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 43	Stirrings of Ambition from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock	The Blind Men and the Elephant from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	A Stranger and a Dandy from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	EARTH: THE SECOND STORY from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum King Solomon and the Servitor of the Lord of Earth from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum	Discovery of the New World from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge	The Fire Bear from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major	Absalom in the Wood; David on the Throne (Part 1 of 2) from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
	Gazing at the Women from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Master Hunt Brings Great News from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Captain Newport's Instructions from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis	Flyaway Seeds from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch	The Birds, the Beasts and the Bat from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I Make a New Boat from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	The Clever Turtle from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner	Unc' Billy Possum Wishes He Had Snowshoes from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess	The Teak-Wood Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
	How the Leaves Came Down by Susan Coolidge	Lady Moon by Richard Monckton Milnes		The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost	The Song of the Secret by Walter de la Mare	The Challenge of Thor by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley

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.