This book by award-winning author and artist, Caren Loebel-Fried, features a foreword by Nona Beamer and is published by the University of Hawai'i Press. It has 128 pages with 60 illustrations and is a quality hardback book.

A beautifully written and illustrated book with stories about the legends of the guardian spirits of ancient Hawaiians. Caren Loebel-Fried shares her knowledge she gained through extensive research on the legends and facts relating to them.

These stories retold and expressed in her own style are easily followed and are a wonderful resource for anyone wanting to look into the history of legends and relationships of many of the Hawaiian people to the environment and living things around them.

The book is divided into five parts which are further divided into more sections with legends and stories relating to various 'aumakua, or guardian spirits - The Breadfruit, The Plover, The Shark, The Gourd and The Owl. It closes with a section on Block Prints which so beautifully illustrate this book and general sources plus legend sources.

I would definitely recommend this work by Caren Loebel-Fried! She not only writes well but she is also an extremely talented artist and has had her art work featured in magazines.

Winner of 2003 Ka Palapala Po`okela Awards for Excellence in Illustration and in Children's Hawaiian Culture

For more on this talented artist please visit her site at www.carenloebelfried.com.