Donna Scanlon was a librarian, mostly in youth services, at the Lancaster Public Library for a little over 17 years before she was laid off. (She is still coping with that.) After lots of thought, sleep, prayer and chocolate, Donna is now a substitute teacher, covering everything from kindergarten to tech ed to 12th-grade math. In spite of this, she has decided to pursue post-baccalaureate certification to become an English teacher.

When she is not otherwise occupied with torment -- er, substituting -- she is reading, knitting, writing reviews and poetry, and cooking. Donna and her husband are currently making their way through the lovely, weird and terrible terrain of adolescence with their teen-aged son and daughter.

Reviews by Donna include:

BOOKS

Joan Aiken
Black Hearts in Battersea
The Cuckoo Tree
Nightbirds on Nantucket
The Stolen Lake
The Whispering Mountain
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

Lloyd Alexander
Gypsy Rizka
The House Gobbaleen

Charlotte Vale Allen
Grace Notes

David Almond
Clay
Skellig

Diana Anhalt
A Gathering of Fugitives: American Political Expatriates in Mexico 1948-1965

Steve Augarde
The Various

Avi
Midnight Magic

Camille Bacon-Smith
Eyes of the Empress

Kage Baker
In the Garden of Iden
Mendoza in Hollywood
Sky Coyote

David Baldacci
Wish You Well

Jeffrey E. Barlough
Dark Sleeper

T.A. Barron
Heartlight

Peter S. Beagle
Tamsin

Ludwig Bemelmans
Madeline's Rescue

Curt Benjamin
Seven Brothers #1: The Prince of Shadows
Seven Brothers #2: The Prince of Dreams

Kate Bernheimer, editor
Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Franny Billingsley
The Folk Keeper

Julia Blackburn
The Leper's Companions

James P. Blaylock
The Rainy Season

Francesca Lia Block
I Was a Teenage Fairy
Nymph
The Rose & the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold

Balfour Brickner
Finding God in the Garden: Backyard Reflections on Life, Love & Compost

Patricia Briggs
The Hob's Bargain

James Bromley
Adding Two to the Heart: A New Family

Marla Brooks
Ghosts of Hollywood: The Show Still Goes On

Sigmund Brouwer
The Volcano of Doom

Carrie Brown
The House on Belle Isle

Steven Brust
Freedom & Necessity, with Emma Bull
The Sun, the Moon, & the Stars

Margaret Buffie
The Watcher

Dale Burg
Sloth: Ode to Disarray & Delay

Jim Butcher
Fool Moon
Storm Front: Book One of the Dresden Files

A.S. Byatt
The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye

Dia Calhoun
Aria of the Sea
Firegold

Cheryl Canfield
Profound Healing: The Power of Acceptance on the Path to Wellness

Orson Scott Card
Enchantment

Jonathan Carroll
The Land of Laughs
The Marriage of Sticks
The Wooden Sea

W. Hodding Carter
A Viking Voyage

Ivan Cat
The Burning Heart of Night

Michael Chabon
Summerland

Jerome Charyn
Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins: Ping Pong & the Art of Staying Alive

C.J. Cherryh
Explorer

Allan B. Chinen
Beyond the Hero: Classic Stories of Men in Search of Soul

James C. Christensen, with Renwick St. James & Alan Dean Foster
Voyage of the Basset

David B. Coe
Eagle-Sage

Joni B. Cole, Rebecca Joffrey & B.K. Rakhra, editors
This Day: Diaries of American Women

Loren L. Coleman
Battletech: Endgame

Dawn Cook
First Truth
Hidden Truth

Eileen Cook
With Malice

Caroline B. Cooney
Diamonds in the Shadow

Hannah Crafts
The Bondwoman's Narrative

W. Dale Cramer
Sutter's Cross

Elizabeth Cunningham
Daughter of the Shining Isles

Karen Cushman
Matilda Bone

Lorna MacDonald Czarnota
Medieval Tales That Kids Can Read & Tell

Julie E. Czerneda
In the Company of Others
Space Inc., editor
A Thousand Words for Stranger
Ties of Power
To Trade the Stars
Web Shifters #1: Beholder's Eye
Web Shifters #2: Changing Vision
Web Shifters #3: Hidden in Sight

