Kauai's Children's Authors

Kauai's children's authors are a diverse group that is devoted children. They write entertaining picture books, educational non-fiction books, and important stories about life. Scroll down the page to meet the authors of the Kauai Children's Authors Guild

MONIKA MIRA, AUTHOR OF 

THE COMPLETE HAWAIIAN REEF FISH COLORING BOOK

Monika Mira's passion for marine life conservation began nearly 20 years ago when she volunteered to identify fishes at the UH Sea Grant information desk at Hanauma Bay. At that time, she found that it was easier to learn to identify the fishes if she painted or illustrated them. These initial illustrations became the inspiration for The Complete Hawaiian Reef Fish Coloring Book.

Since then, Monika has worked on numerous projects to help conserve Hawaii’s natural resources. Besides teaching marine science to grades 6-12, she has been part of a team that regularly assesses the health of Hawaiian Streams based. She has participated in biological stream surveys for the University of Hawaii, Hawaii Stream Research Center, Hawaii Department of Health and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.  She has also co-authored a watershed restoration plan for the UH Water Resources Research Center and the Hawaii Department of Health.  This report went on to be featured in a book called, Sustainability Science for Watershed Landscapes. As a conservation specialist for the Kauai Soil and Water Conservation Districts, she authored numerous articles on conservation. Monika's first love however, has always been art. She has been painting and drawing since she can remember. The Complete Hawaiian Reef Fish Coloring Book offered her the perfect opportunity to combine her talents.

Monika is also a freelance writer. You can find her articles about Kauai and Kauai Family Travel on Kauai.com, the Kauai Family Travel Blog and Examiner.com.

CAROL PEACOCK-WILLIAMS, AUTHOR OF BENNY THE BEETLE

Carol A. Peacock-Williams lives in Lihue, Kauai, HI with her daughter Christy Jo and husband Joe.  Carol and Christy Jo both inherited the artiest talents of Carol’s Mother – Bessie Merle Peacock.  They are always creating some form of art project, reading, telling stories, or as the Hawaiians say “talk story”.  This three generational group collaboration produced the hardback, children’s color picture book Benny the Beetle after over 50 years of storing the original illustrations, editing it, plus including 10 years of publisher rejections.

MARK HUFF, AUTHOR OF KING OF THE BEACH AND THE SHELTERING PLACE

Mark was born in San Diego, grew up in Phoenix and now resides on the island of Kaua'i. After 40 years of splitting his time between radio and television broadcasting, acting and performing music on stage, Mark now is a full time entertainer - playing music all over Kaua'i. A long-time storyteller and reader to children, Mark has now turned to writing children's books. "King Of The Beach" is his first. His second is "The Sheltering Place". Both of those books are now also available in Kindle form at Amazon.com and both books along with 5 other stories are available as "audio books" at Audible.com, I-tunes and Amazon.com.

 WENDY LEWIS, AUTHOR OF SABRINA, THE GIRL WITH A HOLE IN HER HEART

Wendy Lewis fell in love with Kauai over 30 years ago on her honeymoon.  She feels lucky to call Kauai home.  In her former mainland life, she trained over 1000 teachers in STEM education and lectured to over 30,000 students!  She still loves to research and write about cool innovations in science and technology and to encourage scientific literacy.   Her first children’s book based on a true story, “Sabrina The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart” reflects that desire and was recognized as a finalist at the San Francisco’s Writer Conference.  Locally, Wendy has made author visits to Island School and Kahili Adventist school.  She is delighted that children love learning about the spirit and anatomy of the human heart.  “Sabrina, The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart” is available at Amazon, iBooks, Wilcox Hospital Gift Shop, and Talk Story Bookstore in Hanapepe.