Along with writing and illustrating books for children, Mordicai Gerstein is a painter, sculptor and prize-winning designer and director of animated films. 

 

Born in Los Angeles, Gerstein attended the Chouinard Institute of Art before moving to New York City where he lived and worked for 25 years making animated films for television. 

 

In 1971, Mordicai collaborated with author Elizabeth Levy to create the Something Queer is Going On series of mystery books for Delacorte Press. 

 

Gerstein began writing and illustrating his own books in 1980. 

His books are wide-ranging in subject, style and the age groups addressed, from contemporary fantasy and Biblical retellings, to biography and absurd alphabets, for preschoolers, high schoolers and even adults.

 

Mordicai Gerstein lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, Susan Yard Harris, who is also an illustrator, and their daughter, Risa. 

Mordicai Gerstein