Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for December


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 32 Pinocchio Becomes a Donkey from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi A Laconic Answer from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Three Cousins Quite Unlike from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess The Sea-Maiden Who Became a Sea-Swan (Part 1 of 2) from The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum The Sea of Darkness from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge The Big Bear (Part 2 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major Where David Found the Giant's Sword from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Roasting Oysters from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Learning To Cook Other Things from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
The Sweet Potato Root from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Johnny Darter from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Ants and the Grasshopper from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I See Something in the Sand from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin Buchettino from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner Mr. Toad and Prickly Porky Put Their Heads Togethe from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess A United Family from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Fairy Thrall, Anonymous Thank You, Pretty Cow by Jane Taylor   The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear Berries by Walter de la Mare Dandelions by Helen Gray Cone My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Old Lion and the Fox

An old Lion, whose teeth and claws were so worn that it was not so easy for him to get food as in his younger days, pretended that he was sick. He took care to let all his neighbors know about it, and then lay down in his cave to wait for visitors. And when they came to offer him their sympathy, he ate them up one by one.

The Fox came too, but he was very cautious about it. Standing at a safe distance from the cave, he inquired politely after the Lion's health. The Lion replied that he was very ill indeed, and asked the Fox to step in for a moment. But Master Fox very wisely stayed outside, thanking the Lion very kindly for the invitation.

"I should be glad to do as you ask," he added, "but I have noticed that there are many foot prints leading into your cave and none coming out. Pray tell me, how do your visitors find their way out again?"

Take warning from the misfortunes of others.


[Illustration]