By Kathleen Acuff

Acclaimed children’s illustrator Mordicai Gerstein, second from right, signed copies of his book, “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers,” last Wednesday at Linden Tree Children’s Recordings and Books in Los Altos. Pictured with Gerstein is Linden Tree co-owner Dennis Ronberg, center, and, from left, Rachel Miller, Danielle Yacobson and Adele Rosenthal from the Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School.

Mordicai Gerstein, winner of the prestigious 2004 Caldecott Medal for “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers,” visited Los Altos last week to give a brief presentation and sign books for two school groups at Linden Tree Children’s Recordings and Books, 170 State St.

Gerstein, a resident of Northampton, Mass., has written and illustrated more than 30 books for children. “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers” is a delight - the kind of book that sends the reader searching for everything else the author has published.

The story of Parisian Philippe Petit unfolds through riveting ink and oil paintings and colorful lines of text. The French aerialist and three of his friends strung a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center 30 years ago, when work on its 10 uppermost floors was approaching completion.

From the cover art - which poises the reader on one slippered foot above the busy city and with the irresistibility of gravity pulls him into the story - to the foldouts inside, the Caldecott winner tells the true story of the, the man who walked between the towers.

The tale of the stringing of the tightrope is suspenseful in itself. Then, “A quarter of a mile up in the sky someone was dancing.”

Readers of all ages will enjoy the story and pore over Gerstein’s life-filled illustrations. The ending balances the memory of Petit’s feat and the memory of the two towers with simple grace.