Connecting to prior knowledge
Before reading
As a class, talk about the author Craig Silvey.
Silvey was born in 1982. His dad was a teacher and his mum was a teacher-librarian. He grew up on an apple orchard in Dwellingup, a tiny town in a timber and fruit-growing area of Western Australia. He also went to primary school in a place called Pioneer Village, a replica colonial goldmining town.
Silvey was only 19 years old when he finished his first novel. His second, Jasper Jones*, has sold almost a million copies worldwide. Runt has also been highly successful; your copy may have five badges on the cover noting various awards from the CBCA (it was the 2023 Book of the Year for Younger Readers), ABIAs, BookPeople, and Australian Independent Booksellers.
In 2024 a film adaptation of Runt was released; you might like to engage students in a discussion about the book versus the movie later in this unit. Silvey has also written a sequel called Runt and the Diabolical Dognapping (available from October 2025).
* Reading Australia title
Predicting from the cover
NOTE: At the time of writing, there are two editions of Runt available from Allen & Unwin: the 2022 illustrated edition, and the 2024 film tie-in. This unit of work is based on the 2022 edition.
The front cover of Runt shows a girl (Annie Shearer) and a dog (Runt) standing together. Ask students:
- What information can you get from this illustration?
- Have a look at the background. What can you see? What does this tell you about where these characters live?
Reading the blurb
The blurb for Runt is located on the dust jacket on the inside front cover. You can also find it on the publisher’s website. Read the blurb to students, focusing on the last sentence:
Runt is a heart-warming and hilarious tale of kindness, friendship, hurdles, hoops, tunnels, see-saws, being yourself and bringing out the best in others.
Ask students to discuss this sentence with a partner.
What is dog agility?
Runt focuses on Annie’s life in the fictional country town of Upson Downs, and her family’s attempts to make enough money to save their farm. Annie comes up with a plan to enter Runt into the Agility Course Grand Championship at the Krumpets Dog Show in London and win the grand prize.
Discuss the term ‘agile’ (quick and well-coordinated) and ‘agility’ (the ability to move quickly and easily).
Dog agility is an exciting, fast-paced sport in which a handler guides a dog through an obstacle course, aiming for speed and precision. The dog runs off-leash, and the handler isn’t allowed to touch the dog or the obstacles. New vocabulary for students may include:
| Handler | The person who handles (i.e. trains and manages) the dog
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| Obstacle course | A course with physical objects blocking the way
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| Precision | Being accurate or exact
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| Off-leash | Without a lead
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The following videos may help build context for students unfamiliar with dog agility:
- ABC Australia – Meet Spryte: the street dog turned champion dog show winner
- FOX Sports – Best of 2025 Masters Agility Championships from Westminster Kennel Club
Exploring the text in context of our community, school, and ‘me’
At the start of Runt, we learn that Upson Downs is in a drought, and it hasn’t rained for more than a year. Upson Downs was once a lively community that produced some of the best wool in the world; now most of the businesses in town are closed, and people are struggling to make ends meet. Some of the kids at Annie’s school have moved away because their families have been forced to sell their land.
What might it be like to live in a place that is experiencing a long drought? Show students the Behind The News video ‘Drought Breaking’. As an optional activity, you can also read Drought by Jackie French, illustrated by Bruce Whatley.
Ask students to think about the area where they live. If it was the setting for a story, what elements or features might be important? What is the history of this place?
Allow time for students to research the area where they live. This should incorporate First Nations histories and perspectives on Country, place, and community.
Students should make a list of local landmarks, important places, and significant events/functions. They can refer to this later and compare it to Runt. They should also make a list of activities they can do in their community.
NOTE: You might prefer to focus on a single location (e.g. the area where your school is based) and work together to make these lists.
Rich assessment task
Read pp. 1–3, stopping once the author mentions Runt’s extraordinary talents.
Ask students to respond to the following questions in small groups or pairs:
- Who is Annie Shearer?
- Who is in her family?
- How would you describe Annie’s personality?
- What does Annie like to do?
- What have you learnt about Runt?
Now discuss how Silvey has gone about setting up the story in these first few pages. This might include:
- Setting the scene and location of the story
- Introducing the characters
- Creating interest
Finally, begin a character analysis for Annie. The class can add more information as they progress through the book, confirming or even rejecting their initial thoughts as more information comes to light.
| Annie’s physical features | Annie’s personality |
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Responding to the text
Plan how the text will be read. If practical, it would provide an excellent read-aloud experience over four to five weeks. Refer to the chapter summary (PDF, 125KB) to guide your reading plan.
As you read, make a list of the events mentioned. This will be useful towards the end of the unit. A class character chart would also be a great way to develop student’s understanding of the narrative.
