Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for December

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 22	Pinocchio Discovers the Robbers from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi	The Bell of Atri from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	A Swallow and One Who Isn't from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	The Stone of Victory (Part 3 of 3) from The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum	How the Northmen Conquered England from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge	The New Clothes Fail (Part 1 of 2) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher	Saint Columba (Part 1 of 2) from Our Island Saints by Amy Steedman
	When the Fleet Set Sail from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis The Voyage Delayed from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Nathaniel's Story from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis	What the Crab Does from Seaside and Wayside, Book One by Julia McNair Wright	The Sheep and the Pig from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I Make a Long Journey from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	The Three Friends from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner	Old Man Coyote Loses His Appetite from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess	Earning a Living from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
	The Lamb by William Blake	Bed in Summer by Robert Louis Stevenson		Discontent by Sarah Orne Jewett	Summer Evening by Walter de la Mare	A Boy's Song by James Hogg	The Pixy People by James Whitcomb Riley

The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

Belling the Cat

The mice once called a meeting to decide on a plan to free themselves of their enemy, the Cat. At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away. Indeed, something had to be done, for they lived in such constant fear of her claws that they hardly dared stir from their dens by night or day.

Many plans were discussed, but none of them was thought good enough. At last a very young Mouse got up and said:

"I have a plan that seems very simple, but I know it will be successful. All we have to do is to hang a bell about the Cat's neck. When we hear the bell ringing we will know immediately that our enemy is coming."

All the Mice were much surprised that they had not thought of such a plan before. But in the midst of the rejoicing over their good fortune, an old Mouse arose and said:

"I will say that the plan of the young Mouse is very good. But let me ask one question Who will bell the Cat?"

It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.