Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for December

Where Go the Boats?

Dark brown is the river,
Golden is the sand.
It flows along for ever,
With trees on either hand.

Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating—
Where will all come home?

On goes the river
And out past the mill,
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.

Away down the river,
A hundred miles or more,
Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore.

	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

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.