&&000 CANADIAN SCHOOLBOOKS                                                           CA802C04.TXT

GRADE 2, 1980s

COMBINED 3 SAMPLES into a single file = CA802C.TXT
        CA802.TXT
        CA8022.TXT
        CA8023.TXT

1ST Sampled at OISE/UT Toronto Dec 9-10, 2003 by dph
1st edited by dph 21 Dec 2003
Re-edited 21 June 2005

&&111

=NYAME: All my days are good, =Anansi.

=ANANSI: But of course. It is only we poor
earth creatures who have bad days.

=NYAME: I'm not going to change that.
If that's why you've come, go home.

=ANANSI: No, I'm here for another reason.
I want to buy your stories.

=NYAME: What? Buy my stories? You dare climb into my sky and ask me to sell you my
stories? Great kings have tried to buy them. My stories are not for sale.

=ANANSI: Don't be angry with me, =Sky-god.
I'm just a little spider trying to make my way in life. Isn't there any way I might talk you into
giving up your stories?

=NYAME: What a bother you are.

=ANANSI: Why? Because I don't give up easily?
=NYAME: Oh, all right, =Spiderman. If you can show me a crocodile with no teeth, an empty
hornets' nest, and a quiet monkey, I'll give you my stories.

My mother said probably it was too hard for him and I shouldn't worry about it. But I felt bad
because =Jacob always helped me so much, and I wanted to be able to help him too.

I kept telling him and he kept forgetting, so one day I just said, "Never mind, =Jacob, maybe it is
too hard."

"What's the matter, =Sam?" =Jacob asked me. "Never mind, =Jacob," was all I said.

The next day, at dinner time, we were sitting
in our dining room when my mother and my father and I heard this really loud knocking at the
door.
Then the door popped open and =Jacob stuck his head in.

"I'm knocking, Sam!" he yelled.

My mother used to say, "Be careful with =Jacob
and that ball; he might hurt you." But now she doesn't. She knows that =Jacob wouldn't hurt
anybody, especially his very, very best friend.

I love to sit on the steps and watch the cars go by with =Jacob. He knows the name of every kind
of car. Even if he only sees it just for a minute, =Jacob can tell you the kind of car.

He is helping me be able to tell the cars too. When I make a mistake, =Jacob never ever laughs.
He just say's, "No, no, =Sam, try again." And I do. He is my best, best friend.

When I have to go to the store, =Jacob goes with me to help me. His mother used to say, "You
don't have to have =Jacob tagging along with you like that, =Sammy." But now she doesn't. She
knows we like to go to the store together.
=Jacob helps me to carry and I help =Jacob to remember.
But =Martha was watching from the kitchen.
"How do you expect to walk home with your loafers full of split pea soup?" she asked =George.

"Oh dear," said =George. "You saw me."

"And why didn't you tell me that you hate my split pea soup?"

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings," said =George.

"That's silly," said =Martha. "Friends should always tell each other the truth. As a matter of fact, I
don't like split pea soup very much myself. I only like to make it. From now on, you'll never have
to eat that awful soup again."

What a relief!" =George sighed.

"Would you like some chocolate chip cookies instead?" asked =Martha.

"Oh, that would be lovely," said =George. "Then you shall have them," said his friend.
Soon the caterpillar had left a pattern on leaf
after leaf as he munched his way up the tree.
On his journey along the branch the caterpillar met a beetle.

"How lucky you are to have wings," he said.
"I wish I could fly like everyone else around here." But the beetle flew away without a word and
the caterpillar continued slowly on his way to the next leaf.

Suddenly he sensed danger and lay quite still, pretending to be dead. Two birds had landed
on the branch beside him and the caterpillar knew that if he moved even a tiny bit the birds
would snap him up in an instant. But the birds just fluffed out their feathers and left him alone.


Thank you for your letter about summer camp. Cooking outside is so much fun! It reminds me of
meals long ago. I loved to eat porridge
when I was a little girl.
I filled my beautiful blue bowl with three big spoons of porridge. Then I put raisins in the bowl.
Then I put on three spoons of brown sugar. I covered everything
with three big splashes of cream. How delicious!
I am making myself hungry.

Here is a little story for you.
It is all about porridge. I hope you enjoy it
as much as I enjoyed my porridge long, long ago,


'What?" said =Peter.

