Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for November


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 25 Pinocchio Promises To Be Good and Studious from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi The Story of Regulus from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Some Homes in the Green Forest from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess Bloom-of-Youth and the Witch of the Elders (Part 1 of 2) from The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum Frederick Barbarossa from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge Betsy Has a Birthday (Part 2 of 3) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher The Tall Man Who Was Chosen King from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
A Variety of Wild Game from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
The Tempest from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
The New Country Sighted from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
The Hermit Crab from Seaside and Wayside, Book One by Julia McNair Wright The Frogs Who Wished for a King from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Become a Potter from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Travels of a Fox from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner Reddy Fox Thinks He Sees a Ghost from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess Cherry Picking from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
A Boy's Song by James Hogg The Cow by Robert Louis Stevenson   The Pasture by Robert Frost In Vain by Walter de la Mare Wishing by William Allingham Ariel's Song from The Tempest by William Shakespeare
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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.


[Illustration]