Dalai Lama
An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life

Kara Dalkey
The Ascension (Water Trilogy, Book 1)
Crystal Sage
Steel Rose

Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, editors
Black Heart, Ivory Bones
Black Swan, White Raven
Black Thorn, White Rose
Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears
Silver Birch, Blood Moon
Snow White, Blood Red
A Wolf at the Door: & Other Retold Fairy Tales
The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, 12th edition
The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, 13th edition
The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, 14th edition

Donald Davis
Ride the Butterflies: Back to School with Donald Davis

Frank de Caro, editor
The Folktale Cat

Charles de Lint
Jack of Kinrowan
Medicine Road, illustrated by Charles Vess
Moonlight & Vines
Seven Wild Sisters
Someplace to be Flying

Pleasant DeSpain
Sweet Land of Story: Thirty-Six American Tales to Tell

Baba Wague Diakite
The Hatseller & the Monkeys

Peter Dickinson
The Ropemaker

Athol Dickson
The Cure

William C. Dietz
DeathDay
EarthRise

Jennifer Donnelly
The Tea Rose
The Winter Rose

Emma Donoghue
Kissing the Witch

Candas Jane Dorsey
A Paradigm of Earth

Linda Culp Dowling & Cecile Culp Mielenz
Mentor Manager/Mentor Parent

Emily Drake
The Magickers
The Magickers #2: The Curse of Arkady

Mark Dunn
Ella Minnow Pea: a Progressively Lippogrammatic Epistolary Fable

Lord Dunsany
The Charwoman's Shadow

P.N. Elrod
Cold Streets

S.L. Farrell
The Cloudmages #1: Holder of Lightning

David Feintuch
Children of Hope
The King

Jasper Fforde
Lost in a Good Book
The Well of Lost Plots

Pauline Fisk
Midnight Blue

Emma Ford
Fledgling Days: Memoir of a Falconer

Esther Friesner, editor
Chicks in Chainmail
Chicks 'n Chained Males
Did You Say Chicks?!
The Chick is in the Mail

Alan Garner
The Owl Service

Glen David Gold
Carter Beats the Devil

Lisa Goldstein
Dark Cities Underground
Walking the Labyrinth

Beth Goobie
Before Wings

Barbara Gowdy
Mister Sandman
The White Bone

Richard Grant
In the Land of Winter
Kaspian Lost
Tex & Molly in the Afterlife

Simon R. Green
Deathstalker Legacy
Something from the Nightside

Thomas S. Gressman
Operation Sierra-75 (Vor, No. 6)

Joe Haldeman
Guardian

Barbara Hambly
Sisters of the Raven

Martha Hamilton & Mitch Weis
Noodlehead Stories: World Tales Kids Can Read & Tell

Karen Hancock
Light of Eidon

Elizabeth Hand
Generation Loss

Bill Harley
Bear's All-Night Party

Steven Harper
Nightmare

Lian Hearn
Across the Nightingale Floor: Tales of the Otori, Book I
Grass for His Pillow: Tales of the Otori, Book Two

Howard V. Hendrix
Empty Cities of the Full Moon

Peter Hillyard
The Book of the Spider

Alice Hoffman
The Probable Future

Nina Kiriki Hoffman
A Fistful of Sky

Bill Holm
Eccentric Islands: Travels Real & Imaginary

David Holt & Bill Mooney, editors
More Ready-to-Tell Tales From Around the World

Tom Holt
My Hero

Nalo Hopkinson
Brown Girl in the Ring
Midnight Robber

James D. Houston
Snow Mountain Passage

Sarah A. Hoyt
Ill Met by Moonlight

Sue Hubbell
Broadsides from the Other Orders: A Book of Bugs
Waiting for Aphrodite: Journeys In to the Time Before Bones

Will Hubbell
Cretaceous Sea

Tanya Huff
Blood Debt
Blood Lines
Blood Pact
Blood Price
Blood Trail
Fifth Quarter
The Second Summoning
Sing the Four Quarters
Wizard of the Grove

Hugin the Bard
A Bard's Book of Pagan Songs: Stories & Music from the Celtic World

Eva Ibbotson
Journey to the River Sea, with Kevin Hawkes
The Secret of Platform 13
Which Witch?

Eric Idle
The Road to Mars

Charles Ingrid
The Marked Man Omnibus

Randall Jarrell
The Animal Family

Jerome K. Jerome
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog!)

