Runt (novel)
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. Summary. One spring day in the forests of Minnesota, a litter of 5 is born into a wolf pack led by King and his mate Silver. The first four pups are named Leader, Sniffer, Runner, and Thinker. The last pup is much smaller than the others, and 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 this massive meal. He is able to contact them, and his father renames him "Singer". Finally secure in his identity, Singer rejoins the pack. Reception. "Publishers Weekly" described the book as a "tightly plotted, swiftly paced tale", 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".