"THE BOOK OF HONU: ENJOYING AND LEARNING ABOUT HAWAI'I'S SEA TURTLES," by Peter Bennett and Ursula Keuper-Bennett; University of Hawai'i Press, $18.95, teen through adult, paperback, 140 pages

What a magnificent guide for the budding high school marine biologist, or anyone else with an interest in sea turtles. It's written in an easy, conversational style by husband and wife sport divers Peter Bennett and Ursula Keuper-Bennett, who began their study of these sea creatures more than 20 years ago while diving in waters off Maui.

While observing honu, the Bennetts quickly discovered that many had developed dangerous, sometimes life-threatening tumors, and they began to document the disease with photos and videotape. The couple looks overall at the animals as a species, but they also document individual animals they have followed.

Packed with their own full color photographs, the book covers the best places to find and observe sea turtles (Hawai'i is the best place on the planet to see marine turtles, they write), their life cycle and behavior, and their relationships with humans from today back to the Hawaiians who lived in the Islands before Western contact.

This guide is extensively researched, and the Bennetts' passion for these creatures shines through every page.

"PULELEHUA AND MAMAKI," by Janice Crowl, Harinani Orme illustrator; Bishop Museum, $14.95, ages 5-8

Author Janice Crowl and artist Harinani Orme weave a great deal of detail into this new picture book about Hawaiian culture and the environment.

It opens with a tale of Pulelehua, the Kamehameha Butterfly, who depends on the mamaki tree throughout her life, returning to the tree once again as she prepares to give birth:

"Pulelehua was ready to lay her egg. She knew this was the best place for her baby. Pulelehua laid one darkly colored egg on the surface of a mamaki leaf."

The mamaki is the tiny caterpillar's hanai mom, always there to guide and nurture the baby, called Ke Li'i, through each stage of development. The tale is followed with scientific and practical information about the Kamehameha Butterfly, the mamaki tree and other indigenous plants and animals. The conservation theme, and message of how society is intertwined, make this a timely book.