Diana Wynne Jones
Charmed Life
Dark Lord of Derkholm
Deep Secret
The Magicians of Caprona
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland

Kathryn Elizabeth Jones
A River of Stones

Graham Joyce
Dark Sister
Dreamside
Indigo
Requiem
The Tooth Fairy

William Joyce
Santa Calls

Norton Juster
The Phantom Tollbooth

Peg Kerr
Emerald House Rising
The Wild Swans

Eric Kimmel
Hershel & the Hanukkah Goblins

Patrice Kindl
Goose Chase

Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible
Prodigal Summer

Nancy Kress
Crossfire

Ellen Kushner
The Horns of Elfland

Tim LaHaye
The Merciful God of Prophecy: His Loving Plan for You in the End Times

Soinbhe Lally
A Hive for the Honeybee

Anne Lamott
Traveling Mercies

Katherine Langrish
Troll Blood

Kathryn Larrabee
An Everyday Savior

Erik Larson
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, & the Deadliest Hurricane in History

Una Leavy
Irish Fairy Tales & Legends

Tanith Lee
Islands in the Sky (Voyage of the Basset #1)
White as Snow

Jessica Lidh
The Number 7

Morgan Llywelyn
Bard
Elementals

Arnold Lobel
Owl at Home

Karin Lowachee
Warchild

Lois Lowry
Gathering Blue

Margaret Read MacDonald
Fat Cat: a Danish Folktale
Shake-It-Up Tales! Stories to Sing, Dance, Drum, & Act Out
Slop!

Amanda Maciel
Tease

Gregory Maguire
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Juliet Marillier
Wolfskin

Louise Marley
The Glass Harmonica

David Matheson
Red Thunder

Caitlin Matthews
The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year

Geraldine McCaughrean
The Stones are Hatching

Mardi McConnochie
Coldwater

Carole McDonnell
Wind Follower

Fiona McIntosh
Percheron #2: Emissary

Dennis McKiernan
Once Upon a Winter's Night

Patricia A. McKillip
Alphabet of Thorn
In the Forests of Serre
Ombria in Shadow
Something Rich & Strange

Robin McKinley
Spindle's End
Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits, with Peter Dickinson

Sean McMullen
The Miocene Arrow
Souls in the Great Machine

Martin Melhuish
Celtic Tides: Traditional Music in a New Age

Patrick M. Mendoza
Between Midnight & Morning

Brent Monahan
The Jekyl Island Club: A Novel

Christopher Moore
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
Practical Demonkeeping

Mary Manin Morrissey
No Less Than Greatness: The Seven Spiritual Principles That Make Real Love Possible

Robert Mouland
Fireside Tales: Stories & Music from the Irish Tradition

Paul Rhys Mountfort
Ogam, the Celtic Oracle of the Trees

Pat Murphy
Adventures in Time & Space With Max Merriwell
There & Back Again: by Max Merriwell

Donna Jo Napoli
Beast
The Magic Circle
Sirena
Song of the Magdalene
Zel

Donna Jo Napoli & Richard Tchen, Spinners

Jennifer Niven, The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk

Sherry Norfolk, Haunted Hearts: Tales of Love & Tragedy

Mary Norton, Are All the Giants Dead?

Jody Lynn Nye, editor, Don't Forget Your Spacesuit, Dear

Rebecca Ore
Outlaw School

Mary Rose O'Reilley
The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd

Mary Pope Osborne
Favorite Medieval Tales

Juilene Osborne-McKnight
I Am of Irelaunde: A Novel of Patrick & Osian

Pat O'Shea
The Hounds of the Morrigan

Gary E. Parker
Highland Hopes

Katherine Paterson
Angels & Other Strangers: Family Christmas Stories

James Patterson
Four Blind Mice

Lewis Perdue
Daughter of God

Charles Perrault
Puss in Boots

Nathaniel Philbrick
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic: Sandry's Book
Circle of Magic: Tris's Book
Circle of Magic: Daja's Book
Circle of Magic: Briar's Book

Jerry Pinkney
The Ugly Duckling

Tim Powers
On Stranger Tides

Terry Pratchett
The Amazing Maurice & His Educated Rodents
Diggers
The Fifth Elephant
Interesting Times
Jingo
The Last Continent
Lords & Ladies
Monstrous Regiment
Night Watch
Thief of Time
Truckers
The Truth
Wings

Susan Price
The Sterkarm Handshake

Melissa Pritchard
Selene of the Spirits

Philip Pullman
The Amber Spyglass
The Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife

Micky Zucker Reichert
The Books of Barakhai #1: The Beasts of Barakhai
The Books of Barakhai #2: The Lost Dragons of Barakhai

Van Reid
Cordelia Underwood, or, The Marvelous Beginnings of the Moosepath League
Daniel Plainway, or The Holiday Haunting of the Moosepath League
Mollie Peer: Or the Underground Adventure of the Moosepath League

J.J. Reneaux
Wake, Snake!

