Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for September


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 45 Helpless No More from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock The Inchcape Rock from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Honker and Dippy Arrive from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess AIR: THE SECOND STORY from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
Bellerophon from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
Columbus in Chains from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge The Black Gully (Part 2 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major Absalom in the Wood; David on the Throne (Part 2 of 2) from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Stealing the Company's Goods from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
What the Thieving Led To from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Fear of Famine in a Land of Plenty from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
New Coats for Bluebirds (Part 2 of 3) from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Wolf and the Lamb from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Make a Bold Rescue from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Jackal and the Alligator from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner Farmer Brown's Boy Chops Down a Tree from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess The Albatross Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
The Derelict Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
Romance by Gabriel Setoun Norse Lullaby by Eugene Field   Hiawatha's Childhood by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Earth Folk by Walter de la Mare The Winter Robin by Thomas Bailey Aldrich The Raggedy Man by James Whitcomb Riley
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Fox and the Grapes

A Fox one day spied a beautiful bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a vine trained along the branches of a tree. The grapes seemed ready to burst with juice, and the Fox's mouth watered as he gazed longingly at them.


[Illustration]

The bunch hung from a high branch, and the Fox had to jump for it, The first time he jumped he missed it by a long way. So he walked off a short distance and took a running leap at it, only to fall short once more. Again and again he tried, but in vain.

Now he sat down and looked at the grapes in disgust.

"What a fool I am," he said. "Here I am wearing myself out to get a bunch of sour grapes that are not worth gaping for."

And off he walked very, very scornfully.

There are many who pretend to despise and belittle that which is beyond their reach.