Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for April

Little Jack Horner

The Little Disaster

My Pretty Maid

The Ploughboy in Luck

My Shadow

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,

And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.

He stays so close beside me, he's a coward, you can see;

I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;

But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,

Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 10	The Puppets Recognize Their Brother Pinocchio from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi	Three Men of Gotham from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	Jenny Has a Good Word for Some Sparrows from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	What the Geese Talked Of from The Girl Who Sat by the Ashes by Padraic Colum	The Tragedy of Nero from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge	Betsy Goes to School (Part 2 of 2) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher	Saint Patrick (Part 1 of 2) from Our Island Saints by Amy Steedman
	King Harald's Wedding from Viking Tales by Jennie Hall	A Bluebird's Song (Part 3 of 3) from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch	The Kid and the Wolf from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I Carry Some Things Ashore from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	Atalanta and Hippomenes from A Child's Book of Myths and Enchantment Tales by Margaret Evans Price	Unc' Billy Possum Tells Jimmy Skunk a Secret from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess	The Pirate Story from The Sandman: His Ship Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
	The Sea Princess, Anonymous	Violets by Dinah Maria Mulock		Little Billee by William Makepeace Thackeray	Up and Down by Walter de la Mare	March by Celia Thaxter	The Lamb by William Blake

The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

The Dog, the Cock, and the Fox

A Dog and a Cock, who were the best of friends, wished very much to see something of the world. So they decided to leave the farmyard and to set out into the world along the road that led to the woods. The two comrades traveled along in the very best of spirits and without meeting any adventure to speak of.

At nightfall the Cock, looking for a place to roost, as was his custom, spied nearby a hollow tree that he thought would do very nicely for a night's lodging. The Dog could creep inside and the Cock would fly up on one of the branches. So said, so done, and both slept very comfortably.

With the first glimmer of dawn the Cock awoke. For the moment he forgot just where he was. He thought he was still in the farmyard where it had been his duty to arouse the household at daybreak. So standing on tip-toes he flapped his wings and crowed lustily. But instead of awakening the farmer, he awakened a Fox not far off in the wood. The Fox immediately had rosy visions of a very delicious breakfast. Hurrying to the tree where the Cock was roosting, he said very politely:

"A hearty welcome to our woods, honored sir. I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you here. I am quite sure we shall become the closest of friends."

"I feel highly flattered, kind sir," replied the Cock slyly. "If you will please go around to the door of my house at the foot of the tree, my porter will let you in."

The hungry but unsuspecting Fox, went around the tree as he was told, and in a twinkling the Dog had seized him.

Those who try to deceive may expect to be paid in their own coin.