Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for December

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 7	Geppetto Gives Pinocchio His Breakfast from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi	A Story of Robin Hood from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	The Thaw from The Seasons: Winter by Jane Marcet	Crow-feather-Cloak Again (Part 2 of 2) from The Girl Who Sat by the Ashes by Padraic Colum	The Roman World from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge	A Short Morning (Part 1 of 2) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher	The Story of an Altar beside the River from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
	Harald's Battle from Viking Tales by Jennie Hall	Tracks on the Snow from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch	The Eagle and the Jackdaw from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I Find a Strange Lodging Place from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	Phaeton and the Chariot of the Sun from A Child's Book of Myths and Enchantment Tales by Margaret Evans Price	Jimmy Skunk Calls on Prickly Porky from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess	The Captain Solomon Story from The Sandman: His Ship Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
	The World's Music by Gabriel Setoun	The Sailors' Delight, Anonymous	A Lobster Quadrille by Lewis Carroll	The Watchman's Song, Anonymous	The Cupboard by Walter de la Mare	To a Child: Written in Her Album by William Wordsworth	Naughty Claude by James Whitcomb Riley

Fairy Tales Too Good To Miss—Around the Fire by Lisa M. Ripperton

Tit for Tat

T HERE once lived a camel and a jackal who were great friends. One day the Jackal said to the Camel: "I know that there is a fine field of sugar cane on the other side of the river. If you will take me across, I'll show you the place. This plan will suit me as well as you. You will enjoy eating the sugar cane, and I am sure to find many crabs, bones, and bits of fish by the riverside, on which to make a good dinner."

The Camel consented and swam across the river, taking the Jackal, who could not swim, on his back. When they reached the other side, the Camel went to eating the sugar cane, and the Jackal ran up and down the river bank devouring all the crabs, bits of fish, and bones he could find.

But being so much smaller an animal, he had made an excellent meal before the Camel had eaten more than two or three mouthfuls; and no sooner had he finished his dinner than he ran round and round the sugar-cane field, yelping and howling with all his might.

The villagers heard him, and thought: "There is a jackal among the sugar canes; he will be scratching holes in the ground and spoiling the roots of the plants." And they all went down to the place to drive him away. But when they got there they found to their surprise not only a jackal, but a camel who was eating the sugar canes! This made them very angry, and they caught the poor Camel and drove him from the field and beat and beat him until he was nearly dead.

When they had gone, the Jackal said to the Camel, "We had better go home." And the Camel said: "Very well; then jump upon my back as you did before."

So the Jackal jumped upon the Camel's back, and the Camel began to recross the river. When they had got well into the water the Camel said: "This is a gritty way in which you have treated me, friend Jackal. No sooner had you finished your own dinner than you must go yelping about the place loud enough to arouse the whole village, and bring all the villagers down to beat me black and blue, and turn me out of the field before I had eaten two mouthfuls! What in the world did you make such a noise for?"

"I don't know," said the Jackal. "It is a habit I have. I always like to sing a little after dinner."

The Camel waded on through the river. The water reached up to his knees—then above them—up, up, up, higher and higher, until he was obliged to swim. Then turning to the Jackal he said, "I feel very anxious to roll." "Oh, pray don't; why do you wish to do so?" asked the Jackal. "I don't know," answered the Camel. "It is a habit I have. I always like to have a little roll after dinner." So saying, he rolled over in the water, shaking the Jackal off as he did so. And the Jackal was drowned, but the Camel swam safely ashore.