Baker's Dozen

The storytellers in the Baker’s Dozen lessons were influenced by Augusta Baker, a well-known librarian and storyteller who worked in the New York Public Library for many years and taught storytelling at colleges across the country.

Grades 3-8

Storytelling should be a part of a student’s educational experience because it is a literary activity, a listening activity, a means of transmitting values, and a means of appreciating cultural diversity

The storytellers in the Baker’s Dozen lessons were influenced by Augusta Baker, a well-known librarian and storyteller who worked in the New York Public Library for many years and taught storytelling at colleges across the country. These thirteen, renowned national and local storytellers were taped in the studios of SCETV as they told their stories in front of elementary-age students who asked the storyteller questions about their story and the art of storytelling. 

Resource Type
Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen Tom Feelings | Baker's Dozen

Video

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Tom Feelings | Baker's Dozen
Tom Feelings, an author and an illustrator, was born in New York and retired as a professor of art at the University of South Carolina. He has won many awards, including two Caldecott Honor awards and...
Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen Dianna Young | Baker's Dozen

Video

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Dianna Young | Baker's Dozen
Diana Young, a storyteller and puppeteer, is from Texas. She learned to tell stories with her voice and her feeling from Augusta Baker! And, she often uses puppets to tell parts of the story, which...
Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen Gayle Holmes | Baker's Dozen

Video

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Gayle Holmes | Baker's Dozen
Gayle Holmes is a storyteller from South Carolina who has been not only telling stories, but creating stories for a long time. He favorite stories are from African and Asian cultures. Telling a story...
Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen Minerva King | Baker's Dozen

Video

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Minerva King | Baker's Dozen
Minerva King is a native of South Carolina and just as long ago storytellers traveled from city to city, weaving tales, she continues this tradition today as an artist in residence for the South...
Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen Sherry William | Baker's Dozen

Video

Grades

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Sherry William | Baker's Dozen
Sherry William likes to tell African folks tales. Many of the stories she tells are not written in Gullah, but she has added that because she grew up in the Low Country of South Carolina where she...
Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen Darion McCloud | Baker's Dozen

Video

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Darion McCloud | Baker's Dozen
Darion McCloud has also worked in South Carolina in the children’s section of a public library. He is a storyteller and also an artist who does paintings and drawings. He has always been interested in...
Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen Anne Pellowski | Baker's Dozen

Video

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Anne Pellowski | Baker's Dozen
Anne Pellowski is a former storytelling specialist at the New York Public Library and founder and former director or the Information Center on Children’s Cultures of the U.S. Committee for UNICEF. She...
Michael Leonard | Baker's Dozen Hannah L. Baker | Baker's Dozen

Video

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Hannah L. Baker | Baker's Dozen
Hannah L. Baker is a storyteller who has worked for the South Carolina Writing Improvement Network. She believes in and has promoted the power and importance of storytelling. She says that all you...
Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen Lyn Z. Mueller | Baker's Dozen

Video

Grades

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Lyn Z. Mueller | Baker's Dozen
Lyn Z. Mueller served as director of the state’s Writing Improvement Network and was greatly influenced as a storyteller by Augusta Baker, who gave Ms. Mueller the power to teach reading and writing...
Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen Ann Grifalconi | Baker's Dozen

Video

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Ann Grifalconi | Baker's Dozen
Ann Grifalconi is an author and illustrator from New York City. She specializes in presenting realistic characters from other cultures. Her book, The Village of Round and Square Houses, is a Caldecott...
Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen Michael Leonard | Baker's Dozen

Video

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Michael Leonard | Baker's Dozen
Michael Leonard has taught the craft of storytelling all over the world for over 30 years and worked as head of the Chicago Public Library’s North Town branch. How does he find new stories to tell? He...
Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen Pat Feehan | Baker's Dozen

Video

Grades

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Pat Feehan | Baker's Dozen
Pat Feehan, a professor of Library Science, is a storyteller who takes ideas and brings them to life in a story. How do you begin to tell a story? “Once upon a time” and “in the beginning” are ways...
Minerva King | Baker's Dozen Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen

Video

Grades

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Ellin Greene | Baker's Dozen
Ellin Greene has worked as a storytelling specialist in the New York Public Library system and served as a children’s literature specialists at the National College of Education. She says that telling...