HISTORICAL FICTION
 

Bunting, Eve.1996.Train To Somewhere.New York:Clarion Books.  This books is made on the time period from the mid-1850's till the late 1920's when an estimated 100,000 homeless children were sent on train from New York City to small towns in the midwest.  The book is based on one child who goes to each train stop  waiting for her mother to come and get her.  As they move on to each new stop the group of children keeps getting smaller and smaller until Marianne is the only one left.  Students can infer what is going to happen, why Marianne was the last to be picked and if Marianne will be happy in her new home.

Innocenti, Roberto.1990.Rose Blanche.New York:Stewart, Tabori, & Chang, Inc.  This is a story of a young German girl during the Holocaust. Everyday she walks past a concentration camp on her way to and from school.  She begins to bring food to the people at the concentration camp.  The book leaves a lot of gaps that you must fill in, for instance she is losing weight, and the ending where there is a shot when American soldiers come and Rose's mom continues to wait for her, but she never comes home.

Fleischman, Paul.1993. Bull Run.New York:Scholastic. This books is a number of different vignettes about different people who are in some way connected to the first battle in the civil war.  There are different points of view and different experiences.  The reader must infer who the people are, where they are, what they are doing and why.

Fleischman, Paul.1996.Dateline: Troy.Cambridge,MA:Candelwick Press.  This is a great book for inferring and teaching history at the same time.  It has contemporary newspaper articles that are linked to ancient historical events.  The reader needs to infer what connections are between the newspaper and the ancient history.

Yolen,Jane.1992.Encounter.SanDiego: Harcourt Brace.  This book creates a fictional account of Christopher Columbus's arrival in America.  The book is written from a little boy's perspective.  Taino's perspective gets readers to try and understand Columbus's discovery from another point of view.  This is a great book.
 

Multicultural

POETRY

Bruchac, Joseph.1996.The Circle of Thanks:North American Poems and Songs of Thanksgiving. New York:Bridgewater Books. This book has many short poems and illustrations depicting the different ways of life among many different tribes.  The tribes that are in the book are from all over North America.  The book includes songs, ceremonies, beliefs, hunting practices, and many other aspects of daily life.  This is a great book to infer what the tribes do and why.

Bryan, Ashley.1997.Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry.NewYork:Atheneum Books for Young Readers.  This book has important people, things and characteristics of African American's for each letter.  Students can infer the meaning of each poem or what the people in the poem did.  Each letter has a different poem, they are usually about 4 lines long.  The students can also guess what the next letter's poem might be about.

Cullinan, Bernice.1996.A Jar of Tiny Stars Poems by NCTE Award-Winning Poets.Honesdale, Penn: Boyds Mills Press. This book has many different poems in it.  Not all the poems can be used for inferring, but many of them can.  The poetry is divided up by author. The poems vary from long to short.

BOOKS

Bunting,Eve.1995.Dandelion.SanDiego:Harcourt Brace.  This book is about a woman and her daughter and their life as a pioneer family.  The reader has to really infer how the characters in the book feel because they do not show their feelings very easily.  The family continues to be increasing isolated and the reader has to infer how that would feel.

Golenbock, Peter.1990.Teammates.SanDiego:Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.  This book is about two teammates, Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson.  This book brings up multiple themes, from racism to friendship that the readers must infer.  It is also a good book to teach history with.

Fiction

Baylor, Byrd.1994.The Table Where Rich People Sit.New York:Charles Scribner.  This is a great book for inferring and teaching about love.  The character is a young girl that asks her parents why they always say they are rich, when they really do not have a lot of money.  Readers have to infer a different meaning of the word "rich" to be able to understand the story.  This is a great book and a great lesson.

Hazen, Barbara Shook.1979.Tight Times.New York: Viking. This book is about a young boy who want to have a pet very badly.  However, times are "rough" in his house.  This is another book that requires students to think of different meanings words may have.  The topic of a pet is something all kids can relate to.

Mills, Lauren.1991.The Rag Coat.Boston: Little, Brown.  This book is about a young girl who has to deal with her father's death at a very young age.  The book has readers draw inferences about how she feels and what will happen now that her father has passed away. It is a very emotional topic, and you should be careful what age group it is read to.