Judith Merkle Riley
The Master of All Desires
The Serpent Garden

Rob Ritchie
Orphans of Winter

Madeleine E. Robins
Point of Honour

Barbara Robinson
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Spider Robinson
The Free Lunch

Seth Rogovoy
The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover's Guide to Jewish Roots & Soul Music

D.P. Roseberry & Laurie Hill
Cape May Haunts: Elaine's Haunted Mansion & Other Eerie Beach Tales

J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone

Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Disappeared

Salman Rushdie
Haroun & the Sea of Stories
The Moor's Last Sigh
Shame
The Wizard of Oz: An Appreciation

Patricia H. Rushford
Grave Matters

Cynthia Rylant
Children of Christmas: Stories for the Season

Mark Salzman
The Laughing Sutra

Marcia Sewall
The Green Mist

Josepha Sherman
Merlin's Kin

Josepha Sherman & T.K.F Weisskopf
Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts

Will Shetterly
Dogland
Elsewhere
Nevernever

Sharon Shinn
Angelica

Anita Shreve
Sea Glass

Jan Siegel
Prospero's Children

Midori Snyder
Hannah's Garden
The Innamorati

Joseph Daniel Sobol
The Storytellers' Journey: An American Revival

Robert D. San Souci
Brave Margaret

Andrew Spielman & Michael D'Antonio
Mosquito

Nancy Springer
The Hex Witch of Seldom
I am Mordred

Neal Stephenson
The Diamond Age or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

Taylor Stevens
The Mask

Sean Stewart
Galveston
Mockingbird
Resurrection Man

John Stiles
The Insolent Boy

James Stoddard
The False House
The High House

Kay Marshall Strom
Once Blind: The Life of John Newton

Andrea Stenn Stryer
The Celestial River: Creation Tales of the Milky Way

Judith Tarr
The Devil's Bargain

Ann Tatlock
All the Way Home
I'll Watch the Moon

Theodore Taylor
The Bomb
Sniper

Malinda Teel, editor
Fortitude: True Stories of True Grit

Kate Thompson
Midnight's Choice
Switchers
Wild Blood

John Rowe Townsend
Written for Children

Irene Trivas
Emma's Christmas

Delia Marshall Turner
Nameless Magery

Harry Turtledove
Ruled Britannia

Chris Van Allsburg
The Polar Express

Vivian Vande Velde
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem

Cynthia Voigt
Elske

Katie Waitman
The Divided
The Merro Tree

Scott Westerfield
Fine Prey
Pretties
Specials
Uglies

Allison Whittenberg
Life is Fine

Leonard Wibberly
The Mouse That Roared

Kate Wilhelm
The Deepest Water

Tad Williams
The War of the Flowers

Chet Williamson
Pennsylvania Dutch Night Before Christmas

Connie Willis
Bellwether
Fire Watch
Miracle & Other Christmas Stories
Passage
To Say Nothing of the Dog

Terri Windling
The Essential Bordertown, with Delia Sherman (editors)
The Raven Queen (Voyage of the Basset #2), with Ellen Steiber

Laurel Winter
Growing Wings

Paul Witcover
Waking Beauty

Susan Wojciechowski
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

Patricia Wrede
Dealing With Dragons
Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot: Being the Correspondence of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals in London & the Country, with Caroline Stevermer

Jane Yolen
Boots & the Seven Leaguers: A Rock-and-Troll Novel
Dragon's Blood
Heart's Blood
Once Upon a Bedtime Story
The One-Armed Queen
Raising Yoder's Barn
The Sea Man
A Sending of Dragons
Sword of the Rightful King
Touch Magic
Queen's Own Fool: A Novel of Mary, Queen of Scots, with Robert J. Harris
The Mary Celeste: An Unsolved Mystery From History, with Heidi E. Y. Stemple
Mirror, Mirror, with Heidi E. Y. Stemple

Lytchcov Zammana
The Otherhood

Edra Ziesk
A Cold Spring


Find more of Donna's reviews here.