Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for November


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 51 Some Other Birds Are Taught To Fly from The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin Mignon from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin More Folks in Red from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess Grandmother and Karen from The Christmas Porringer by Evaleen Stein Gabriel's Prayer from Gabriel and the Hour Book by Evaleen Stein The Book Goes to Lady Anne from Gabriel and the Hour Book by Evaleen Stein Lady Anne Writes to the King from Gabriel and the Hour Book by Evaleen Stein
Our Courage Gives Out from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Abandoning Jamestown from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
A Winter Butterfly (Part 3 of 3) from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch At the Rag-Market from The Christmas Porringer by Evaleen Stein Tiny Tim from For the Children's Hour by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey How The Good Gifts Were Used by Two from The Wonder Clock by Howard Pyle The First Christmas Roses from Christmas in Legend and Story: A Book for Boys and Girls by Elva S. Smith The Pilot Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
Christmas Day and Every Day by George MacDonald Carol by Kenneth Grahame The Frost King by Mary Mapes Dodge
Santa Claus, Anonymous
A Christmas Carol by Christina Georgina Rossetti As Joseph Was A-Walking, Anonymous How Far Is It to Bethlehem? by Frances Chesterton
First row Previous row          Next row
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.


[Illustration]

The Hare and the Tortoise