Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits [Hardcover]

Caren Loebel-Fried (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2002

Ancient Hawaiians lived in a world where all of nature was alive with the spirits of their ancestors. These 'aumakua have lived on through the ages as family guardians and take on many natural forms, thus linking many Hawaiians to the animals, plants, and natural phenomena of their island home. Individuals have a reciprocal relationship with their guardian spirits and offer worship and sacrifice in return for protection, inspiration, and guidance.

Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits is told in words and pictures by award-winning artist Caren Loebel-Fried. The ancient legends are brought to life in sixty beautiful block prints, many vibrantly colored, and are narrated in a lively "read-aloud" style, just as storytellers of old may have told them hundreds of years ago. Notes are included, reflecting the careful and extensive research done for this volume at the Bishop Museum Library and Archives in Honolulu and at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. A short section on the process of creating the block prints that illustrate the book is also included.

"Caren Loebel-Fried's writing is fresh and vivid, her art strong and alive . . . and I found her research to be outstanding. Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits will enrich the hearts and minds of readers. The strength of Caren's retelling comes from a very honest wellspring of love for her work on behalf of Hawai'i and its people." —from the Foreword by Nona Beamer

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Caren Loebel-Fried is a storyteller, teacher, and second-generation carver who learned the ancient art of block printing from her mother. Her work has appeared in Parabola, and she regularly illustrates for Tikkun and other publications. A collection of Loebel-Fried's art and stories entitled "Legends of the Guardian Spirits" (the basis for the present volume) was exhibited at the Volcano Art Center, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, in 2000. She spends her time with her husband and son in Volcano, Hawai'i, and in New Jersey.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824825373
• ISBN-13: 978-0824825379
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,177,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Caren Loebel-Fried is an author and second-generation artist, having learned the art of block printing from her mother. Her love of nature and legends brought her to Hawai'i where she finds unlimited sources of inspiration and education in the forest, around the volcano, and in the Archives of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. Her many awards for art, literature, and Hawaiian culture include the American Folklore Society's Aesop prize for Children's Folklore, and the Hawai'i Book Publishers Association's Ka Palapala Po`okela Awards.

Caren is the author and illustrator of several books of Hawaiian legends including Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits, Hawaiian Legends of Dreams, Lono and the Magical Land Beneath the Sea, and Legend of the Gourd. Her friendship with Nona Beamer bore the fruit of two books, Naupaka and Pua Polu, the Pretty Blue Hawaiian Flower, and Caren created art for Tree of Souls, the Mythology of Judaism, by Howard Schwartz. Caren is currently working on a new picture book based on a legend of the origins of making kapa (cloth) in Hawai'i.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits, February 13, 2007

By 

Caren Loebel-fried - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits (Hardcover)

"Ancient Hawaiians lived in a world inhabited by the spirits of gods and ancestors who moved in and out of the myriad forms of the natural world. At times of crisis or creation these guardian spirits appeared in dreams or waking life to guide, protect, or right injustice. Five of these guardians--shark, plover, breadfruit tree, owl, and gourd--make vivid appearances in this jewel-like book.... In retelling these tales, Loebel-Fried draws on several versions of each, found in published sources and ethnographic notes in the Bishop Museum Archives in Honolulu. The bibliography, citing over eighty works, attests to meticulous research. The content of the stories, the striking illustrations, and the clear and simple language make this book appealing for the young as well as for adults--and a real find for storytellers."
-Parabola Magazine, Summer 2004, by Noemie Maxwell