Poem suggestions for 10 year old to recite

[Dixiechickonhols]

She needs to recite a poem for her english speaking board exam.

She did Please Mrs butler in year 3 which suited her.

So far got macavity and matilda on the list.

I can remember learning the night mail and i wish i'd looked after my teeth but was at secondary maybe age 11 or 12 so not sure.

I like The Listeners by Walter de la Mare.

The Pig Poem Roald Dahl?

My ds is yr5 and he's recently had to learn The Jabberwocky to recite at school - tricky but he did a great job after watching others recite with great expression via good old YouTube!

'Who' by Wes MaGee? Not too long - but plenty of opportunity to show expression?

It's probably way too long but at that age, I loved I love chocolate cake by Michael Rosen.

The Persian Version by Robert Graves

I love 'I wish I was Our Sammy' by Willy Russell. Very funny

Bubble Trouble by M Mahey is really fun. Might be a bit tricky to recite though. Lots of tongue twisters.

Sea Fever by John Maesfield is wonderful to recite aloud

A Small Dragon by Brian Patten

I was going to suggest the night train, great rhythm, pretty sure I was in year six when I did it

Does it HAVE to be a poem? Or could it be a story?

I love Anne Fine's Diary of a Killer Cat which has plenty of scope for expression, cat voices, human voices, and great humour.

Ok am looking through DD's Poems to Perform book. Good ones:

The Sound Collector by Roger McGough
From a Railway Carriage by RL Stevenson
Instruct for Giants by John Rice
Tea with Aunty Mabel by Jeanne Willis
The Food Train by Julia Donaldson
Today I Feel by Gervase Phinn

Also the passage from John Donne 'No man is an island' is good

Homework oh homework

The day I got my finger stuck up my nose.

I think things with lots of rhyme and rhythm are easier to learn. i'd choose something like T S Eliot's cat poems - love the picture book versions too.

Thank you some great suggestions I'd not come across