Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for April

Little Jack Horner



The Little Disaster



My Pretty Maid



The Ploughboy in Luck




The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat:

They took some honey, and plenty of money

Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar,

"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are,

You are,

You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!"


Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl,

How charmingly sweet you sing!

Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried:

But what shall we do for a ring?"

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the bong-tree grows;

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,

With a ring at the end of his nose,

His nose,

His nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.


"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."

So they took it away, and were married next day

By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

They danced by the light of the moon,

The moon,

The moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.



  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 Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher  by Beatrix Potter

The Tale of Jeremy Fisher


[Illustration]

O NCE upon a time there was a frog called Mr. Jeremy Fisher; he lived in a little damp house amongst the buttercups at the edge of a pond.


[Illustration]

T HE water was all slippy-sloppy in the larder and in the back passage.

But Mr. Jeremy liked getting his feet wet; nobody ever scolded him, and he never caught a cold!


[Illustration]

H E was quite pleased when he looked out and saw large drops of rain, splashing in the pond—


[Illustration]

"I WILL get some worms and go fishing and catch a dish of minnows for my dinner," said Mr. Jeremy Fisher. "If I catch more than five fish, I will invite my friends Mr. Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise and Sir Isaac Newton. The Alderman, however, eats salad."


[Illustration]

M R. JEREMY put on a macintosh, and a pair of shiny goloshes; he took his rod and basket, and set off with enormous hops to the place where he kept his boat.


[Illustration]

T HE boat was round and green, and very like the other lily-leaves. It was tied to a water-plant in the middle of the pond.


[Illustration]

M R. JEREMY took a reed pole, and pushed the boat out into open water. "I know a good place for minnows," said Mr. Jeremy Fisher.


[Illustration]

M R. JEREMY stuck his pole into the mud and fastened the boat to it.

Then he settled himself cross-legged and arranged his fishing tackle. He had the dearest little red float. His rod was a tough stalk of grass, his line was a fine long white horse-hair, and he tied a little wriggling worm at the end.


[Illustration]

T HE rain trickled down his back, and for nearly an hour he stared at the float.

"This is getting tiresome, I think I should like some lunch," said Mr. Jeremy Fisher.


[Illustration]

H E punted back again amongst the water-plants, and took some lunch out of his basket.

"I will eat a butterfly sandwich, and wait till the shower is over," said Mr. Jeremy Fisher.


[Illustration]

A GREAT big water-beetle came up underneath the lily leaf and tweaked the toe of one of his goloshes.

Mr. Jeremy crossed his legs up shorter, out of reach, and went on eating his sandwich.


[Illustration]

O NCE or twice something moved about with a rustle and a splash amongst the rushes at the side of the pond.

"I trust that is not a rat," said Mr. Jeremy Fisher; "I think I had better get away from here."


[Illustration]

M R. JEREMY shoved the boat out again a little way, and dropped in the bait. There was a bite almost directly; the float gave a tremendous bobbit!

"A minnow! a minnow! I have him by the nose!" cried Mr. Jeremy Fisher, jerking up his rod.


[Illustration]

B UT what a horrible surprise! Instead of a smooth fat minnow, Mr. Jeremy landed little Jack Sharp the stickleback, covered with spines!


[Illustration]

T HE stickleback floundered about the boat, pricking and snapping until he was quite out of breath. Then he jumped back into the water.


[Illustration]

A ND a shoal of other little fishes put their heads out, and laughed at Mr. Jeremy Fisher.


[Illustration]

A ND while Mr. Jeremy sat disconsolately on the edge of his boat—sucking his sore fingers and peering down into the water—a much  worse thing happened; a really frightful  thing it would have been, if Mr. Jeremy had not been wearing a macintosh!


[Illustration]

A GREAT big enormous trout came up—ker-pflop-p-p-p! with a splash—and it seized Mr. Jeremy with a snap, "Ow! Ow! Ow!"—and then it turned and dived down to the bottom of the pond!


[Illustration]

B UT the trout was so displeased with the taste of the macintosh, that in less than half a minute it spat him out again; and the only thing it swallowed was Mr. Jeremy's goloshes.


[Illustration]

M R. JEREMY bounced up to the surface of the water, like a cork and the bubbles out of a soda water bottle; and he swam with all his might to the edge of the pond.


[Illustration]

H E scrambled out on the first bank he came to, and he hopped home across the meadow with his macintosh all in tatters.


[Illustration]

"W HAT a mercy that was not a pike!" said Mr. Jeremy Fisher. "I have lost my rod and basket; but it does not much matter, for I am sure I should never have dared to go fishing again!"


[Illustration]

H E put some sticking plaster on his fingers, and his friends both came to dinner. He could not offer them fish, but he had something else in his larder.


[Illustration]

S IR ISAAC NEWTON wore his black and gold waistcoat,


[Illustration]

A ND Mr. Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise brought a salad with him in a string bag.


[Illustration]

A ND instead of a nice dish of minnows—they had a roasted grasshopper with lady-bird sauce; which frogs consider a beautiful treat; but I  think it must have been nasty!