"Get a cow," said the wise man.

"What good is a cow?" said =Peter. But =Peter got a cow anyhow.

The cow said, "=Moo. =MOO." The bed creaked.
The floor squeaked.
The leaves fell on the roof. =Swish. =Swish. The tea kettle whistled. =Hiss. =Hiss.

"Too noisy," said =Peter.
And he went back to the wise man.

"Get a donkey," said the wise man.

'What good is a donkey?" said =Peter. But =Peter got a donkey anyhow.

The donkey said, "=HEE-Haw." The cow said, "=Moo =MOO." The bed creaked.
The floor squeaked.
The leaves fell on the roof. =Swish. wish. The tea kettle whistled. =Hiss. =Hiss.



A boy and girl came up to them.
"How are you, Mr =Pettigrew?" they asked.
"I'm fine," said the man. The boy and girl went on.
=Daniel said, "You're =HenryPettigrew!"
"Yes," said the man. "I'm a wood-carver, too." "I know that," said =Daniel.
He was holding his duck. He looked down at it. It wasn't ugly.
It was a good duck.
=HenryPettigrew had said so, and he knew.

"I saw your deer," said =Daniel.
"I made it last winter," said the man. "I've made lots of things. My house is full of them."

=Daniel said, "I wish, and then he stopped.

It was winter.
The nights were long.

"This is a good time to sit by the fire and carve," said =Jeff.
"I'm going to make something for the spring fair."

Every spring there was a fair in the valley.
It was time for people to meet after the long winter. It was a time to show things that they had
made. Sometimes they sold what they had made. Sometimes they traded with one another.

=Father knew how to make moccasins. On winter nights he made moccasins to take to the fair.
=Mother cut pieces of cloth. She sewed them together to make a quilt.

"This will be a warm quilt for somebody's bed, she said. "I'll take it to the fair."


"Birds fly," said =LittleBear.

"Oh, yes," said =MotherBear. "Birds fly, but they don't fly to the moon. And you are not a bird."

"Maybe some birds fly to the moon, I don't know. And maybe I can fly like a bird," said
=LittleBear.

"And maybe," said =MotherBear,
"you are a little fat bear cub with no wings and no feathers. Maybe if you jump up
you will come down very fast, with a big plop."

"Maybe," said =LittleBear. "But I'm going now. Just look for me up in the sky."

This is how you say =itan-at-oh-SAWruss.
This dinosaur
was called a "=duckbill."
It had a beak like a dusk. Its beak had no teeth. But its mouth did. There were
hundreds of teeth in it! Sometimes a tooth broke. But that did not matter. It could grow a new
one.

Its name is =Anatosaurus.

"Why, dear me," said the =Wiseman. feetloaf, let's see.  It's a kind of shoe pudding that grows
in a tree."

"Of course," said the =Cook, "feetloaf  tastes sweet, And it's eaten by kings
when they dine in bare feet."

"I think," said the little boy, "you all ought to know. Feetloaf   sounds like.
=Beetloaf  sounds like    Meatloaf to me."

So the townspeople gave the =HungryThing some. The =HungryThing ate it all up. He again
pointed to his sign that said =FeedMe.

"What would you like this time?" asked the townspeople.

"=Hookies," answered the Hungry Thing.

"=Hookies!" cried the townspeople..
"How do you eat them? What can they be?"

"=Hookies," said the =Wiseman, "are known in far lands As a special spaghetti to eat holding
hands." 

When the wind is blowing hard Like a giant in the yard,
I'm glad my bed I'm warm;
I'm glad my bed is warm, 

When the rain begins to rain  Like a giant with a pain,
I'm glad my bed is warm;
I'm glad my bed is warm.
When the snowstorm starts to howl
Like a giant in a towel,
I'm glad my bed is warm; I'm glad my bed is warm.


And when the giants realize
That no one's scared of their disguise, They go to bed and close their eyes
They're glad their beds are warm; 
They're glad their beds are warm.

Well, You look sort of sleepy to me.
Some of you chaps
Should go home and take naps.
I only intend to lick three.  
I can lick
Three big tigers today.
Well.
It's frightfully hot In the sun.
You two, I'm afraid,
Should lie down in the shade. You're safe.
I shall only lick one.

