by moonlight, soon falling asleep. One by one, a lizard, rabbit, ostrich, and more come to inspect her, until a hungry lion bounds into the frame, and we think the jig is up. But then Rousseau appears, explaining that this is all a dream, which he intends to paint. As each animal then criticizes its likeness, Rousseau obligingly paints it out of the scene--all except the proud lion, who, happy to have become a more important part of the painting, stays to guard the young woman until daybreak. On the book's last spread, Gerstein employs his own signature style to show an aerial view of Paris in detailed pen and wash, Rousseau's garret in the forefront, where we see the artist viewing his finished work. Neatly conceived and wittily executed, Gerstein's story is an example of the visual thinking strategies often used when children visit museums. Just think of the possibilities for the Mona Lisa and other masterpiece mysteries.
* indicates a book that the editors believe to be an outstanding example of its genre, of books of this particular publishing season, or of the author's body of work.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Robinson, Lolly. "The Sleeping Gypsy." The Horn Book Magazine, Nov.-Dec. 2016, p. 57. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A469755347/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=58d716ef. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A469755347
* I Am Pan!
by Mordicai Gerstein;
illus. by the author
Primary, Intermediate Roaring Brook 80 pp.
3/16 978-1-62672-035-0 $18.99
Never have the first-person point of view and the exclamation point been used more appropriately than in this introduction to the Greek god Pan. Untrammeled ego, low impulse control, resilient, charming--this is a Pan we all recognize. As Hera says, "He delights my heart, but he's a menace." In this set of Pan adventures--including the invention of panic; falling in love with the moon; King Midas; the music contest between Pan and Apollo; and the Battle of Marathon--Gerstein artfully re-creates not only the finger-in-a-light-socket energy of a spirited child but the way that young kids tell stories: abrupt, arbitrary, and rich with action. "When we got to Sicily, Zeus picked up Mount Aetna ... and dropped it on Typhon's head. That was the end of the battle." Pictures match words with a hectic, nervous line; Day-Glo colors; an uppercase hand-lettered text; and a page divided into dozens of varied panel arrangements. Pan is so anxious to get the story started that we don't even get the title page until the third spread. A genial author's note and brief list of sources give us some context without squelching this little goat god one iota.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Ellis, Sarah. "I Am Pan!" The Horn Book Magazine, May-June 2016, p. 118+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A453290688/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=aad6fcec. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A453290688
The Sleeping Gypsy. By Mordicai Gerstein. Illus. by the author. Oct. 2016.32p. Holiday, $16.95 (9780823421428); e-book, $16.95 (9780823437429). K-Gr. 3.
An African girl wearing a striped robe strides across the desert carrying a clay bottle of water, a satchel of food, and a mandolin. At night she eats, plays a song, and falls asleep on the sand. While she slumbers, a group of animals gather around to investigate. When an artist (Henri Rousseau) arrives to paint the scene, all the animals except the lion critique his work, causing the artist to remove them from the scene. In the morning, Rousseau awakens in Paris, ready to finish his masterpiece, which he titles The Sleeping Gypsy. Rousseau's mysterious work has long intrigued critics and viewers, and Gerstein isn't the first to suggest it has dreamlike qualities. The Caldecott winner's acrylic-and-digital artwork pays homage to Rousseau with eerie and meditative spreads. The animals appear in vibrant colors that echo the stripes in the girl's robe, and Gerstein's moon has an expressive (and changing) face that reflects the story's action. Pair with Michelle Markel's The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau (2012) for another take on this iconic artist.--Kay Weisman
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Weisman, Kay. "The Sleeping Gypsy." Booklist, 15 Sept. 2016, p. 60. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A464980974/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9d213bef. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A464980974
* The Night World
Mordicai Gerstein. Little, Brown, $18 (40p) ISBN 978-0-316-18822-7
Caldecott Medalist Gerstein (The Man Who Walked Between the Towers) lifts two everyday miracles up for celebration--the way that night transforms objects into unfamiliar forms and shadows, and the way that morning restores them to their original splendor. One morning before dawn, a black cat jumps onto the bed of a boy. "Me-out!" Sylvie tells him. "It's coming." Gerstein paints the two as black shapes on soft gray; as they creep through the house, sleeping family members and bulky pieces of furniture create graceful, abstract compositions. For Gerstein, night is not a problem to be Solved. The boy wanders without anxiety, and everything unfolds with a sense of leisurely pleasure. He wonders at the starry sky ("The air is warm and sweet.... This is the night world. There are shadows everywhere") and struggles to identify familiar things. "Are those lilies and sunflowers? Where are their colors?" Now, animals begin to gather in anticipation: deer, an owl, a porcupine, rabbits. "It's coming," they murmur. What's coming is clear, but readers will find their hearts beating faster despite themselves. The sky begins to lighten, becoming a pale, milky green. A turn of the page and the sky grows brighter; the animals retreat: "This is our bedtime." Yet another page turn, and the boy greets the rising sun. "It's here!" says Sylvie. The sun casts long yellow rays, and the flowers are revealed in all their glory. It's a remarkable achievement, gratifying for the way simple pencil lines and casual strokes of color are used to create the luminous spreads. Gerstein's sure eye and patient observation of each moment of the dawn provide all the drama this narrative needs. Ages 3-6. June)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Night World." Publishers Weekly, 20 Apr. 2015, p. 75. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A411335301/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=7faf0b94. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A411335301
The Night World
by Mordicai Gerstein;
illus. by the author
Primary Little, Brown 32 pp.
