Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for January

I Had a Little Nut Tree



The Four Presents



Little Man and Maid



The Jolly Tester




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
First row Previous row          Next row Last row
The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Fox and the Grapes

A Fox one day spied a beautiful bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a vine trained along the branches of a tree. The grapes seemed ready to burst with juice, and the Fox's mouth watered as he gazed longingly at them.


[Illustration]

The bunch hung from a high branch, and the Fox had to jump for it, The first time he jumped he missed it by a long way. So he walked off a short distance and took a running leap at it, only to fall short once more. Again and again he tried, but in vain.

Now he sat down and looked at the grapes in disgust.

"What a fool I am," he said. "Here I am wearing myself out to get a bunch of sour grapes that are not worth gaping for."

And off he walked very, very scornfully.

There are many who pretend to despise and belittle that which is beyond their reach.