COMING FALL 2025
**AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER ONLY**
**A beloved picture book back in print through Bess Press
Kōlea and the Chief’s Cloak is a modern fable that tells the true story of an ancient Hawaiian cloak and how it came to be in the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. The wisdom of the beloved kōlea, the Pacific golden plover, is wasted on an arrogant young chief who loses his kingdom, and the cloak, to his powerful warrior cousin. The cousin unites the Hawaiian Islands and becomes Hawaiʻi’s greatest ruler. This book is written for children ages 4 to 12, but has a moral for all readers: “Beautiful plumage is most meaningful when it is earned through perseverance, humility, and hard work.”
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Author Alice Guild has led a volunteer career of over 50-years with the restoration, preservation, and operation of ‘Iolani Palace. This led to her interest in stories associated with artifacts housed in Hawai‘i’s museums. Her fables are spun around actual objects in these collections. “Kōlea and the Chief’s Cloak” won the Hawai‘i Book Publishers’ Association 2019 Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature.
Illustrator Georg James and John Dinsmore are creative partners. Georg and John were set designers on the East Coast and in Hollywood where they were known for their large murals and trompe l’oeil painted furniture. This was their first venture into book illustration.
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hardcover | 36 pages | 9.25" x 11.25" | color
COMING FALL 2025
**AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER ONLY**
**A beloved picture book back in print through Bess Press
Kōlea and the Chief’s Cloak is a modern fable that tells the true story of an ancient Hawaiian cloak and how it came to be in the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. The wisdom of the beloved kōlea, the Pacific golden plover, is wasted on an arrogant young chief who loses his kingdom, and the cloak, to his powerful warrior cousin. The cousin unites the Hawaiian Islands and becomes Hawaiʻi’s greatest ruler. This book is written for children ages 4 to 12, but has a moral for all readers: “Beautiful plumage is most meaningful when it is earned through perseverance, humility, and hard work.”
_____
Author Alice Guild has led a volunteer career of over 50-years with the restoration, preservation, and operation of ‘Iolani Palace. This led to her interest in stories associated with artifacts housed in Hawai‘i’s museums. Her fables are spun around actual objects in these collections. “Kōlea and the Chief’s Cloak” won the Hawai‘i Book Publishers’ Association 2019 Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature.
Illustrator Georg James and John Dinsmore are creative partners. Georg and John were set designers on the East Coast and in Hollywood where they were known for their large murals and trompe l’oeil painted furniture. This was their first venture into book illustration.
_____
hardcover | 36 pages | 9.25" x 11.25" | color