6/15 978-0-316-18822-7 $18.00 g
An unnamed boy and his cat, Sylvie, sneak out of the house in the middle of the night to experience the wonders of the world after dark and the following dawn. The story begins before the title page, with the boy bidding good night to Sylvie, who's perched by his bedroom window looking out at the darkening sky. Fast forward to the wee hours, when Sylvie wakes her boy and the pair traipses through the house and out into the yard. There they encounter shadows, flowers, and a passel of animals waiting for something. Working on mottled dark-gray paper, Gerstein defines characters and objects in scribbly black silhouette. Everything is dark, save the white font, some white stars, the whites of the child's eyes, and Sylvie's green eyes. At last the animals' awaited dawn breaks, light and color gradually return, and the nocturnal wildlife retreat to the shadowy shrubs flanking the yard. Establishing a standard perspective across a number of spreads, Gerstein highlights the gentle change to the environment. The glory of daybreak, especially brilliant atop the sooty paper, is both comfortingly reliable and astonishing.
Most of the books are recommended; all of them are subject to the qualifications in the reviews. g indicates that the book was read in galley or page proof. The publisher's price is the suggested retail price and does not indicate a possible discount to libraries. Grade levels are only suggestions; the individual child is the real criterion. H indicates a book that the editors believe to be an outstanding example of its genre, of books of this particular publishing season, or of the author's body of work. For a complete key to the review abbreviations as well as for bios of our reviewers, please visit hbook.com/horn-book-magazine.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Barthelmess, Thom. "The Night World." The Horn Book Magazine, May-June 2015, p. 87+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A411615567/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a919c2d6. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A411615567
The Night World
Mordicai Gerstein. Little, Brown, $18 ISBN 978-0-316-18822-7
Caldecott Medalist Gerstein (The Man Who Walked Between the Towers) lifts two everyday miracles up for celebration--the way that night transforms objects into unfamiliar forms and shadows, and the way that morning restores them to their original splendor. One morning before dawn, a black cat jumps onto the bed of a boy. "Me-out!" Sylvie tells him. "It's coming." Gerstein paints the two as black shapes on soft gray; as they creep through the house, sleeping family members and bulky pieces of furniture create graceful, abstract compositions. For Gerstein, night is not a problem to be solved. The boy wanders without anxiety, and everything unfolds with a sense of leisurely pleasure. He wonders at the starry sky ("The air is warm and sweet.... This is the night world. There are shadows everywhere") and struggles to identify familiar things. "Are those lilies and sunflowers? Where are their colors?" Now, animals begin to gather in anticipation: deer, an owl, a porcupine, rabbits. "It's coming," they murmur. What's coming is clear, but readers will find their hearts beating faster despite themselves. The sky begins to lighten, becoming a pale, milky green. A turn of the page and the sky grows brighter; the animals retreat: "This is our bedtime." Yet another page turn, and the boy greets the rising sun. "It's here!" says Sylvie. The sun casts long yellow rays, and the flowers are revealed in all their glory. It's a remarkable achievement, gratifying for the way simple pencil lines and casual strokes of color are used to create the luminous spreads. Gerstein's sure eye and patient observation of each moment of the dawn provide all the drama this narrative needs. Ages 3-6.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Night World." Publishers Weekly, 2 Dec. 2015, p. 40. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A436234081/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f01f7260. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A436234081
You Can't Have Too Many Friends! By Mordicai Gerstein. Illus. by the author. Apr. 2014.32p. Holiday, $ 16.95 (9780823423934). PreS-Gr. 2.
