Sing a Song o' Sixpence
A tale retold from Mother Goose in Prose, by L. Frank Baum
This story comes from Mother Goose in Prose (1897) by L. Frank Baum, the author who later wrote The Wizard of Oz. Baum took the old nursery rhyme "Sing a Song o' Sixpence" and imagined the tale behind it: how a clever orphan boy named Gilligren turned one small coin into a new life at the King's court. The text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. Children will enjoy the ingenuity of a boy who never gave up, even when he was tricked.
- Band
- Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5
- Length
- short · about 350 words in 5 sections · 4 pictures
- Source
- Mother Goose in Prose, L. Frank Baum
- First published
- see the About page in the reader
- Regions
- Canada · United States
Included formats
- · Web reader and PDF
- · EPUB for e-readers
- · Home-print sheet
- · Folded booklet
- · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
- · Worksheet
- · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
- · Read-aloud script
- · Colouring page
- · Teacher’s Edition (members)
Lesson at a glance
- Reading
- about 8 minutes at this band
- Pause questions
- 4
- Words to Know
- 4
- Quick Check
- 6 questions, with the answer key
- Let’s Talk
- 3 questions for afterwards
- Worksheet
- questions, an activity and a drawing prompt
About 35 minutes with one story, all of it.
Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.
Report a concern about this reader · What’s in a HummingRead reader
The same story
Other bands of this story
This story is ready now at the Purple band only. Other bands can be made to order for members after launch.