Can anybody tell me, please,
a bit about the thing
with seven legs and furry knees, four noses and a wing?

Oh what has prickles on its chin, what's yellow, green, and blue, and what has soft and slimy
skin? Oh tell me, tell me, do.

And tell me, what has polka dots on every other ear,
what ties its tail in twenty knots, what weeps a purple tear?

Oh what is growling long and low and please, has it been fed? I think I'd really better know... it's
sitting on my head.
"Well, it's not too bad," thought =Holly.
"We can swim in the ocean instead of sliding down a hill.
We can build sand castles instead of snowmen. We can bury each other in the sand instead of
making snow angels." =Holly tried to smile, and finally fell asleep. It was =ChristmasEve.

The next morning, =Holly opened her eyes. The sun was shining in the window. The air
copditioner was humming. It was =Christmas morning. It was also =Holly's birthday.

=Holly got out of bed
and walked slowly to the window.
She could see people swimming in the water. She could see people sunbathing on the beach. She
could see people eating breakfast under the big umbrellas at the restaurant.



"I'm having a party tomorrow," whispered =Rabbit. "It's a surprise."
"=Rabbit is hoeing the parsley tomorrow," whispered =Owl.
"It's a surprise."
"=Rabbit is going to sea tomorrow," whispered =Squirrel. "It's a surprise."
"=Rabbit is climbing a tree tomorrow," whispered =Duck.
"It's a surprise."
"=Rabbit is riding a flea tomorrow," whispered =Mouse. "It's a surprise."
"=Rabbit is raiding the poultry tomorrow," whispered =Fox.
"It's a surprise."
"Reading poetry?"
said =Frog to himself.
"His own, I suppose. How dull."
At the pasture, a goat pushed his head
through the rails of the fence and twitched his beard. "If you are talking to ME," he said, "you
should NOT say, `Get a green fly.' You should say, `Get green weeds."'

"Oh?" said the chicken. And on he went, past the pasture, saying, "Get green weeds. Get green
weeds."

A bee buzzed over his head.
"What are you mumbling?" the bee asked.

"I was only saying, `Get weeds,"' the chicken said.

"I think that's wrong," the bee said. "You should say, `Get clover blossoms."'


We wait and listen for them to arrive. Suddenly, we see them, far away in the sky. There are so
many geese, we cannot count them all. They fly over us as they land on the pond.
The noise of their wings flapping
is the loudest thing we have ever heard. It is louder than an airplane.
The geese have a thousand conversations on the pond,
about their trip, about their families, about the dangers of the long flight.


Everyone said it wasn't true.
"It's impossible, =Justin," said his sister. "There's no elephant near here."

"Don't worry, =Justin," his father said. "An elephant can't come in our house."

"It isn't real, =Justin," said his mother. "It's only a dream."

But =Justin knew that every night an elephant came into his room.

And not only one. Sometimes two.

When =Martha saw =George's lovely new golden tooth, she was very happy.
"=George!" she exclaimed. "You look so handsome and distinguished with your new tooth!"
And =George was happy, too.
"That's what friends are for," he said. "They always look on the bright side and they always know
how to cheer you up."
"But they also tell you the truth," said =Martha with a smile.
Now in this
teeny tiny garden
the teeny tiny woman began to pick
some teeny tiny beans. She put them in her teeny tiny basket.
Then the teeny tiny woman found a teeny tiny bone.

The teeny tiny woman
put the teeny tiny bone into her teeny tiny pocket and ran home.
Then the teeny tiny woman put the teeny tiny bone in her teeny tiny cupboard.

She was a teeny tiny bit tired, so she climbed
the teeny tiny stairs and got into
her teeny tiny bed.

The rain fell more and more heavily,
so they flew across to the lily, and said, "Dear =Lily, open your flower a little for us, and let us
hide from the rain."

"I shall be glad to take in the red and the blue one," said the lily, "but I cannot take in the orange
one."

"If you cannot take in our friend,"
said the red and blue butterflies,
"then we shall have to do without your help." And so they flew away together.
=CurlySheep was nibbling sweet clover in the pasture, and =Cow was softly chewing her cud
under a shady tree.
"What is going on?" they said to one another. "Let us go and see."
They found all the other animals
crowded around the puddle together. "A whole barnyard full of animals
has fallen into the water," they all exclaimed. We must run for help!"

