Riding the Tiger - A Great Book for Inferring

Today marked the end of our junior / intermediate focus on inferring(I also included a mini-focus on point of view). For our summative task we chose the mentor text, Riding the Tiger, by Eve Bunting. I read the book twice to the students, but because it was our summative task, there was no oral discussion after reading. I think this is a fabulous book for inferring, but I wished we could have discussed the book after reading. So many of my students were too literal, and thought the book was really about riding a tiger (for those who haven't read the book, the tiger is a symbol for a gang).

So, if you've got a copy of this book kicking around in your bookroom or library, here are the questions we used:
1) Why do you think Danny wanted to ride the tiger at first? Use information from the text and your own ideas to support your answer.
2) What do you think the policeman meant by, "Once you get up on the tiger's back, it's hard to get off...". Use information from the text and your own ideas to support your answer.
3) What do you think the tiger is a symbol for? What were some of the clues that led you to this inference?
4) From whose point of view is the story written? Give an example from the story to support your answer?
5) What do you think the author is trying to say about our society? Use information from the text and your own ideas to support your answer.

I plan on discussing this text further tomorrow. I feel I HAVE to. Although I got many really great, thought-provoking answers, I have to reach those students who still think Danny wanted to ride the tiger because "it would be really cool to ride a talking tiger." Ummmmmm ... OK.


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