Description
Running Wild by Paul Mason is a gripping historical narrative that weaves together boyhood adventure and one of the greatest survival stories in exploration history. The text shifts between Frank Worsley’s youth in Akaroa — where curiosity and risk-taking shaped his love of the sea — and his later role as navigator on Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition aboard the Endurance.
Blending fiction with historical fact, the story highlights courage, resilience, leadership, and problem-solving under extreme pressure. Students are invited to explore how early experiences shape identity, how relationships support survival, and how human determination can triumph in the harshest environments. The text supports rich discussion, inference, and connections between personal growth and historical context.
This pack contains a range of response activities complete with activity explainer videos for exploring thinking skills and developing emotional understandings and compassionate inquiry including:
- Blooms Higher Order Thinking activities
- Book Club guide for deepening text discussion
- A range of activities to explore emotional understanding, compassionate inquiry, empathy development, vocabulary and developing skills for self and co-regulation.
Curriculum Phase: Phase 3
Year Level: Year 8
Curriculum Coverage:
English – Reading: narrative structure, inference, author’s craft, themes, making connections
Social Sciences – Aotearoa New Zealand Histories: historical context, exploration, leadership, decision-making, cause and consequence
Text Type: Historical fiction / narrative non-fiction
Key words include: adventure, Akaroa, ANZ histories, Antarctic expedition, Antarctica, Aotearoa New Zealand histories, brotherhood, courage, decision-making, Elephant Island, Endurance, Ernest Shackleton, expedition, exploration, Frank Worsley, historical fiction, history, identity, James Caird, leadership, narrative non-fiction, navigation, ocean, Paul Mason, perseverance, polar explorers, polar exploration, problem-solving, relationships, resilience, risk-taking, Running Wild, sailing, seafaring, siblings, South Georgia, survival, the Southern Ocean, youth and adventure
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