Inferring with Fly Away Home

Fly Away Home is about a little boy and his dad who live in an airport. They spend their days and nights in different areas of the airport in order to go unnoticed. One day the little boy sees a bird who flies into the airport and is unable to get out. He tells the bird not to stop trying and to fly away home. When the bird finally leaves the airport, the little boy is happy.

Tell the students that you will be showing them a strategy called "inferring" and that good readers have to be detectives, because sometimes the author might not tell us something that they want us to know. We have to be detectives and figure out what the author is trying to tell us. Introduce the book Fly Away Home and give a brief summary-"This story is about a little boy and his dad who live in an airport." Right away the students will wonder why the little boy and his dad live in an airport. This is a great time to revisit the strategy "asking questions throughout the reading process".

Read the first page which tells about the little boy and his dad living in the airport and how it's better than the streets. This is a good point to stop and infer. You can model inferring by saying, "We just read that they live in the airport because they don't have a home and the airport is better than the streets. I'm going to infer that they live in the airport because they are homeless. They don't have enough money to live in a house or an apartment. The author didn't tell us that they are homeless, but we can infer that because they live in an airport, they don't have a home, and it's better than the streets."

Several pages of the book talk about going unnoticed, being careful not to get caught, staying among the crowds, wearing only blue clothing, and sleeping in different parts of the airport. These are great places to infer why they do these things. The author doesn't tell us that they want to go unnoticed because it they are noticed and get caught they will get kicked out of the airport, so we can infer and give reasons as to why they want to go unnoticed.

In another part of the book the little boy sees a little brown bird who flies into the airport and is unable to get out. The little boy watches the bird for several days and tells him not to give up, don't stop trying, and that he can get out. When the bird is finally able to get out of the airport, the little boy was very happy.

At the end of the story the boy is worried that he will have to live in the airport forever, and then he remembers that the bird got out and that makes him happy again. We can infer that the little boy is thinking about himself and how he hopes that one day he can get out just like the bird did.