&&000
&&000 CANADIAN SCHOOLBOOKS 2004                                                 CA8022.TXT

2ND GRADE   2ND SAMPLE
dph samples from oise/ut 12 Jan 2004
edit by dph 18 Jan 2004

&&111
All the birds and animals had a meeting.

"I know what happened," said =Wombat. "Frog drank all the water. I saw him. He drank and
drank and drank."

"Yes," said =Kangaroo. "He drank every drop. There is not a drop left for us. We must find him
and tell him to give us back the water."

"Yes, yes, yes," said all the animals and birds together. "We will go right now."

The animals and birds found Frog sitting on a rock.
He was BIG!
He was ENORMOUS!
He was puffed up with all the water he had drunk.

"Please give us back the water, Frog," said Kangaroo.

"Yes, =Frog. We are so thirsty," said all the birds and animals.

But =Frog didn't say a word.


As soon as they were outside, the pup raced away. Soon he was out of sight behind a hill.

"=Siku, come back!" called =Kooni.

=Kooni put the boots down beside the door and hurried across the snow to the hill. He climbed to
the top and gazed down.

"=Siku, where are you?" he shouted. "No one will laugh at you in boots. Come back, =Siku."

But =Siku didn't come back. =Kooni waited and waited.

"What if he never comes back?" =ooni
thought. "What if he falls through the sea ice or is caught by a polar bear?"

=Kooni slid down the hill and climbed another, farther away. Then another and another, until, at
last, he heard a familiar yip. And then he could see =Siku limping along in the distance.

=Kooni hurried to him. "Oh, =Siku, I thought you were lost," he cried, giving the dog a hug.



=Zama walked down the road to the woman's gate.

Then she stopped and waited. Nothing happened, so she reached out and swung the gate open
and shut, open and shut. The gate squeaked as =Zama swung it back and forth.
Soon =Zama heard the same loud squeak coming from the woman's front porch. It was the
bird-the clever talking bird!

"=Squeeeeeeeeeek, =squeeeeeeeeeeek! Naughty girl! Who's there?" called the bird in the yellow
cage. Then it barked like the woman's little dog.

=Zama clutched the gate and giggled. "Hello, hello!" she called.

"Hello, hello!" replied the bird.

=Zama felt very clever. She ran home and told her mother that she was teaching a bird to talk,
but her mother just laughed.

=Irene, =Joe, and =Rita ran to help him. Something was wrong. His leg was bent in a funny way.

"I don't think you should move me," he said. "My leg feels as if it's broken."

Gary was right. Instead of being in the play-offs, he went to the hospital.

=Irene,=Joe, and =Rita were late for the game. They had to get sand from =Joe's father and put it
on the slippery walk in front of =Gary's house. And they sanded any other walks that were
slippery, too.

=Greenwood lost the game. Most people said, "Poor =Greenwood! They didn't have a chance
without =GaryKilburn in goal. Too bad about his broken leg!"

"And it's all our fault!" thought =Irene.
"From now on I'll be glad to see the sanders!"

=Grandmother went to see what was wrong.

"Snakes alive!" she said. "You look just like a parcel!"

=Simon was sitting on the carpet. He had tied himself up with the new rope. Round and round it
went, and in and out of itself. There seemed to be a great many knots all over it. He was trying to
undo one of them.

"This is going to take a long time," he said

"Dear me," said =Grandmother, "and your lunch is getting cold. How about coming as you are?"

"How about it," said =Simon. "But you'll have to help me up."

By the time he had finished eating, =Simon was beginning to squirm.

"This rope is very knobbly underneath," he said.

"Let's have a look at those knots," said =Grandmother. And she worked at them one by one.


It  was light when =Wallace woke up so he got out of bed, and put his pigs in the garage. Then he
went into his Mom's and Dad's room and climbed into his dad's side of the bed. His dad groaned
and turned over. =Wallace climbed out to get a book and climbed back in again. Then he climbed
out again to open the drapes.

"Read me a story, =Dad," he said. His dad groaned again.

"Wake up, =Dad," said =Wallace. "Let's have breakfast!"

His dad pushed =Wallace off and got up. They went downstairs and =Wallace let the cat in.

