Because of Winn-Dixie
Written by: Kate DiCamillo
2001 Newbery Honor Book
This is the heart-warming story of how several lonely people find each other with the help of a very special dog named Winn-Dixie. India Opal Buloni is a 10-year-old girl who has just moved to a trailer park in the small town of Naomi, Florida, with her itinerant preacher father. While in the Winn-Dixie supermarket, she encounters a scruffy dog wreaking havoc. She claims the dog is hers to save it from going to the pound and names it Winn-Dixie. Winn-Dixie's first act of inspiration on Opal is for her to challenge her father to name ten things about her mother, who abandoned them years before. Winn-Dixie also becomes friends with everyone he encounters, and this encourages Opal to make new friends and gradually learn they all have burdened pasts. Miss Franny Block is the town librarian with a large family reputation to uphold; Gloria Dump is a blind black woman and recovering alcoholic feared of being a witch by neighbourhood children; Otis is a shy ex-con pet store clerk with a musical streak. Opal gains wisdom and different outlooks of life through relationships with adults and peers, and grows emotionally in the process. She and Gloria host a party for all her friends to meet, but a thunderstorm breaks it up and scares Winn-Dixie away. While searching for him, Opal and her father rekindle their strained relationship.
I loved reading this book to my class. Although the content is a little mature at times, the students in my classroom could relate and they couldn't wait until I read the next chapter!
Here are some great resources for this book! //www.scholastic.com/winndixie/index.htm, http://www.katedicamillo.com/books/bowd.html
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