In this version of "Drakestail," a French fairy tale, Duck farms marshmallows, licorice whips, and jelly beans that are so delicious the king comes to "borrow" them. After a year passes without their return, Duck vows to recover them: "Quack, quack, quack! / Quack, quack, quack! / I'm off to get / my jelly beans back!" Along the way, Duck encounters friends (Dog, Lady Ladder, Babbling Brook, and some wasps) who accompany him and thwart the king's at tempts to dispose of Duck. Unlike in the original, Gerstein's king survives to replace Duck's jelly beans and befriend everyone. The strength of this retelling lies in its comfortable rhymes and repeated phrases that make story details easy to remember and anticipate. Additionally, the choice of present tense for most of the tale places listeners within the story and makes them part of the action. Gerstein's sunny, cartoon-style illustrations add to this version's upbeat mood, and the use of speech bubbles will help young listeners to distinguish between narration and dialogue. A good choice for reading aloud or encouraging creative dramatics. --Kay Weisman
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Weisman, Kay. "You Can't Have Too Many Friends!" Booklist, 1 Apr. 2014, p. 95. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A365457449/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=73996df6. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A365457449
Gerstein, Mordicai YOU CAN'T HAVE TOO MANY FRIENDS! Holiday House (Children's Picture Books) $16.95 4, 1 ISBN: 978-0-8234-2393-4
Gerstein tones down the violence and ramps up the humor in this reworked version of an old tale: A year after the king "borrows" his prizewinning jelly beans, Duck the gardener marches off to get them back. Singing as he goes-"Quack, quack, quack! / Quack, quack, quack! / I'm off to get my jelly beans back!"-Duck picks up Dog, Lady Ladder, Babbling Brook and a nest of wasps along the way. And don't they come in handy when the king, depicted in Gerstein's buoyant cartoon illustrations as an ill-tempered little brat, plops Duck down amid a crowd of hostile turkeys, then into a well, then into a hot oven! When the wasps at last drive the king and his equally surly mother away, a search of the castle turns up not jelly beans (as "of course the king had eaten them"), but only a lot of unwanted precious gems. However, disappointed Duck arrives back home to find the king waiting with a tearful apology and an entire pink dump truck full of jelly beans. May he stay for lunch? Of course (see title). A mixture of blocks of text and dialogue balloons carries the action along with verve. A note cites "Drakestail," from a 19th-century French collection, as the story's source. A rib-tickling variant on a tale not often enough retold. (Picture book. 3-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Gerstein, Mordicai: YOU CAN'T HAVE TOO MANY FRIENDS!" Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2014. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A357033017/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9e42f74a. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A357033017
You Can't Have Too Many Friends!
by Mordicai Gerstein; illus. by the author
Preschool, Primary Holiday 32 pp. 4/14 978-0-8234-2393-4 $16.95 g
e-book ed. 978-0-8234-3101-4 $16.95
This retold French folktale ("Drakestail") stars a farmer duck who, in this absurdist version, is wealthy in the jelly beans he has grown. When the littleboy king "borrows" his jelly beans and doesn't return them, Duck sets off on a quest to get them back. Along the way, he meets a large, friendly, shaggy green dog who "shrinks and hops into Duck's pocket"; "Lady Ladder" who does the same; a burbling brook that Duck carries in his gullet; and some wasps transported in Duck's ear. These new friends all come in handy when the king declines to give back the candy. Listening children will anticipate the role of each of Duck's pals and will enjoy seeing the king's nasty acts rightfully rewarded, especially when he's chased naked out of his bathtub by the wasps. This is anything but a heavy-handed moral treatment, though--Gerstein's pen-and-ink, acrylic, and colored-pencil illustrations employ a cheerful palette, with scribbly lines and dialogue bubbles. Each picture includes humorous details such as the web-footed claw bathtub and the queen's fuzzy slippers. And in the end, the king makes reparations, sitting down to a jelly-bean feast with Duck and his odd group of friends.
g indicates that the book was read in galley or page proof.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Lempke, Susan Dove. "You Can't Have Too Many Friends!" The Horn Book Magazine, Mar.-Apr. 2014, p. 102. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A362605971/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2696025a. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A362605971
The First Drawing
by Mordicai Gerstein; illus. by the author
Primary Little, Brown 40 pp.
