 | |
| Author | Marion Dane Bauer |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | Clarion Books |
Publication date | October 21, 2002 |
| Pages | 131 |
| ISBN | 978-0-618-21261-3 |
| OCLC | 49558730 |
| LC Class | PZ10.3.B317 Ru 2002 |
Runt is a 2002 children's novel written by Marion Dane Bauer. It tells of a story about a wolf pup who is a runt.
One spring day in the forests of Minnesota, a litter of 7 is born into a wolf pack led by King and his mate Silver. The first four pups are named Leader, Sniffer, Runner, and Thinker. Two pups do not survive, and the last pup is much smaller than the others; his disgusted father gives him the name Runt. His mother assures Runt that someday his father will think of a better name.
As Runt grows older, he gets bigger, but he is still smaller than the others. At one point in Runt's life, he and Thinker mess with a porcupine, who attacks them with quills. They get back to the pack, badly wounded; Thinker soon dies from a quill through his eye, which angers King. Human wildlife rescuers trap Runt and remove the quills, before releasing him. He later meets their dog, Goldie, and, unable to understand domestication, futilely tries to get her to come with him.
Runt thinks he will be renamed twice during the book; once, he imagines the name "Brave One" when he howls at the humans, and later he thinks he will be called "Provider" when he brings back the tail of a cow. However, he is not renamed, or respected, and even snubbed for a time since he smells like human, much to his chagrin. He wanders off with Bider, the pack outcast, but soon learns the dangers of living away from a pack's collective wisdom when Bider dies eating meat a farmer has poisoned.
As he is wandering, Runt finds an old moose weak enough to be hunted. He howls to call the other wolves to tell them of the massive meal. He is able to contact them, and his father renames him "Singer". Finally secure in his identity, Singer rejoins the pack.
Publishers Weekly described the book as a "tightly plotted, swiftly paced tale", [1] while the School Library Journal called it "[b]eautifully written". In a starred review, Booklist said it was a "compelling, poignant story" and that "Bauer precisely and vividly conveys the wolves' wild world". [2]
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Wolves communicate using vocalizations, body postures, scent, touch, and taste. The lunar phases have no effect on wolf vocalisation. Despite popular belief, wolves do not howl at the Moon. Gray wolves howl to assemble the pack, usually before and after hunts, to pass on an alarm particularly at a den site, to locate each other during a storm or while crossing unfamiliar territory, and to communicate across great distances. Other vocalisations include growls, barks and whines. Wolves do not bark as loudly or continuously as dogs do but they bark a few times and then retreat from a perceived danger. Aggressive or self-assertive wolves are characterized by their slow and deliberate movements, high body posture and raised hackles, while submissive ones carry their bodies low, sleeken their fur, and lower their ears and tail. Raised leg urination is considered to be one of the most important forms of scent communication in the wolf, making up 60–80% of all scent marks observed.
Howling is a vocal form of animal communication seen in most canines, particularly wolves, coyotes, foxes, and dogs, as well as cats and some species of monkeys. Howls are lengthy sustained sounds, loud and audible over long distances, often with some variation in pitch over the length of the sound. Howling is generally used by animals that engage in this behavior to signal their positions to one another, to call the pack to assemble, or to note their territory. The behavior is occasionally copied by humans, and has been noted to have varying degrees of significance in human culture.
