Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for November

A Diamond or a Coal?

A diamond or a coal?
A diamond, if you please:
Who cares about a clumsy coal
Beneath the summer trees?

A diamond or a coal?
A coal, sir, if you please:
One comes to care about the coal
What time the waters freeze.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 49	The Bird's Nest from The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin	Antonio Canova from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	Peter Learns Something about Spooky from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	Buying the Porringer from The Christmas Porringer by Evaleen Stein	Robber Hans from The Christmas Porringer by Evaleen Stein	The Little Colour Grinder from Gabriel and the Hour Book by Evaleen Stein	Brother Stephen's Inspiration from Gabriel and the Hour Book by Evaleen Stein
	Captain Smith's Speech from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis The New Laws from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis The Accident from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis	Sleepy Bumblebees (Part 1 of 3) from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch	Karen Asks about Christmas from The Christmas Porringer by Evaleen Stein	I Bring My Tale to a Close from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	The Jar of Rosemary from The Story-Teller by Maud Lindsay	A Christmas Star from The Children's Book of Christmas Stories by Asa Don Dickinson	The Privateer Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
	The Christmas Tree in the Nursery by Richard Watson Gilder	An Old Christmas Carol, Anonymous	A Song of the Snow by Madison Cawein	The Friendly Beasts, Anonymous	A Christmas Song by Phillips Brooks	Christmas Bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	Bethlehem, Anonymous

The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

The Lion and the Mouse

A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A timid little Mouse came upon him unexpectedly, and in her fright and haste to get away, ran across the Lion's nose. Roused from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw angrily on the tiny creature to kill her.

"Spare me!" begged the poor Mouse. "Please let me go and some day I will surely repay you."

The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was generous and finally let the Mouse go.

Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils of a hunter's net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the net. Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it until it parted, and soon the Lion was free.

"You laughed when I said I would repay you," said the Mouse. "Now you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion."

A kindness is never wasted.