Dr. Marie Alohalani Brown, Kanaka ʻOiwi (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 Manoa 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 ʻIʻi; and co-author with Cristina Bacchilega of The Penguin's Book of Mermaids. In 2019, she was one of the thirty-eight kupuna (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.