9/13 978-0-316-20478-1 $17.00
Gerstein explores the imaginative feat it must have been to invent drawing--the two-dimensional depiction of a three-dimensional world. Noting that there exist thirty-thousand-year-old cave drawings (and in the same cave, a child's footprint), the offstage narrator begins by addressing a jeans-clad kid who's about to draw a picture: "Imagine ... You were born before the invention of drawing ... You live in a cave ... You love to watch animals." The pictures then flash back to a prehistoric child (a ringer for the modern-day one), who is a close observer of real animals, finding their images in clouds, rocks, and the shadows on cave walls. After his skeptical father dismisses his tale about an awesome woolly mammoth, the child is inspired by his encounter with the creature, and by his own dreams, to trace its image on the cave wall using a burnt stick ("Look! Here's the tail ..."). At last, the others see: "Magic!"--a thought Gerstein confirms without further exploring the revolutionary nature of the young artist's innovation.
Echoing the simplicity of cave drawings with simply sketched figures, Gerstein enhances them with expressive pen-and-ink detail and luminous acrylics and colored pencil, in hues from pure sky blue to firelight. This empowering tale would pair nicely with Jeanette Winter's Kali's Song (rev. 3/12), which posits the invention of music in another prehistoric cave community.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Long, Joanna Rudge. "The First Drawing." The Horn Book Magazine, Sept.-Oct. 2013, p. 73+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A345774154/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=97d49159. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A345774154
Gerstein, Mordicai THE FIRST DRAWING Little, Brown (Children's Picture Books) $17.00 9, 10 ISBN: 978-0-316-20478-1
Who made the world's first drawing--and why? Caldecott Medalist Gerstein gives his own imagined answer to this question in a polished tale of a boy living 30,000 years ago with his pet wolf and his very extended family. Using narrative direct address ("Imagine- / you were born before the invention of drawing") to effectively bridge the gap between prehistoric times and the present, the story follows the boy on his fanciful discoveries of wooly mammoths in clouds, bears in stones and horses galloping on cave walls. The boy tries to show his family what he sees, but they see only a cloud, a rock and a cave. Gerstein's acrylic, pen-and-ink and colored-pencil mixed-media illustrations create depth and a sense of the past, as well as imparting liveliness and possibility to what could easily have become simply flat drawings. Like the boy in the story who finally, in frustration, picks up a charred stick and draws on the cave wall to make what he sees in his imagination plain to his family, readers may discover that they see pictures of their own within these layered illustrations. Solid storytelling, satisfying narrative circularity, and masterful, creative illustrations make this an inspiring story for young artists. (author's note) (Picture book. 2-6)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Gerstein, Mordicai: THE FIRST DRAWING." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2013. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A338101919/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f13804a3. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A338101919
How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers: A Simple but Brilliant Plan in 24 Easy Steps
by Mordicai Gerstein; illus. by the author
Primary Roaring Brook 40 pp.
4/13 978-1-59643-512-4 $16.99
How would you get to the moon? Here's "a simple but brilliant plan in 24 easy steps," instigated by the gap-toothed narrator's wish to comfort a sad-faced moon. What follows is ebulliently fanciful: a giant slingshot fashioned from inner tubes propels a line of garden hoses, anchoring it to the moon with a flagpole arrow ("Once the flagpole escapes earth's gravity, it will just keep going"); the narrator rides this tightrope line to the moon on her/his snazzy red, fully loaded bike in order to plant mood-raising sunflowers, then returns to earth ("The ride back will seem a lot faster"). The second-person instructions are ingeniously detailed and genuinely childlike, brimming with energy and an unfettered mix of real and pseudo information, as are the precisely imagined and neatly rendered cartoon-style illustrations. Readers may enjoy spotting a couple of small leaks in that hose en route (and in the daft logic, too, particularly concerning the behavior of the moon, which is conveniently full at irregular intervals), but that's all part of the fun--as is the moon's cheery grin, now composed of sunflowers, on the last page. To be perused with glee by budding science-fiction fans and engineers.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Long, Joanna Rudge. "How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers: a Simple but Brilliant Plan in 24 Easy Steps." The Horn Book Magazine, May-June 2013, p. 60+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A329366144/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=fe79cb04. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A329366144
* How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers: A Simple but Brilliant Plan in 24 Easy Steps. By Mordical Gerstein. Illus. by the author. Apr. 2013.40p. Roaring Brook, $16.99 (9781596435124). PreS-Gr. 3.