Students will soon understand the first problem in the story: Annie leaves school abruptly with her dad, Bryan, because his sheep have made their way onto Earl Robert-Barren’s land. Earl, a wealthy lawyer, lives alone in a manor across the road from the Shearers’ farm. Once they arrive, Annie and Runt spring into action, and for the first time readers learn about their amazing skills.
Remind students that our understanding of characters can be influenced by our personal experiences (text-to-self), prior reading (text-to-text), and understanding of the world (text-to-world). When we read we use this existing knowledge, along with clues from the text, to infer about the characters’ feelings and motivations. Create a chart like the one below to generate connections as you read.
| Characters | Text-to-text | Text-to-self | Text-to-world |
| Annie, Runt, and Bryan work together to get the sheep back to the Shearers’ farm | Other books that have characters like this | A time when my family and I needed to work together to solve a problem (e.g. our car broke down) | |
| Earl Robert-Barren uses his wealth and power to stop other people accessing the water that flows through his property | Other books that have situations like this | This could be a comment about people, organisations, or institutes that have a lot of power (e.g. a bank, a government) |
Exploring plot, character, setting, and theme
Imagining the characters
Guide students to develop their understanding of key characters using the DIAL model:
| D | Description | What descriptive words does the author use to tell us about the character? |
| I | Illustration | What do the illustrations tell us?
If there are no pictures, how is their appearance described? Draw what you think the character looks like. |
| A | Actions | What does the character do? |
| L | Language | What does the character say?
How do they speak? What words do they use? |
Create DIAL tables for Annie, the Shearers (Bryan, Susie, Max, Dolly), Earl Robert-Barren, Bernadette Box, Fergus Fink, and Simpkins, adding information as you progress through the book.
Additionally (or alternatively), you could use retrieval charts to capture details that help the reader build a mental image of each character. You could even create a table for Runt and/or Chariot. Below is an example for Annie’s brother Max:
| Character | Physical traits | Personal traits | Words the author uses to build an image of this character |
| Max | 13 years old
bright orange helmet aviator sunglasses |
sweet tooth
fearless dreams of being a famous daredevil wants to go viral on YouTube |
like a honey badger
stunts are elaborate and dangerous enthusiastic |
Add to these tables as you progress through the book. You could do this as a class, using a collaborative document or butcher’s paper, OR have pairs or small groups focus on different characters.
Comprehending the main idea
Identifying the main idea of a text, chapter, or paragraph helps readers to remember key information. To understand what the writer is trying to say, find the main idea and the supporting details. Connecting these will support readers’ literal and inferred comprehension.
Choose a short passage from Runt to read aloud to the class. Support students to determine their prior knowledge and understanding. What do we already know at this point in the story?
Now you can think-aloud to identify who or what the passage is about, and what is most important about that person or thing. Think-alouds provide direct access to the reader’s mind. Remember to be explicit and concise when modelling this process. Questions you could ask include:
- Is this detail important?
- The important information here is …
- This sentence is not important because …
This is useful for demonstrating what comprehension looks like during reading.
Support students by identifying and explaining the main idea in the passage you have selected. Note that that the main idea is not always explicitly stated in the text.
For more information on comprehending the main idea, see the NSW Centre for Effective Reading resource on this topic.
(AC9E5LE02) (AC9E5LE03) (AC9E5LY02)
Rich assessment task
Select a chapter from Runt. Read it as a class, then ask students to identify the main idea. This can be done orally OR using a graphic organiser. Use the template provided (PDF, 78KB) or develop your own based on these examples.
Prompts to help students identify key details include:
- What is this part of the story about?
- What key information is in this chapter?
- What or who is involved?
- Where is this happening (location)?
- What happened before this?
- What might happen after this?
Examining text structure and organisation
Ask students to comment on the text structure and style of the book.
Have they noticed that the book has many short chapters?
A small illustration of a dog appears between some paragraphs. Why might this be the case?
Some of the chapters feature illustrations by Sara Acton. Select some of these images and ask students:
- What does this tell us about the story?
- How does it help you understand what is happening?
These questions will encourage children to analyse the connection between the illustrations and the text, promoting critical thinking and visual literacy.
Examine the chapter titles and discuss how Silvey uses them to reveal the main topic of each chapter, as well as the underlying themes in the story. For example:
| The Deep Thinker (pp. 46–49) | Refers to Grandpa Wally Shearer. He kept his sheep happy and had a reputation for being eccentric. This chapter also highlights the connections between Wally and Annie. |
| Show Business (pp. 57–72) | Describes what each member of the Shearer family is doing at the famous Woolarama Show. This is also Annie and Runt’s first time witnessing a canine agility competition. |
Identify other chapter titles that hint at key themes.
