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 33 Pinocchio Is Sold from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi The Ungrateful Guest from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Peter Gets a Lame Neck from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess The Sea-Maiden Who Became a Sea-Swan (Part 2 of 2) from The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum Prince Henry, the Sailor from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge How Balser Got a Gun (Part 1 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major How David Spared Saul's Life from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
A Touch of Homesickness from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Master Hunt's Preaching from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Neglecting To Provide for the Future from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
A Spider's Tower from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Ass Carrying the Image from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Am Again Alarmed from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Straw Ox from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner The Runaway Cabbage from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess Safe from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
A Sand Castle, Anonymous The Wonderful World by William Brighty Rands   The Fairy Shoemaker by William Allingham The Bees' Song by Walter de la Mare Summer Woods by Mary Howitt A Sea Song from the Shore by James Whitcomb Riley
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Old Lion and the Fox

An old Lion, whose teeth and claws were so worn that it was not so easy for him to get food as in his younger days, pretended that he was sick. He took care to let all his neighbors know about it, and then lay down in his cave to wait for visitors. And when they came to offer him their sympathy, he ate them up one by one.

The Fox came too, but he was very cautious about it. Standing at a safe distance from the cave, he inquired politely after the Lion's health. The Lion replied that he was very ill indeed, and asked the Fox to step in for a moment. But Master Fox very wisely stayed outside, thanking the Lion very kindly for the invitation.

"I should be glad to do as you ask," he added, "but I have noticed that there are many foot prints leading into your cave and none coming out. Pray tell me, how do your visitors find their way out again?"

Take warning from the misfortunes of others.


[Illustration]