In this unusual picture book, a boy shares his inventive plan for reaching the moon, planting sunflower seeds, and returning to a hero's welcome back on Earth. What with "homework, soccer, violin, and all the other stuff" on his schedule, he has never made the trip. Still, he happily passes along the practical details of his plan. Preparations include collecting and connecting all your neighbors' Did garden hoses into one 238,900-mile length, building an enormous slingshot that will shoot one end of the hose to the moon (don't forget the anchor), learning to bicycle along the taut hose, and requesting a small spacesuit from NASA, among other important details. Brightly illustrated in cartoon-style panels as well as the occasional double-page spread, the imaginative, first-person text will be riveting for process-minded kids. Because, really, who doesn't want to make a giant slingshot using 2,000 interwoven inner tubes and a couple of birch trees on top of a hill, not to mention travel in space? Can't quite visualize it? Not to worry. Fresh and often-amusing ink drawings, brightened with color washes, illustrate every moment of the adventure. Gerstein, a Caldecott-winning illustrator, offers a uniquely entertaining picture book that glows with the satisfaction of a boy who knows he could travel to the moon.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Phelan, Carolyn. "How to Bicycle to the Moon to Plant Sunflowers: A Simple but Brilliant Plan in 24 Easy Steps." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2013, p. 76. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A324981589/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ed367954. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A324981589
Mordicai Gerstein HOW TO BICYCLE TO THE MOON TO PLANT SUNFLOWERS Roaring Brook (Children's Picture Books) $16.99 4, 2 ISBN: 978-1-59643-512-4
Sensing that the moon needs cheering up, a young inventor provides instructions for an expedition to plant sunflowers there. Gerstein, who profiled The Man Who Walked Between the Towers in 2003, had begun by imagining an even greater challenge, which he describes here. Addressing readers directly, his busy narrator offers a "simple but brilliant" 24-step plan for space travel using 2,000 used truck inner tubes for a slingshot; 238,900 miles of garden hose for a tightrope to the moon; and a suit borrowed from NASA. Special clamps will help the bicycle stay on the hose, which serves double duty; it's also a conduit for water for the plants. Step by step and sub-step, the boy explains the process. His instructions are straightforward but cheerfully outlandish. They include details with special appeal for listeners (the "really cool sound" of the launch). The pacing is perfect, and illustrations add to the humor. (Pay careful attention to the moon's changing expressions.) Pen-and-ink and oil-painted panels expand to show the journey. Captions, which had been securely attached to the edges of the frames while the boy was earthbound, float around on full-bleed double-page spreads until they sink back to the bottoms of the concluding panels. The whole is a grand flight of fancy perfect for a new generation of dreamers and planners. (Picture book. 5-9)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Mordicai Gerstein: HOW TO BICYCLE TO THE MOON TO PLANT SUNFLOWERS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2013. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A318463644/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=3909f057. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A318463644
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The Camping Trip That Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Our National Parks
by Barb Rosenstock; illus. by Mordicai Gerstein
Primary, Intermediate Dial 32 pp.
