Module 7- Because of Winn-Dixie

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Book Summary:  
Opal and her father, a preacher, move to Naomi, Florida and Opal is not adjusting to the move very well.  She has not made any friends and she misses her mother who has left both Opal and her father.  But one day a trip to the local Winn-Dixie grocery store turns Opal's view around.  There is a dog loose in Winn-Dixie and the employees and the manager are all trying to remove the dog from the store and have him picked up by the pound.  Opal immediately says he is her dog, named Winn-Dixie, and the manager tells her to take the dog out of the store, and Opal does as she is told and more, she takes the dog home with her.  After introducing her father to Winn-Dixie and convincing him that he needs their help, Opal is allowed to keep Winn-Dixie and both her and her father quickly become attached to their new pet.  Opal knew inside the grocery store that afternoon that Winn-Dixie was special, but she never imagined that he would be able to help her make so many new friends as fast as she did.  Winn-Dixie and his smile introduced Opal to Miss Franny, the librarian who allows Winn-Dixie to come inside of the library, Otis, the employee of the pet store where Opal volunteers to help to get some items for Winn-Dixie, and Gloria Dump, the lady who neighborhood kids claim to be a witch but who makes peanut butter sandwiches for Opal and Winn-Dixie, Dunlap and Stevie Dewberry who start off picking at Opal but soon become her friends, Amanda Wilkinson who comes across as shy and mean, and Sweetie Pie, who is younger than Opal.  Opal and Gloria soon decide to have a party at Gloria's and they invite Miss Franny, Otis, Amanda, the Dewberry boys, Sweetie Pie and Opal's father.  Shortly after the guests arrive at the party, with the exception of the Dewberry boys,everyone is being introduced and getting acquainted in Gloria's garden when they hear thunder and then it begins to rain.  Everyone scrambles to get the food and themselves inside before getting soaked by the rain, but once inside Opal notices that Winn-Dixie is not inside and in all the hustle to get everyone inside she forgot that she had to protect Winn-Dixie from his fear of thunder.  Immediately after Opal makes this realization the Dewberry boys arrive and she is forced by her father and Gloria to go and welcome them to the party before her and her father set off to look for Winn-Dixie.  During their search for Winn-Dixie, Opal and her father finally talk about Opal's mother and the two finally are able to express their emotions about her leaving to each other.  They finally call off the search and return to Gloria's house and the party and are greeted by the sound of Otis playing music before they reach the yard.  Opal could not imagine how everyone could be singing and having a good time when Winn-Dixie was gone, but come to find out he had been hiding under Gloria's bed the whole time.  Opal learns that even though her mother is gone and may never come back she is surrounded by people and a dog who love her and care about her.

APA Reference of Book:
DiCamillo, K. (2000). Because of Winn-Dixie. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

Impressions:  
This book has a great story that will connect with most readers as most people have had to face some type of loss or feeling of abandonment in their life, but will hold a special attraction to animal lovers.  Opal believes that she and her father are helping Winn-Dixie by taking in the stray, but by the end of the story the reader is able to see how much Opal and her father needed Winn-Dixie to help them as well.  Opal would have never met many of the people who attended her party at the end of the book if it wasn't for Winn-Dixie.  Opal and her father may have never been able to share their feeling about Opal's mother if they would have never have had to go looking for Winn-Dixie.  All of the characters within this book are affected by this amazing dog coming into their lives, and without him their lives would have continued much in the way that they had been, leaving many new friends unmade and many happy memories undiscovered.  This book allows readers to see the impact that each one of us has on others around us, and how rescued animals actually end up being the rescuers in many cases.

Professional Review:

 "My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog." There you have it: main characters and conflict, all in the first sentence. But there's a lot more to this book. Opal has a singular voice with a simple, infallibly Southern inflection; her daddy is one of the nicest and quirkiest preachers to grace children's literature; and Winn-Dixie, named after the grocery store from which Opal rescued him, is an ugly dog with a smile that makes friends and also makes him sneeze, not to mention a pathological fear of thunderstorms. In addition, readers will meet an elderly librarian whose stories inject the small town Florida setting with a past; a "witchy" neighbor who has hung a tree with beer and whiskey bottles, each representing a mistake she's made in her life; a mentally challenged musician whose street-singing once led him to jail and who now plays for the residents of a pet store, including Gertrude the parrot, whose favorite word is "Dog!" The one person we don't meet is Opal's mother, who abandoned her family long ago. It is the pain of her absence that propels Opal into friendships with all the characters whom Winn-Dixie eventually brings together, lessening the loneliness of each. By turns funny and moving, vivid from trailer park to pet store, this will propel readers into a satisfying circle of companionship.

Hearne, B. (2000, June). Because of Winn-Dixie (book review). Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 53(10), 354-356. Retrieved from http://bccb.lis.illinois.edu/

Library Uses:
"The Library has Gone to the Dogs" display that include this book, Because of Winn-Dixie, as well as other books with dogs such as any of the Marley books, or Marmaduke books and also include nonfiction books about dogs.