Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for July

My Shadow

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,

And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.

He stays so close beside me, he's a coward, you can see;

I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;

But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,

Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

	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

The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

The Hare and the Tortoise

A Hare was making fun of the Tortoise one day for being so slow.

"Do you ever get anywhere?" he asked with a mocking laugh.

"Yes," replied the Tortoise, "and I get there sooner than you think. I'll run you a race and prove it."

The Hare was much amused at the idea of running a race with the Tortoise, but for the fun of the thing he agreed. So the Fox, who had consented to act as judge, marked the distance and started the runners off.

The Hare was soon far out of sight, and to make the Tortoise feel very deeply how ridiculous it was for him to try a race with a Hare, he lay down beside the course to take a nap until the Tortoise should catch up.

The Tortoise meanwhile kept going slowly but steadily, and, after a time, passed the place where the Hare was sleeping. But the Hare slept on very peacefully; and when at last he did wake up, the Tortoise was near the goal. The Hare now ran his swiftest, but he could not overtake the Tortoise in time.

The race is not always to the swift.

The Hare and the Tortoise