Donna Walsh Shepherd is both a writer and a teacher. She taught literature and writing at the University of Alaska-Anchorage for many years. She has written several books for Scholastic, including Alaska , South Dakota , The Aztecs , Tundra , and Auroras: Light Show in the Night Sky . She also writes articles and essays, mostly for adults. Shepherd has won several writing awards, but the best reward, she says, is to have a job where she continually learns new things, where she lives in awe and surprise at life and the world around her.