1/12 978-0-8037-3710-5 $16.99 g
After swiftly introducing her two protagonists--contrasting their origins and the different ways they expressed their love of the outdoors (Roosevelt hunted, fished, rode; Muir studied, sketched, wrote about plants)--Rosenstock plunges into their one encounter. Having read Muir's book pleading for government help to save his beloved mountain forests, Roosevelt asked Muir to take him camping in the Yosemite wilderness. Arriving on May 15, 1903, "Teedie" soon extricated himself from an admiring crowd, "sent his men ahead to set up camp," and escaped on horseback to gape at giant sequoias, listen to "Johnnie's" stories, and camp out. The second night, it snowed; by the time the two reached Yosemite, Roosevelt had been persuaded to create "national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and national forests." They never met again, but "exchanged personal letters for the rest of their lives." As she explains in a note, Rosenstock has invented the dialogue here, but the ideas expressed are authentic; she lists several sources. Gerstein brings his usual verve to the expedition. Individual portraits show the aristocrat in a crowd of his own amusingly disgruntled children and the solitary, bearded naturalist in his beloved wilderness; companionable scenes portray the two together--exultantly riding, chattering by a campfire, gazing in awe at nature's magnificence, or imagining the dire consequences of destroying it. "What if everyone owned the wilderness?" Thanks to these two visionaries, we do; thanks to Rosenstock and Gerstein, we have a fine example of an effective government responding to a vital need in a timely manner. List of sources.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Long, Joanna Rudge. "The Camping Trip That Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Our National Parks." The Horn Book Magazine, Jan.-Feb. 2012, p. 118+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A275576051/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2d00473b. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A275576051
Rosenstock, Barb THE CAMPING TRIP THAT CHANGED AMERICA Dial (Children's Picture Books) $16.99 1, 19 ISBN: 978-0-8037-3710-5
Theodore Roosevelt's 1903 trip to the western parks included a backcountry camping trip-complete with snowstorm-with John Muir in the Yosemite Wilderness and informed the president's subsequent advocacy for national parks and monuments. In a boyish three-day adventure, Teedie (Roosevelt) and Johnnie (Muir) dodge, if temporarily, the confines of more formal surroundings to experience firsthand the glories of the mountains and ancient forests. (You can't ever quite take the boy out of the man, and Rosenstock's use of her subjects' childhood names evokes a sense of Neverland ebullience, even as the grownup men decided the fate of the wilderness.) The narrative is intimate and yet conveys the importance of the encounter both as a magnificent getaway for the lively president and a chance for the brilliant environmentalist to tell the trees' side of the story. Gerstein's depiction of the exuberant president riding off with Muir is enchantingly comical and liberating. A lovely two-page spread turns the opening to a long vertical to show the two men in the Mariposa Grove, relatively small even on horseback, surrounded by the hush and grandeur of the giant sequoias, while in another double-page scene, after a photo of the two at Glacier Point, Muir lies on his back at the edge of the canyon, demonstrating to an attentive Roosevelt how the glacier carved the deep valley below. An author's note explains that the dialogue is imagined and reconstructed from Muir's writing as well as from other accounts of the meeting. Wonderfully simple, sweet and engaging. (author's note, source notes) (Picture book. 7-10)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Rosenstock, Barb: THE CAMPING TRIP THAT CHANGED AMERICA." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2011. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A273543598/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c38c7e14. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A273543598
Gerstein, Mordicai DEAR HOT DOG Abrams (Adult Picture Books) $16.95 8, 1 ISBN: 978-0-8109-9732-5
As the subtitle indicates, poetry and pictures about everyday stuff.
The title poem contains all the virtues of the collection. It's lyrical yet accessible ("You are so fragrant, / plump, and steamy"), poetic ("snug as a puppy / in your bready bun") and more than a little mischievous ("I squeeze the sunny / mustard up and down / your ticklish tummy"). There is mischief as well in some of the presentations. The four stanzas of "Summer Sun" travel downward in rays. "Water" requires readers to turn the book 90 degrees for a vertical two-page poem against a blue background, illustrated with submerged kids in swim fins. Other highlights include "Pillow" ("My pillow sleeps / all day, / dreaming it's / a cloud"), "Books" ("Books! / All sizes, all colors, / whispering, / 'Come inside! / Come inside!' "), "Crayons" ("My crayons pop / up in their box, / hands raised") and "Light" ("Where do you go / when it's dark? / Back into lightbulbs / when I turn them off?"). Anthropomorphism is a running theme-a particularly apt one for young children; Gerstein infuses humanity into a toothbrush, shoes, a bowl, a kite, leaves and an ice-cream cone. His acrylic illustrations are in harmony with his verses; sharp black lines and rich colors that spread outside their outlines, giving a dreamy yet vivid effect.
Twenty-two poems in all; an attractive and highly approachable introduction to poetry for young readers. (Picture book. 4-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Gerstein, Mordicai: DEAR HOT DOG." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2011. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A261178751/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d9e221a6. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A261178751
Danger & Diamonds
Elizabeth Levy, illus, by Mordicai Gerstein. Roaring Brook, $14.99 (160p) ISBN 978-1-59643-462-2
Adding to her catalogue of mystery books for children, Levy (the Fletcher Mysteries) pens a high seas whodunit, first in the Mysteries at Sea series, about two preteens who live aboard a cruise ship and a famous diamond gone missing. Philippa, an Agatha Christie fan and the daughter of the ship's activities coordinators, and Philip, the new captain's son, forge a friendship as they try to figure out the motives of a pushy female passenger and her two not-so-nice nephews. Though the dialogue and plot lean toward cliche ("The fake duchess wasn't the only mystery on board. My feelings about Philip were a mystery, too"), the story maintains interest with unusual vocabulary (commodore, merengue) and vignettes about cruise ship life. Philippa's narration keeps readers guessing about Philip, who, through her eyes, fluctuates between normalcy and arrogant secrecy. Double spreads occasionally feature Gerstein's (A Book) b&w cartoon-styled line art, breaking up the action for budding chapter book readers. A predictable ending wraps up the tale, but not before a climactic seaside horseback ride. Ages 7-12. (Oct.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Danger & Diamonds." Publishers Weekly, 4 Oct. 2010, p. 47+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A238911960/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6ef71138. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A238911960
Diamonds & Danger: A Mystery at Sea.