Examining grammar and vocabulary
Exploring figurative language
Silvey uses metaphors to great effect. A metaphor expresses an idea, creates a mental picture, or evokes a feeling using words in a non-literal way. This is often done by describing something as if it was something else. For example: ‘the world is a stage’. This compares the world to a stage, implying that life is a performance.
NOTE: Metaphors are different from similes, which make comparisons using ‘like’ or ‘as’. For example: ‘he ran as fast as a lightning bolt’. This compares the runner’s speed to that of lightning. See BBC Bitesize for a useful summary of metaphors and similes.
Another feature of Silvey’s writing is wordplay. Authors use wordplay not only to entertain their readers, but also to draw attention to important details about the plot, setting, or characters. Wordplay often relies on metaphors to create humour and communicate deeper meaning. For instance:
| Upson Downs | A play on the expression ‘ups and downs’, which refers to alternating periods of good and bad luck, success and failure, or happiness and sadness. A suitable metaphor for the state of Annie’s hometown. |
| To the Max | Doing something ‘to the max’ means doing it to the greatest degree possible. This is a metaphorical expression of Max’s desire to become famous by performing the most impressive stunts he can think of. |
| Susie’s Humble Pies | A play on the expression ‘eating humble pie’, which means admitting a mistake or failure. In this case, the mistake might be the pie itself! |
Explore these examples with students. You might like to investigate other examples of wordplay from the novel, such as:
- why Silvey gave Annie and her family the surname ‘Shearer’
- the meaning of Earl Robert-Barren’s name (consider the word ‘barren’, its homophone ‘baron’, and the associated term ‘land baron’)
- why the food stalls at the Woolarama Show are called ‘the Gastric Bypass’ (p. 57)
- what Fergus Fink (hint), Simpkins (hint), and Chariot’s (hint) names say about them
You could also explore how Annie uses animal metaphors to better understand the people in her life. These include:
- Max as a honey badger (p. 27)
- Dolly as a lioness (p. 39)
- Susie as a bird of paradise (p. 42)
- Bryan as a panda (p. 102)
- Bernadette Box as a ground pangolin (p. 135)
- Fergus Fink as a peacock (pp. 280–281)
(AC9E5LE02) (AC9E5LE04) (AC9E5LY09)
Rich assessment task
Theme analysis
A theme is a central idea or message that the author wants to convey to the reader. It’s often a deeper meaning or lesson that the story explores.
Examples of themes in Runt include:
| Identity and self-discovery | Annie goes on a journey of self-discovery as she comes to understand who she is and what she stands for |
| Family and community | The novel focuses on the importance of family and community support in overcoming challenges |
| Friendship and loyalty | The special bond between Annie and Runt highlights themes of loyalty and the strength of friendship |
| Perseverance and resilience | Annie’s determination to save her family’s farm showcases the themes of perseverance and resilience in the face of adversity |
| Right vs wrong | The story pits right against wrong as the Shearer family stand up to the greed and selfishness of both Earl Robert-Barren and Fergus Fink |
| Believing in yourself | The novel encourages self-belief and confidence, showing how these qualities can lead to happiness and success |
For this task, students will examine how writers develop and explore themes.
Choose a chapter from Runt and have students work through the following steps.
Character arcs
- List the main character(s) in the chapter.
- Who are the antagonists?
- What are the connecting ideas that motivate the characters?
Cause and effect
Cause and effect is the relationship between an action/event and its consequence/result. ‘Cause’ explains why something happens; ‘effect’ describes what happened.
- Identify any examples of cause and effect in the chapter.
- What connecting ideas are explored in these examples?
The following template may be useful:
| Cause | Effect | Connecting idea |
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Exploring the connecting ideas between characters and events will help students identify the main theme in the chapter.
Resolution
- How does the chapter resolution reflect/affect the theme?
- Does it answer any question(s) that the theme raised?
Message
- Determine what lesson(s) the character(s) learned.
- Consider the significance this lesson has to the overall story.
Kamishibai story map
Kamishibai (kah-mee-she-bye) is a traditional form of Japanese street theatre and storytelling involving picture cards. Each card has a picture on one side and text on the other. This allows the storyteller to display the pictures to the audience while they read the story.
Re-read ‘Show Business’ (pp. 57–72) as a class. This chapter describes what each member of the Shearer family is doing at the famous Woolarama Show. This is also Annie and Runt’s first time witnessing a canine agility competition.
Working independently or in pairs, students will create a Kamishibai story map to depict the setting and key events from ‘Show Business’ (including the canine agility course). You could play this short introductory video and/or model the process with another part of the story. For example, map Annie and Bryan’s journey from the school, to the main street of Upson Downs, to the single-lane dirt road, and finally the Shearers’ farmhouse, where Runt is waiting at the start of the book (pp. 7–9).