"What do you want for breakfast, =Wallace?" his dad asked.

The mother said, "Little boy, you are making up stories again. There is nothing in the meadow
but grass and trees. Go into the meadow and see for yourself."

The little boy said, "=Mother, I'm scared to go into the meadow, because of the lion which is
there."

The mother said, "Little boy, you are making up stories-so I will make up
a story too.  Do you see this match box? Take it to the meadow and open it. In it will be a tiny
dragon. The tiny dragon will grow into a big dragon. It will chase the lion away."



"I'll be cross with you!" shouted =Pete.

But just at that moment, the birds flew
away. Their wings made such a loud noise, that the cat nearly fell off the branch.

"There" said =Pete. "You see" said =Pete.

"What did I tell you" said =Pete. And he went on his way.

He was glad the birds got away from the cat. So he sang a happy song that he had made up.

"Spring, "Spring,
=Ter-ring,
=Ter-ring,
"Buttercups and daisies."

Then he walked along a low wall. He was a slow train, chuffing along, taking tractors to a farm.

=Edward kept his flashlight in his pocket at school. He kept it under his pillow when he was in
bed. Now it didn't matter so much if he had his night light or not. The dark was a friendly place
that he could light up whenever he wanted to.

The band played "Happy Birthday" softly.
The magician decided she might as well practice too, and was pulling flowers out of her suit
pocket.
Every now and then, somebody pushed the door buzzer.

=Elsa: Oh, I'll help you. (They both bend down and look.) I can't see it anywhere. What were you
going to do with it?
=Marco: I hadn't quite made up my mind. I might have bought a chocolate bar.
=Elsa: That's too bad! Never mind. You can have half
of my chocolate. (She hands it to him.)
=Marco: Thank you, =Elsa. (They both bend down and go on looking.)
=Steven (coming in): What are you doing, =MarcoMevic? =Elsa: He's looking for a dollar. I'm
helping him.
=Steven: Maybe it's under these bushes. (He looks.) No, no sign of it here. (They all stand up.)
What were you going to do with it?
=Marco: I wasn't quite sure, but I might have bought a toy car.
=Steven: That's too bad! Would you like to borrow my car? Here, you can keep it until the end of
the week. (=Steven hands car to =Marco.)
=Marco: Thank you. (All go back to looking.)

Mr =Higgins had been going =SLAP! with his paint brush since early morning. By the time his
neighbors went to work, most of his fence was done.

One board was blue. One board was orange. A purple board was next to a green board. Pink was
beside yellow. One board was striped. One had polka dots on it.

Mr =Higgins stood back to look at it. "Very nice!" he said out loud.

"Very WHAT?" a voice asked.

Mr =Higgins spun around. Mrs =Parker was staring as if she couldn't believe what she saw.

"Good morning," Mr =Higgins said. "How are you today?"

"I'm not sure," she answered, blinking her eyes. "I'm seeing a lot of colors."

Soon =Zebra came back with her group. Each animal carried a small bottle of rubbing oil.

=GinnyGiraffe lay on the grass. The animals began to rub the oil on her neck.

But there were so many animals and so many small bottles, they got in one another's way. The
animals pushed one another. The bottles spilled.

Zebra got angry. She grabbed her bottle and f h r r u left too. =Ginny Giraffe looked very sad.

Leopard came then, with a big bottle of gargle.

But =GinnyGiraffe couldn't gargle lying down. And when she stood up, no one could reach her
mouth.

=Maria's brother went to the top of a tree. He was going to pour the gargle into the giraffe's
mouth. But he let the bottle fall, and it broke into tiny pieces.

=Leopard and her group went home.


=Katie, be quiet! =Katie, be quiet! =Katie, be quiet!

That's what her father said.
That's what her mother said. That's what Mr =Zuk said.
That's what everyone in the apartment building said. And no wonder! =Katie was very noisy.

One morning =Katie saw some friends in the street. She shouted out the window.

"Hey! =Ellen, =Susan, =Kim, and =Kay! Wait for me! I want to play!"

=Katie grabbed her ball and bat. She slammed the apartment door as she went out. In the hall she
pretended to be a kangaroo.

"Kangaroos jump," she said. So she jumped all the way down the hall.



Then there was a noise behind him. When he turned around, there were four hippos following
him.

