Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for May


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 47 A Little Snow Bird from The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin Whittington and His Cat (Part 2 of 2) from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Some Merry Seed-Eaters from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess Which Is Best from Fairy Tales Too Good To Miss—Into the Woods by Lisa M. Ripperton Follow the Leader from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge A Castle on Brandywine (Part 1 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major The Angel with the Drawn Sword on Mount Moriah from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Turpentine and Tar from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
The Making of Clapboards from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Providing for the Children from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Broad Leaves in Fall from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Hares and the Frogs from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Am Called Governor from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Sailor Man from The Golden Windows by Laura E. Richards Happy Jack Squirrel Makes an Unexpected Call from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess The Runaway Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
Aladdin by James Russell Lowell Wizard Frost by Frank Dempster Sherman   The Merman by Alfred Lord Tennyson Many a Mickle by Walter de la Mare Thanksgiving Day by Lydia Maria Child Thanksgiving Day by Lydia Maria Child
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Fox and the Crow

One bright morning as the Fox was following his sharp nose through the wood in search of a bite to eat, he saw a Crow on the limb of a tree overhead. This was by no means the first Crow the Fox had ever seen. What caught his attention this time and made him stop for a second look, was that the lucky Crow held a bit of cheese in her beak.

"No need to search any farther," thought sly Master Fox. "Here is a dainty bite for my breakfast."

Up he trotted to the foot of the tree in which the Crow was sitting, and looking up admiringly, he cried, "Good-morning, beautiful creature!"


[Illustration]

The Crow, her head cocked on one side, watched the Fox suspiciously. But she kept her beak tightly closed on the cheese and did not return his greeting.

"What a charming creature she is!" said the Fox. "How her feathers shine! What a beautiful form and what splendid wings! Such a wonderful Bird should have a very lovely voice, since everything else about her is so perfect. Could she sing just one song, I know I should hail her Queen of Birds."

Listening to these flattering words, the Crow forgot all her suspicion, and also her breakfast. She wanted very much to be called Queen of Birds.

So she opened her beak wide to utter her loudest caw, and down fell the cheese straight into the Fox's open mouth.

"Thank you," said Master Fox sweetly, as he walked off. "Though it is cracked, you have a voice sure enough. But where are your wits?"

The flatterer lives at the expense of those who will listen to him.