Have students create their own story map for ‘Show Business’, then write a short summary of this chapter on the back of the map.
You could repeat this activity with other chapters from Runt, assigning different parts of the story to different students OR allowing them to choose their own.
Not-so-nice recipe book
On p. 41, we’re introduced to Susie’s Humble Pies. The recipe changes based on the availability of ingredients. Ask students to imagine the taste of this pie based on Susie’s description. What flavours do they think it might have?
Now ask students if they know other stories that involve ‘interesting’ or not-so-nice recipes. Answers might include:
- Wombat Stew by Marcia Vaughan, illus. Pamela Lofts
- The Disgusting Sandwich by Gareth Edwards, illus. Hannah Shaw
- Marvellously Revolting Recipes by Roald Dahl
Challenge the class to create a book of not-so-nice recipes. Each student should contribute at least ONE recipe; they could research strange dishes, invent their own, or innovate on something they already know to make it more horrible!
The following resources could provide some inspiration:
- Horrible Histories – Horrible Food!
- Live Eat Learn – 51 Weird Food Combinations People Actually Love
- BBC Food – Would you eat these vintage recipes?
This exercise could align to a procedural writing task. Collate the finished recipes to create a class recipe book.
Determination and grit
Annie shows fierce determination and grit throughout the story. She is resilient, clever, and uses all her skills to come up with solutions to the problems she faces.
Other books featuring female characters who show determination and grit include:
- Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty, illus. David Roberts
- Dragonkeeper* by Carole Wilkinson
- Pearl Verses the World* by Sally Murphy, illus. Heather Potter
- A Ghost in my Suitcase* by Gabrielle Wang
- Our Little Inventor* by Sher Rill Ng
See A Mighty Girl for more book ideas.
* Reading Australia title
It would be worthwhile exploring what ‘determination’ and ‘grit’ mean. Focus on grit in particular; this may be new vocabulary, so show students this short explainer. Grit is:
- Persevering with your passion
- Pushing through challenges to achieve a long-term goal
- Doing what you love, no matter the cost
Writing prompt
Ask students to think of a situation that they would find challenging. Annie wants to save her family’s farm, but this is an especially big problem for a small child. You may need to brainstorm some more age-appropriate scenarios to get students thinking. Some ideas have been provided below.
| 1. School project | You have a big school project due next week. It seems really hard and you’re feeling overwhelmed.
How can you break the project into smaller, more manageable tasks? |
| 2. Personal conflict | You’re having a disagreement with your best friend.
How can you communicate your feelings and find a way to resolve the conflict? |
| 3. Public speaking | You have to give a presentation in front of the class. You’re feeling nervous and scared.
How can you overcome your fear and deliver a confident speech? |
| 4. Homework hustle | You have a lot of homework and you’re feeling stressed.
How can you manage your time effectively and get everything done? |
| 5. Sports tryouts | You’re trying out for a sports team, but you’re worried that you might not make it.
How can you stay motivated and give it your best effort? |
| 6. The new kid | You’re the new kid at school and you’re feeling lonely and out of place.
How can you make new friends and feel more comfortable in your new environment? |
Students can select ONE of these prompts (or come up with their own) and respond to it in writing. You might like to scaffold this response as follows:
- First, what do you think is the hardest part of this situation?
- How does it make you feel?
- What are your fears or doubts?
- Try to describe your thoughts and emotions in detail.
- Next, how do you think you could try to cope with this challenge?
- Explore all possible strategies for solving this problem.
- What can you do to break it down into smaller, more manageable steps?
- How might you persevere and keep going? This is where you show grit and determination.
- Finally, consider how overcoming this challenge might change you.
- What lessons can you learn about yourself and the world around you?
Once students have finished writing, allow time for them to share their solutions in pairs or small groups.
Rich assessment task
Now that you have completed this unit of study, revisit the blurb for Runt (see Literature > Connecting to Prior Knowledge > Reading the Blurb). Ask students if the blurb prepared them for the book and its contents.
Display the final sentence of the blurb (also available on the publisher’s website):
Runt is a heart-warming and hilarious tale of kindness, friendship, hurdles, hoops, tunnels, see-saws, being yourself and bringing out the best in others.
Invite students to reflect on this sentence in small groups.
- Does this mean more to you now that you have read the entire book?
- Is there anything that you are still wondering about?
- What is the key message of this sentence?
Finish by asking students to individually write their own sentence that sums up the story of Runt.
Allow time for students to share their sentences in small groups. Each group should nominate one person to present their sentence to the whole class. A different student should introduce their group’s speaker and explain why they were nominated to share their work.
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