What are you reading?

I'm reading every book that was ever written about Waikiki and surfing, which is the subject of my next book. ... On my nightstand right now are "The Hawaiian Canoe" by Tommy Holmes and "Waikiki Beachboy" by Grady Timmons. For pleasure I'm reading "Firestar's Quest" by Erin Hunter, and my children — Sachi, who's 10, and Koji, who's 12 — are avid readers, and all three of us read a lot of tween and teen adventure series together.

What stands out about Holmes' and Timmons' books?

Both of the writers were very good researchers, and rather than just repackaging all of the material that's out there from other sources, they went back to primary sources to get information. In fact, Tommy Holmes did an exceptional job of going back to primary sources in researching "The Hawaiian Canoe." He didn't just go back to someone else's book and paraphrase what they said; he actually went back to people's journals, Hawaiian-language newspapers, and he did oral interviews with people who were actually living — that's original research.

Is that what you strove for in your new book, "Guardian of the Sea," to seek out stories of those who actually lived through past events?

In "Guardian of the Sea," I tried as much as possible to do that, and I do so in all my books. I try to let my informants reveal what the material is — I try to let them tell the story rather than stepping in and trying to paraphrase and interpret. I think it's a good way to tell history accurately ...