Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for January

The Sugar-Plum Tree

Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?
'Tis a marvel of great renown!
It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;
The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet
(As those who have tasted it say)
That good little children have only to eat
Of that fruit to be happy next day.

When you've got to the tree, you would have a hard time
To capture the fruit which I sing;
The tree is so tall that no person could climb
To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing!
But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat,
And a gingerbread dog prowls below—
And this is the way you contrive to get at
Those sugar-plums tempting you so:

You say but the word to that gingerbread dog
And he barks with such terrible zest
That the chocolate cat is at once all agog,
As her swelling proportions attest.
And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around
From this leafy limb unto that,
And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground—
Hurrah for that chocolate cat!

There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes,
With stripings of scarlet or gold,
And you carry away of the treasure that rains
As much as your apron can hold!
So come, little child, cuddle closer to me
In your dainty white nightcap and gown,
And I'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 20	Pinocchio Is Liberated from Prison from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi	The Story of William Tell from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	More of the Blackbird Family from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	The Stone of Victory (Part 1 of 3) from The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum	The Hero of Two Nations from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge	Betsy Starts a Sewing Society (Part 2 of 3) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher	The Little Boy with a Linen Coat from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
	Captain John Smith Comes to London from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Meeting Captain Smith from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Captain Smith Speaks to Me from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis	More About Mr. Crab from Seaside and Wayside, Book One by Julia McNair Wright	The Plane Tree from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I Make Me a Calendar from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	The Teeny Tiny Woman from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner	A Plot To Frighten Old Man Coyote from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess	A New Home from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
	A Friend in the Garden by Juliana Horatia Ewing	Good Night and Good Morning by Richard Monckton Milnes		Little Bud Dandelion by Helen Barron Bostwick	The Little Bird by Walter de la Mare	The Fairies by William Allingham	A Barefoot Boy by James Whitcomb Riley

The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

The Frogs Who Wished for a King

The Frogs were tired of governing themselves. They had so much freedom that it had spoiled them, and they did nothing but sit around croaking in a bored manner and wishing for a government that could entertain them with the pomp and display of royalty, and rule them in a way to make them know they were being ruled. No milk and water government for them, they declared. So they sent a petition to Jupiter asking for a king.

Jupiter saw what simple and foolish creatures they were, but to keep them quiet and make them think they had a king he threw down a huge log, which fell into the water with a great splash. The Frogs hid themselves among the reeds and grasses, thinking the new king to be some fearful giant. But they soon discovered how tame and peaceable King Log was. In a short time the younger Frogs were using him for a diving platform, while the older Frogs made him a meeting place, where they complained loudly to Jupiter about the government.

To teach the Frogs a lesson the ruler of the gods now sent a Crane to be king of Frogland. The Crane proved to be a very different sort of king from old King Log. He gobbled up the poor Frogs right and left and they soon saw what fools they had been. In mournful croaks they begged Jupiter to take away the cruel tyrant before they should all be destroyed.

"How now!" cried Jupiter "Are you not yet content? You have what you asked for and so you have only yourselves to blame for your misfortunes."

Be sure you can better your condition before you seek to change.