Looking for a book list for making inferences and predictions? Here you go!
Be sure to check out all the book lists I have for teaching comprehension.
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Making inferences and predictions are highly related comprehension strategies. In fact, most books for teaching comprehension lump them together. For the younger child or even struggling reader, I like to separate them at first.
The Difference Between Making Inferences & Predictions
Inferring is kind of like the big umbrella and predicting fits neatly under it. But what’s the difference between them?
While it is subtle, I like to start with predicting because it’s a little more concrete. Predicting is when you use your schema + clues the author gives you to make an “educated” guess. A prediction can usually be confirmed or denied through further reading. {Example: I predict that the family will adopt the dog. I turn the pages and thet do. My prediction was confirmed.}
Making inferences also requires your schema + clues the author gives you to make a guess, but inferences are not clearly confirmed or denied through reading. {Example: I think that Alexander just woke up in a bad mood and is looking for all the bad things that could go wrong.}
While searching for further explanation on the difference between the two, I ran across this article from Teach Thought, which does a fantastic job of explaining the differences further.
Book List for Making Inferences and Predictions
Below are some of our favorite books for making inferences and predictions. {This was a hard book list because we have SO many favorites!!} You can find more information about making predictions at This Reading Mama and information about making inferences at The Measured Mom.
Book List for Making Predictions
Any book with a clear story line and good “cliff hangers” makes for a good book to use for making predictions. Although not on our book list, because I had a very hard time narrowing them all down, mysteries make for GREAT texts to work on making predictions. And some of these books also work on inferring at the same time!
I Went Walking by Sue Williams is a favorite for younger children and is a great book for making predictions based on schema {about farm animals} and the pictures. Younger kids LOVE guessing which animal will come next.
What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jerkins is another great predicting book based off the pictures. It is a fantastic nonfiction read, too!
If you’ve been around This Reading Mama very long, you’ve probably seen me mention The Stray Dog by Marc Simont before. It’s a great with a clear problem and solution that we love for making predictions {and inferring.} Thank God It’s First Grade has a fantastic FREE printable page to go with this book when making inferences.
Elmer & Rose by David McKee keeps kids guessing as to what color Rose’s elephant herd is, but he provides subtle hints along the way that kids can use to help them predict. We featured this book in our prediction post just recently. His original Elmer book is also a favorite for both making predictions and inferring.
Enemy Pie by Derek Munson has got to be on my top 10 list of favorite books ever. Even the front cover begs for a prediction. Of all the kids I’ve read this book to, only a handful of kids have “figured it out” before the end of the book. Love it! I also like to use this book for asking questions, which we’ll get to soon in our Reading Comprehension Series.
Chester’s Way by Kevin Henkes is a fun book for making and confirming/denying predictions that we used in our recent predictions post. Kevin Henkes’ books are also great for inferring emotions, text-to-self connections, and text-to-text connections {between his books, as some characters appear in multiple books.}
Doctor De Soto by William Steig is another book I like to use for making predictions because it really keeps readers guessing. Will the fox eat Dr. De Soto? What does Dr. De Soto put on his teeth? Steig also has a way with words. I love using his books for teaching vocabulary!
William Steig’s book, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is another favorite of mine to use for making predictions. All of Steig’s books I’ve read are rich with vocabulary and have such fantastic story lines that they could go with several comprehension strategies!
Ruby the Copycat by Peggy Rathmann {author of Goodnight Gorilla} is a book that teaches a great moral through the characters of Angela and Ruby. Ruby is new at school and wants to be just like Angela. At first, Angela likes it; but after a while, the copying gets old. Her teacher has a little talk with Ruby and Ruby decides she won’t copy Angela anymore. But that isn’t the end of this story. Can readers predict what might happen next?
Book List for Making Inferences
These are some of our favorite books for making inferences. Many of the books for younger kids focus on inferring feelings or thoughts of the characters based on facial expressions or things the character says, which is a great place to start.
Pick up any Elephant & Piggie book by Mo Williems {or any Pigeon book, for that matter} and you’ll find characters with TONS of facial expressions, perfect for inferring feelings. I also love how simple and animated his text is, often using only a handful of words. Mo Williems’ books are found everywhere in our house as my Kindergartner tries to bring every Elephant & Piggie book he can find at the library home with him each week.
The Big Hungry Bear books by Don and Audrey Wood pack a TON of expression into one little mouse. SO cute! Not only do readers have to infer feelings, but I also like to ask readers to think about who the narrator might be in the book. Is it us, the reader? Or could it be the big, hungry bear? Things that make you go hmmm…
I love, love, love Ring! Yo? by Chris Raschka for inferring! What a clever book and I’m so bummed that it’s not currently in print. Have you ever heard half of a phone conversation before? Can you infer from your side of the conversation what the other person is saying? That’s what kids will do with this brilliant book.
This is Not my Hat by Jon Klassen. Simply a FUN read with kids! Will the big fish ever find his hat? Will he know who took it? These questions are answered, but if you’re not making inferences, you’ll miss it!
Probably another Top 10 favorite picture book of mine is My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza. Readers have to infer quite a lot for this story to make sense. And when it clicks, it is oh, so funny! I giggle every time I read it.
Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens is a perfect read when you’re studying plants! She has a way of teaching the parts of a plant that work WELL with making inferences.
Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini is a good book for teaching both predicting and inferring. I LOVE how she leaves the end of the book hanging for readers to infer what may happen next!
Any book you pick up by Chris Van Allsburg will probably be a good book for making inferences as he leaves a lot unsaid. Two Bad Ants is probably my favorite of his and requires kids to do a lot of inferring to figure out where the ants are and what exactly they are doing. It is SO fun to see the light bulb come on when readers “get it”.
Fables are a great way to get kids deeper into inferring a meaning beyond just the text. This is a REALLY tricky one for struggling readers though, so it takes lots of modeling. Fables by Arnold Lobel is the book I have mostly used. To challenge readers, I like to find other fables that share the same moral {but do not reveal the morals to readers} and see if kids can see how the morals are similar.
More Comprehension Book Lists & Helps
- 50+ Books for Modeling Comprehension Strategies
- Books for Teaching Reading Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension Strategy Series {a 10-week series}
Enjoy!
~Becky