Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for August


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 41 Through the Skylight from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock The Barmecide Feast from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Mourner the Dove and Cuckoo from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess WATER: THE FIRST STORY from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
The Story of Ys from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
Christopher Columbus from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge Borrowed Fire (Part 1 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major David's Handsome Son and How He Stole the Kingdom (Part 1 of 2) from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Captain Newport's Return from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Gold-Seekers from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
A Worthless Cargo from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
The Yellow Spider from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Wild Boar and the Fox from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Am Pleased with My Man Friday from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Story That Had No End from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner Unc' Billy Possum Is a Prisoner from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess The Christmas Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
The Twilight by Madison Cawein
One, Two, Three by Henry C. Bunner
  Pigwiggen Arms Himself by Michael Drayton Silver by Walter de la Mare Cradle Song by Richard Watson Gilder When the Frost Is on the Punkin by James Whitcomb Riley
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Crow and the Pitcher

In a spell of dry weather, when the Birds could find very little to drink, a thirsty Crow found a pitcher with a little water in it. But the pitcher was high and had a narrow neck, and no matter how he tried, the Crow could not reach the water. The poor thing felt as if he must die of thirst.

Then an idea came to him. Picking up some small pebbles, he dropped them into the pitcher one by one. With each pebble the water rose a little higher until at last it was near enough so he could drink.

In a pinch a good use of our wits may help us out.


[Illustration]