By Elizabeth Levy. Illus. by Mordicai
Gerstein.
2010. 160p. Roaring Brook, $16.99
(9781596434622). Gr. 4-6.
The premise is fun. Eleven-year-old Philippa's parents work aboard a cruise ship, and she enjoys life at sea. When a new captain comes aboard, he brings his handsome son, Philip, with him, and from the start, it's clear he's troubled about something. Is it the pushy travelers, a duchess and her two snotty nephews? What exactly are they after? They certainly seem interested in Philip, and once she befriends him, Philippa, too, is under their malevolent gaze. When two veterans such as Levy and Gerstein join forces, it's clear the result is going to be good, and with its intriguing high-seas locale, this new mystery series doesn't disappoint. A smart heroine, a cute boy, and a mystery that can be pretty easily solved make this right on target for a middle-grade audience. And with Caldecott Medalist Gerstein behind the expressive double-page illustrations, you can be sure the artwork is of a higher caliber than is found in most series fiction. Anchors away!--Ilene Cooper
Cooper, Ilene
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Cooper, Ilene. "Diamonds & Danger: A Mystery at Sea." Booklist, 1 Nov. 2010, p. 67. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A241779504/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b55a2210. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A241779504
Eden Ross Lipson Applesauce Season; illus. by Mordicai Gerstein
40 pp. Roaring Brook 8/09 ISBN 978-1-59643-216-1 $17.99
(Preschool, Primary)
In this warm portrait of family and food, the young narrator tells us, "Applesauce season starts just about the time school opens, when it is still hot and summery but vacation is over." He and his grandma, city dwellers, go to the farmers' market and buy six pounds of apples for sauce and another six for "eating out of hand." At home, mom helps out, and three generations make the applesauce, a process the boy describes from start ("Mom cuts them into quarters, Grandma cuts them into sixths. I don't know why") to finish ("We taste till it tastes right, and then it cools some more and thickens. Then it's ready'). Though the boy has two applesauce-lovin' sisters, he's clearly the one whose passion equals Grandma's--a connection emphasized in Gerstein's cheery illustrations of the two wearing matching eyeglasses, frames round and red as apples. As any good cooking show does, the pictures provide above-the-countertop/stove/table views as the apples are transformed into sauce. The final page includes a detailed recipe and an illustration of the boy, now a dad, in the kitchen cutting apples with his daughter, sharing a smile--and the same apple-red glasses. J.M.B.
Brabander, Jennifer M.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Brabander, Jennifer M. "Eden Ross Lipson: Applesauce Season." The Horn Book Magazine, Nov.-Dec. 2009, p. 656. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A212035441/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0737b69d. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A212035441
Applesauce Season.
By Eden Ross Lipson. Illus. by Mordicai Gerstein.