=Robert was even more pleased and more surprised than he had been the day before. He was
happy to think that he was the sort of boy hippopotami would follow.

When he got home the hippopotami went and sat in the goldfish pool.

It was quite a big pool, but with four hippos in it, it seemed quite small.

"Now there are four hippopotami in our goldfish pool," said =Robert's mother. "That seems like
quite a few."

The next day, the four hippos followed =Robert to school. That afternoon when
he walked home, nine hippopotami followed him and got into the goldfish pool

The stars were shining in the sky and the moon came up. Soon =Marmaduke began to enjoy
himself.

By the time morning came, he was far away from the zoo. He had followed a path that took him
up and up to the top of a mountain. =Marmaduke looked down and could see a big city below.

Then =Marmaduke heard singing and he went to see what it was. A man was walking around a
funny kind of car. =Marmaduke had never seen anything like it before.

He didn't know that it was a streetcar. It was the last streetcar in the city. =GeorgeBrown, the
driver, was getting it ready for its last run. It was to go from the top of the mountain down to the
park below.

The man got into the streetcar.

=Marmaduke was a very curious lion and he decided to find out what the man was doing in there.



Long ago there were no books for people to read. So they told stories.

They told stories about the sun and the moon. They told stories about birds and animals. They
told stories about kings and queens and giants and dragons.

Storytellers were very important people. They knew hundreds of stories and often made their
living by telling the stories. The old storytellers taught their stories to young storytellers, so the
stories were never forgotten.

Now we have books and can read stories for ourselves. But people still like to listen to stories,
and there are still storytellers.

Mrs =PatronellaJohnson is a storyteller. She knows many of the stories of the =Ojibwa people.
She learned them from a very old storyteller when she was a child.


=Wilfred looks at himself in the water of the pond. He is really fat! That is
good, for all animals that sleep through the winter need fat to help them keep warm. And their
bodies use up the fat while they sleep. Fat is food. It sort of melts inside an animal so that it won't
starve to death.
Leaving the pond, =Wilfred finds some firewood logs. But none of them would make a good
bedroom.
The man turned round. "I'm looking at a bird," he said.

"I was looking at a bird before," said
=Pete. "I put my face quite close to it, and
I stroked its head. Is yours an eagle bird?"

But the man said nothing. He just looked into the tree. "Mine was an eagle bird," said =Pete.

Then the man said: "Did you really stroke a bird?"

"Yes," said =Pete. "I told you, I stroked its head with my finger. It sat on the wall, and it nearly
made me fall off. What cheek," he said, "sitting on the wall like that, making people nearly fall
off. I might have had to have a =Band-Aid, you know!"

"Show me the bird," said the man.

So =Pete took his hand, and they went to the wall and found the bird. It was still sitting there.

&&000

&&000 CANADIAN SCHOOLBOOKS   2004                                    CA8023.TXT

2ND GRADE   3RD SAMPLE OF THIS 2ND GRADE text 
From the 1980S at OISE/UT -- sampled by dph
edit by dph 18 Jan 2004

&&111
But it was not enough.
"Oh, thumps!" cried =Ariel. "We'll crash info the lake!"
"Let's keep our wits about us," said =Carlotta, "and make the basket lighter."
=Ariel helped throw out a raincoat, rubber boots the Odds and Ends box, and the anchor.

=Ariel to the Rescue
=LuckyStar wobbled and took a giant step.
"Lean on this side," said =Carlotta.
The basket creaked and tilted toward shore. =LuckyStar was almost there, when
=SPLAAAAASH! The basket plunked into the wafer. But it didn't sink. The balloon kept it
afloat.
"We lost the race," cried =Ariel, "and it is all my fault. I am extra weight."
=Ariel knew what she had to do. She held her nose and jumped into the lake. The water was only
up to her waist.
"Good gracious!" said her mother. "That was brave, but it will not help. Even without you, the
basket is too wet and heavy to go up again."
Just then =FlyingCloud began to come down.
"Our last chance!" cried =Carlotta. She threw the guide rope to =Ariel. "Pull! Pull us to shore!
Hurry!"
=Ariel grabbed the rope and waded onto the beach. =LuckyStar was easy to pull with a balloon
holding it up.



