Dr. Marie Alohalani Brown, Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Hawaiian), is one of the world's leading experts on Hawaiian mythology and one of a handful of scholars who focuses on primary Hawaiian-language resources such as nineteenth-century Hawaiian-language newspapers. She is a professor of Hawaiian religion at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the author of
Hawaiian Myths, Gods, and Legends;
Ka Poʻe Moʻo Akua: Hawaiian Reptilian Water Deities;
Facing the Spears of Change: The Life and Legacy of John Papa ʻĪʻī; and co-author with Cristina Bacchilega of
The Penguin's Book of Mermaids. In 2019, she was one of the thirty-eight kūpuna (elders) who were arrested while trying to protect the sacred mountain Mauna Kea.
Ian Lendler is the author of
The First Dinosaur, which
Kirkus Reviews named a "Best of the Year," and
Alcoholica Esoterica, which was featured on NPR and in
The Wall Street Journal. He has written many award-winning children's picture books and graphic novels, including
The Fable Life of Aesop and The Stratford Zoo Presents series. His writing has appeared in
The San Francisco Chronicle,
Mental Floss, and on CNN. He lives in Northern California, where he is an avid surfer.