Lynne Guitar earned dual B.A.s, one in Latin American History and one in Cultural Anthropology from Michigan State University, then was awarded a fellowship to Vanderbilt University, where she earned her M.A. and then a Ph.D. in 1998, in Colonial Latin American History, with the equivalent of a minor in Cultural Anthropology. Lynne lived, worked, and studied in Puerto Rico for half a year and won several graduate-student grants, including one that enabled her to study at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., another to study at the various archives in Spain for half a year, and a year-long Fulbright Fellowship to complete her doctoral studies in the Dominican Republic in 1997-98, where she remained for the next 18 years-nearly two decades. Her doctoral dissertation, "Cultural Genesis: Relationships among Africans, Indians, and Spaniards in Rural Hispaniola, first half of the sixteenth century" was one of the first to explore in-depth the myth of Taíno extinction-and to reject it! She worked for the Guácara Taína in Santo Domingo, and taught Spanish, English, and History at a bilingual high school in Santo Domingo. In 2004, she became Resident Director of CIEE, the Council on International Educational Exchange, in Santiago, at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra or PUCMM-until her retirement in December of 2015. She now dedicates her time to education and writing, principally about Taínos. Lynne has written many articles and chapters for various historical journals and books, has starred in more than a dozen documentaries about the Dominican Republic and Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, including documentaries for the BBC, History Channel, and Discovery Channel, and has been invited several times to speak at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in both New York City and Washington, D.C. She has published a 10-book series for Young Adults (ages 10 to 110) called the Taíno Ni Rahú Series about 15th-century Taínos, their daily lives and beliefs at the very moment that Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean and changed their lives forever. The illustrator of THE TAINO ABCs is the multi-talented Dominican artist Joel A. Villona Castillo, who has won many awards and honorable mentions for his paintings and sculptures at both national and international levels. He is originally from San Juan de la Maguna, renowned for its strong Taíno heritage, and currently resides in Santiago de los Caballeros.