If was the day of the big balloon race. =Ariel got up early and hurried to her mother's room.
"Please," she asked, "can I go up in the balloon with you?"
=Carlotta the Great was puffing on her blue dress with the fancy gold braid.
"You are too young," she said, "and winning a race is hard work."
"But I can help," said Ariel.
=Carlotta smiled. "You can help by riding in the buggy with your father to the finish line." "Oh,
thumps!" said =Ariel.
Sadly, she went outside. =Ariel watched her father fold =Carlotta's balloon, =LuckyStar.
"I wish I could be an astronaut like =Mama," she said.
"When you are older," said Mr =Myers. "Now it is time to go."
=Carlotta, =Ariel, and Mr =Myers climbed into the buggy. =LuckyStar followed in a wagon.
There was a great =whoop-de-doo at the
fairgrounds. Thousands of people were there to see the balloon race. If was a big event in =1882.
=OOMPAH! =OOMPAH! =OOMPAH! played the band.


A long time ago there was an old man.
His name was =Peter, and he lived in an old, old house.
The bed creaked.
The floor squeaked.
Outside, the wind blew the leaves through the trees. The leaves fell on the roof. Swish. Swish.
The tea kettle whistled. Hiss. Hiss. "Too noisy," said =Peter.
=Peter went to see the wise man of the village. "What can I do?" =Peter asked the wise man. "My
house makes too much noise. My bed creaks.
My floor squeaks.    The wind blows the leaves through the . The leaves fall on the roof.
Swish. Swish
My tea kettle whistles. Hiss. Hiss."


Down through the smoke the first flakes fall.
"Hello snow!" the children shout. "Now it's going to be winter!"
A wild grey cat shivers in the bushes and listens to the children. The cat looks at the white flakes
falling. "What is winter?" wonders the cat. He, was born in the fields in summer.
Later the children go in for their supper. Alone, the cat wonders, "What will happen now?" He
watches as the flakes fall faster.
Snow covers the fields. If covers the hills. It covers the house where the children live. Inside an
old shed the grey cat watches as half the world disappears in snow.
The world is white when morning comes. The air is cold. The grey cat crouches.
"Hello, winter!" the children shout. Then one child calls, "Look at that!" "Look at what?"
"That wild grey cat."
The cat runs away when the children come closer. "Oh, you can't catch a wild cat ever." And yet
the cat follows the children to the brook
where they look of the cold black winter wafer. The
children shout and roll in the snow and the cat keeps
close to the sound of (heir voices. "There's that cat."'
"Come here, cat."



"Do you smell winter yet?" asked =Father.
"We smell something cold, and secret, and quiet," said the children.
"That's winter," said =Father.
They carried home the bags and boxes, and baskets and sacks, and piled them on the pantry
shelves.
"Now we need wood," said =Father.
So out they went again info the whispering snow, knee-deep now, heavy and white. They
gathered twigs and sticks, and branches and stumps,
pile after pile,
and pulled them home through the deep, powdery snow. When they finished,
the shed was piled to the ceiling with wood, and all around outside the snow was as high as their
waists.
If was getting dark.


More roads were made, and the countryside was divided into lots. More houses and bigger
houses   apartment houses   schools  stores and garages spread over the land. They crowded
around the =LittleHouse.
No one wanted to live in her and take care of her any more.
She couldn't be sold for gold or silver, so she just stayed there and watched.
Now it was not so quiet and peaceful at night. Now the lights of the city were bright and very
close. The street lights shone all night. "This must be living in the city," thought the =Littleouse.
She didn't know whether she liked it or not.
She missed the field of daisies and the apple frees dancing in the moonlight.
Now the =LittleHouse only saw the sun at noon. She didn't see the moon or stars at night at all
because the lights of the city were too bright.
She didn't like living in the city. At night she used to dream of the country and the field of daisies
and the apple frees dancing in the moonlight.
The =LittleHouse was very sad and lonely. Her paint was cracked and dirty. Her windows were
broken and her shutters hung crookedly. She looked shabby though she was just as good a
house as ever underneath.
Then one fine morning in spring along came the
great-great-granddaughter of the man who built the



After eating their supper in front of the cozy fire, they wanted to go to sleep.
"Listen," brayed the donkey. "The robbers might come back. I have another plan."
So when they lay down to sleep, the donkey lay down by the back door, the dog lay down by the
front door, the cat lay down by the fire and the rooster flew to the chimney.
Out in the woods the three robbers had made their own plan. One robber crept back to the house.
When he opened the front door, the dog howled and bit the robber's leg. He yelled and ran to the
fireplace. The cat yowled and scratched the robber's hand. The rooster crowed and flew at his
head. As the robber raced to the back door, the donkey kicked him.
The robber yelled to the others, "There are terrible monsters in that house. Run! Away they all
ran through the woods and down the road. They never came back.
The four musicians decided to stay in the cozy
house in the woods  perhaps they live there still.


