I thrilled to share that my pic­ture book biog­ra­phy, AT THE WATER’S EDGE, about the amaz­ing Native Hawai­ian sea­weed sci­en­tist Dr. Isabel­la Aiona Abbott, has been offi­cial­ly announced at Pub­lish­erʻs Week­ly!

Dr. Abbot­t’s sto­ry is fas­ci­nat­ing. She was first Native Hawai­ian to earn a PhD and the first woman of col­or pro­fes­sor at Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty’s Hop­kins Marine Sta­tion. While at Hop­kins, she dis­cov­ered over 200 species of sea­weed and wrote sem­i­nal books and papers sci­en­tists use today. After retir­ing as pro­fes­sor emeri­ta from Stan­ford, Dr. Abbott returned home to Hawai’i where she bridged Native Hawai­ian sci­ence with West­ern approach­es. Not sur­pris­ing­ly, her stu­dents are today’s lead­ers in marine biol­o­gy and botany.

Due to be released in Spring 2027 by Lern­er Pub­lish­ing, the book will be illus­trat­ed by tal­ent­ed illus­tra­tor Remi Jose. 

Maha­lo nui …

• to Dr. Abbot­t’s daugh­ter Annie Abbott Foer­ster, to her col­leagues Dr. Celia Smith and Dr. Puakea Nogelmeier, to her grad­u­ate teach­ing assis­tant Kim Pay­ton, and to the many stu­dents who shared their hal­i’a alo­ha — their fond mem­o­ries — with me
• to my dream edi­tor and pub­lish­er, Car­ol Hinz
• to my agent extra­or­di­naire James McGowan

Pho­to cred­it: Rok­ki Midro