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Runt and the Diabolical Dognapping

By Craig Silvey
Series: Runt
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Brief Description
Six weeks have passed since Annie Shearer and Runt competed valiantly at the Krumpets Dog Show. The town of Upson Downs is rejuvenated. The grass is green. The rivers are flowing. And a Tournament of Champions has just been announced, with the world's best canine talent... Read More
Format: Hardback
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The sequel to Runt, the phenomenal bestseller and family favourite, by award-winning author Craig Silvey.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Six weeks have passed since Annie Shearer and Runt competed valiantly at the Krumpets Dog Show.

The town of Upson Downs is rejuvenated. The grass is green. The rivers are flowing. And a Tournament of Champions has just been announced, with the world's best canine talent invited to showcase their skills in the Grand Ballroom of the abandoned Robert-Barren estate.

But as preparations for the event get underway, Runt mysteriously goes missing, and a trail of suspicious clues surrounds his doghouse. Annie's worst fears are confirmed when she discovers a ransom note with a peculiar demand: she must win it all to see her friend again.

It's up to Annie and her brother Max—now an intrepid investigative reporter with the Upson Downs Speculator—to rescue Runt before it's too late.

Endlessly charming, deeply funny and bursting with heart, Runt and the Diabolical Dognapping is an engrossing mystery filled with twists and surprises. A beautiful, tender and moving sequel to the bestselling, multi-award-winning classic, Runt.

Awards for Runt:

  • Winner, Dymocks Book of the Year for Younger Readers, 2022
  • Winner, Best Children's Book, Indie Book Awards, 2023
  • Winner, Book of the Year: Younger Readers, CBCA Awards, 2023
  • Winner, Book of the Year, Indie Book Awards, 2023
  • Winner, Children's Book of the Year, BookPeople Book of the Year Awards, 2023
  • Winner, Book of the Year for Younger Children, ABIAs, 2023
  • Shortlisted, Best Fiction for Older Readers, Young Australians Best Book Awards, 2024
  • Shortlisted, Children's Literature Award, South Australian Literary Awards, 2024

Series: Runt

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  • Runt and the Diabolical Dognapping
    Six weeks have passed since Annie Shearer and Runt competed valiantly at the Krumpets Dog Show. The town of Upson Downs is rejuvenated. The grass is green. The rivers are flowing. And a Tournament of Champions has just been announced, with the world's best canine talent invited to showcase their skills in the Grand Ballroom of the abandoned Robert-Barren estate....
    By Craig Silvey
    Hardback
    (1)
    Sold Out

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781761181597

Publisher: A&U Children's

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 30 September 2025

Country: Australia

Imprint: A&U Children

Contributors:

  • Illustrated by Sara Acton
  • Illustrated by Sara Acton

Audience: Children

DIMENSIONS

Width: 138.0mm

Height: 208.0mm

Weight: 300g

Pages: 416

Collections

Children's Books Children's Fiction Children’s, Teenage and Educational Craig Silvey Series: Runt

About the Author

Craig Silvey is an author and screenwriter from Fremantle, Western Australia. His critically acclaimed debut novel, Rhubarb, was published in 2004. His bestselling novel, Jasper Jones, was released in 2009 and is considered a modern Australian classic. Published in over a dozen territories, Jasper Jones has won plaudits in three continents, including an International Dublin Literary Award shortlisting, a Michael J. Printz Award Honor, and a Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlisting. Jasper Jones was the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year for 2010. Craig's third novel Honeybee was published in 2019 and won Best Fiction for the Indie Book Awards 2021 and Dymocks Book of the Year 2020. His much-loved family favourite Runt was published in 2022 and has won multiple awards including Dymocks Book of the Year for Younger Readers 2022, Best Children's Book and Book of the Year at the Indie Book Awards 2023, Book of the Year: Younger Readers at the CBCA Awards 2023, Children's Book of the Year at the BookPeople Book of the Year Awards 2023, and Book of the Year for Younger Children at the Australian Book Industry Awards 2023. Runt was adapted into a critically and commercially successful film in 2024.

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  • Rhubarb
    Written by the bestselling author of Jasper Jones and Honeybee, Rhubarb is a moving, tender sort-of-love story about two people whose worlds are bound by limitations real and imagined. Eleanor Rigby is going nowhere slowly. Accompanied by her loyal guide dog, Warren, she wanders through the familiar streets of Fremantle, searching for something she can't define. Guarded and stubbornly independent,...
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  • Margins
    She loved to rule up red margins and write in black ink on white — deciphering texts and decoding maths problems. Marginalia: writing in the margins, around the edges of pages. Students produce a lot of it. It's often critiques or interpretations of the main text; sometimes, it can even form a dialogue between readers as they comment on each...
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  • Runt Film Tie-In
    WINNER, BOOK OF THE YEAR: Younger Readers, CBCA Awards WINNER, DYMOCKS BOOK OF THE YEAR for Younger Readers WINNER, BEST CHILDREN'S BOOK, Indie Book Awards WINNER, BOOK OF THE YEAR, Indie Book Awards WINNER, CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR, BookPeople Book of the Year Awards WINNER, BOOK OF THE YEAR for Younger Children, Australian Book Industry Awards Annie Shearer lives...
    By Craig Silvey
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  • Honeybee
    Find out who you are, and live that life. In the dead of night, fourteen-year-old Sam Watson stands on an overlooked, lonely overpass, teetering on the brink of despair and peering down at the thundering road below. At the opposite end of the same bridge, an elderly man named Vic contemplates his own fate, nursing what he believes to be...
    By Craig Silvey
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  • Jasper Jones
    Late on a hot summer night in 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of 13, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race, and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. When Jasper...
    By Craig Silvey
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  • Runt
    WINNER: 2023 CBCA Book of the Year, Younger Readers "You don't have to carry the weight of the world in your tool belt." Annie Shearer lives in the country town of Upson Downs with her best friend, an adopted stray dog called Runt. The two share a very special bond. After years evading capture, Runt is remarkably fast and agile,...
    By Craig Silvey
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  • Jasper Jones
    Late on a hot summer night in the tail-end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for...
    By Craig Silvey
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    Sold Out
  • The Amber Amulet
    Dear Sir/Ma'am, Please find enclosed this AMBER AMULET. That must sound unusual to a citizen, but you will have to trust me on this count because the science is too detailed for me to outline here. All you need to know is that the AMBER AMULET will eliminate your unhappiness by counteracting it with POSITIVE ENERGY. This should see you...
    By Craig Silvey
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