Boasted, "then I will catch a huge string with my long, bushy fail. How do you do it, =Fox?"
"Cut a little hole in the ice on the river," smiled =Fox. "Sit down, and hang your fail through it,
info the cold wafer. Soon the fish will take hold of your fail. You will feel a pinch, but don't
move. You want a big catch of fish, and that takes a long time."
Bear cut a little hole in the ice. He sat down by the hole, and hung his fail through it, info the
cold water. In a short time, he felt a pinch in his fail. It hurt a little, but he thought, "This isn't
hard. With my long bushy fail I can catch more fish than =Fox."
He sat and sat on the cold river ice. His fail pinched more and more. It hurt a lot., but =Bear
wanted to catch a huge string of fish. He wanted to show Fox that he was the best fisherman.
Besides, he was getting very hungry.
After sitting for a long, long time, =Bear thought, "My fail hurts more than it ever hurt before. It
must be full of fish. Now I will show =Fox, and then I will eat my catch of fish."
=Bear tried to stand up and pull his fail out of the wafer. His fail hurt, but he could not pull if up.
=Bear looked behind him, and saw that the hole had frozen hard. His long, bushy fail was frozen
in the ice. That was what had pinched and hurt his fail. He had not caught any fish at all!
=Bear thought, "Fox has tricked me. I was so proud of my long, bushy fail, but now it hurts a lot.
I must pull it out of the ice." He pulled his fail.



"Hello, Mr =McGrath," =Cindy giggled. "I want to be a gardener, too. I'm going to plant some
marigolds. I need some seeds, please."
Mr =McGrath chose a packet Of seeds from the rack. "These are my best marigold seeds. They're
easy to grow, and they cost fifty cents," he said.
=Cindy paid him and headed for the door,.tucking the seed packet in her pocket.
"Take a handful of sunflower seeds from that bin," called Mr =McGrath. "Your hamster loves
them. What's his name again?"
=Digger," she answered. "=Digger, because he likes to dig everywhere."



The elf strolled through the grass. He stopped by the flower beds. The sun was hot and bright.
Something buzzed above his right ear. He jumped.
"Buzz! Buzz! This is a sweet day for making honey." A bee crawled out of a bluebell, and flew in
crooked circles. She landed on a yellow buttercup, and went to work again.
"Excuse me, please, Friend =Honeybee. My name is =ElliottElf. I've come to live in this
beautiful garden. Do you know a good place for my home?"
"Welcome to the garden, =Elliott," buzzed =Honeybee. "I have a sweet home in a hive. If's in a
free not far away. It's noisy, but I like it. Would you like to share the hive with me?"
=Elliott smiled and shook his head. "Thank you,

Friend =Honeybee. I need a quiet place. A hive in a
free is no place for an elf."
=Honeybee flew off calling, "Bye, bye, honey!"


Once upon a time, a long-legged hare boasted to the other animals that he was the fastest animal
in the woods.
"None of you can pass me in a race," he challenged. "Would someone like to try?"
A short-legged tortoise crawled up to the long-legged hare.
"I would like to try," the tortoise answered quietly. The hare looked at the slow-moving tortoise.
"That's a good joke," he laughed. "I would dance
around you all the way."
"Don't be too sure," said the tortoise. "Let's have a race to the falls."
Over in the meadow in a warm little den
Lived an old mother rabbit and her little bunnies ten.
"Hop," said the mother,
"We hop," said the ten;
So they hopped and were glad in their warm little den.

Over in the meadow where the fall grass grew Lived an old mother red fox and her little foxes
two.
"Run," said the mother,
"We run," said the two;
So they ran and were glad where the fall grass grew.

&&000