Aug. 2009.40p. Roaring Brook, $16.99 (9781596432161). PreS-Gr. 2.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
My grandmother says there's no reason to start eating apples when peaches are perfect." But around the time school opens, applesauce season begins. A boy outfitted in red, round glasses (just like Grandma's) is our guide to an unlikely but tasty topic: applesauce. In a well-cadenced narrative perfectly suited for reading aloud, he explains that the city has no apple trees, but there are farmers' markets, and that's where three generations of his family buy at least three varieties of apples every week; it's the diversity that makes each batch of applesauce different. Those who assume that the choosing and chopping of apples, the cooking and tasting, and the grinding and scraping in the food mill might make for a less-than-scintillating story have only to see those actions lovingly performed by characters drawn with Gerstein's imaginative brush. So evocative is his work that readers can almost smell the sauce as it simmers. Then it's time to "celebrate the first sauce of the season" at a family dinner. Preparing this delicious dish is an apt metaphor for familial warmth and sharing, but metaphors aside, thank goodness the book concludes with a recipe for applesauce.--Ilene Cooper
Cooper, Ilene
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Cooper, Ilene. "Applesauce Season." Booklist, 1 Aug. 2009, p. 76. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A206173076/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1b273b15. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A206173076
Mordicai Gerstein A Book; illus, by the author
40 pp. Roaring Brook 4/09 ISBN 978-1-59643-251-2 $16.95 g
(Primary)
"What's my story?" asks a girl on an otherwise blank front flap. The title page answers: "Once, in A BOOK ... there lived a family of characters." Turn the page, and the reader meets the characters: asleep at first (in an amazing black-on-black illustration) but awake and in color on the next spread, off to breakfast and, one by one, exiting A BOOK to attend to their respective lives/stories. All except the girl, who continues to turn the pages looking for her story--and finds plenty of others' along the way. The visual perspective locates readers where they actually are visa-vis the physical book: looking down on the action from a bird's-eye view above the page. Gerstein's characteristic pen-and-paint-on-vellum technique creates a vivid depth, accentuated by use of shadows, that makes the reader feel as if they could literally drop into the scene. When the girl's family comes home for dinner, she is ready to announce what she will become: an author! With that authority, she starts writing ... until it is time for bed, and she passes authority to the reader: "Now that you've reached the end of the book, would you mind closing it please? I'd like to go to sleep. Thank you and sweet dreams ... " Both character and reader are left feeling they are in the right place, with the right task, and capable. NINA LINDSAY
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Lindsay, Nina
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Lindsay, Nina. "Mordicai Gerstein: A Book." The Horn Book Magazine, May-June 2009, p. 281+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A200722877/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e061ce7f. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A200722877
* A Book.
By Mordicai Gerstein. Illus. by the author.
Apr. 2009.48p. Roaring Brook, $16.95 (9781596432512). K-Gr. 3.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Metafiction for the picture-book set? In Gerstein's able hands, this charming story follows a young girl and her family who live in a book (when it's closed they sleep, when it's open they rise), though she doesn't know what kind of story her book is. Compositions are drawn as if the viewer were looking down on characters and scenes with the page as the ground; at one point the girl looks up only to be scared witless by your face peering down at her. She dashes through spreads that take her into nursery rhymes, on the trail of a mystery, across pirate waters, and even into outer space before she ultimately decides to write her own story, which is, of course, this story. Akin to David Wiesner's Caldecott Medal book, The Three Pigs (2001), though not as complex, children might find some of the finer points of the concept to be challenging; but the conceit is executed with such cleverness and gentleness that slightly older readers who know a few tricks about picture book conventions and don't mind flexing their comprehensive abilities a bit will gather a deeper awareness for the art of reading and an appreciation for the possibilities and openness of storytelling. The little girl's quest is a terrifically sweet and humorous one, and while it rewards deeper reading, it certainly doesn't live by it.--Ian Chipman
Chipman, Ian
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Chipman, Ian. "A Book." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2009, p. 60. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A196304345/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c6753df7. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A196304345
A Book
Mordicai Gerstein. Roaring Brook, $16.95 (48p) ISBN 978-1-59643-251-2
Living in a book is a bummer if you're the only character in the family who doesn't have a story. That's the problem facing Caldecott Medalist Gerstein's (The Man Who Walked Between the Towers) pigtailed protagonist--even her family's pets have stories ("It's the story of a dog who seeks interesting odors," says the dachshund. "Goodbye. I'm off to sniff?."). The girl never does find a story she can drop into, but in the funny, freewheeling pages that follow, she discovers what a reader is ("EEEEK?" she exclaims, as she looks up and spots you-know-who peering down at her) and how the universe is filled with story possibilities, from historical fiction to Alice in Wonderland. Gerstein is playing at meta-fiction at a higher level than most authors do for this target group, and it's possible that younger audiences will be beguiled by the spunky heroine and the comics-style dialogue balloons and mystified by everything else. (Why do the family members have individual stories instead of one collective story?) Aspiring writers may be the most receptive: they'll see their own creative ambitions mirrored in the girl's wily willingness to find her narrative voice. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"A Book." Publishers Weekly, 26 Jan. 2009, p. 118. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A192899376/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f5b015df. Accessed 9 Nov. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A192899376