Margaret H. Lippert (born June 12, 1942) is an American author of books and anthologies drawing from the folklore and storytelling traditions of cultures from around the world. Early life and career Margaret H. Lippert was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Quaker parents John Hodgkin and Ruth Walenta Hodgkin. She was raised in the cooperative community of Bryn Gweled, which her parents helped to found, outside Philadelphia. Her storytelling roots can be traced to her father, who knew two stories by heart and told them to her and her brothers on alternating nights as he put them to bed. Particularly after her oldest brother David died at age 10, Margaret found second homes in the families of her neighbors, and spent much of her time as a young girl and teenager taking care of and telling stories to children in the community. Lippert matriculated at Swarthmore College in 1960. During her years at Swarthmore, she was active in the civil rights movement, traveling to Tennessee to register black voters in the state. While living with a black sharecropper family, she had both inspiring and harrowing experiences, including being shot at by segregationists. After graduating from Swarthmore in 1964, she volunteered for two years with the American Friends Service Committee. Stationed in Tanzania for her first year, it was where her lifelong passion for African culture and storytelling began. She spent her second year in Guatemala, where she learned Spanish. Lippert spent the next decade teaching in New York City and the surrounding areas, using storytelling as a foundation for much of her classroom instruction. She received her Ed. D. in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1983 and wrote her dissertation on the use of storytelling in the classroom. Writing career Lippert is the author of 22 books, including 9 anthologies and 13 books for children and young adults. Her first book was published in 1988. Much of Lippert’s body of work draws from the storytelling and folklore traditions of Africa, Latin America, and Asia. After moving from New York to the Seattle area in 1990, she began a collaboration with Won-Ldy Paye, a Liberian storyteller from the Dan tribe tradition. Her most recent books grew out of this partnership, and are co-authored by Paye. Lippert has worked with illustrators, including Caldecott Medal Winners Leo and Diane Dillon (Why the Moon is in the Sky), Ashley Bryan (Why Leopard