Because of Winn-Dixie
Kate DiCamillo (2000)
“A girl and a stray dog walk into a grocery store, and by the end of the summer, an entire town has learned how to stop being lonely.”
At a Glance
Ten-year-old Opal Buloni moves to Naomi, Florida, with her father, a preacher. She is lonely, motherless, and friendless in a new town. When she finds a stray dog at the Winn-Dixie grocery store, she claims him and names him after the store. Winn-Dixie becomes Opal's bridge to a community of lonely people — a librarian who is legally blind, an ex-convict who plays guitar, a woman the neighborhood children believe is a witch, and two girls who become unlikely friends. By the end of the summer, Opal has not gotten her mother back, but she has built a family.
Read full summary →Why This Book Matters
Newbery Honor (2001). DiCamillo's debut novel and the beginning of one of the most celebrated careers in contemporary children's literature. Adapted into a major film (2005). Used in elementary and middle school classrooms nationwide. Established DiCamillo's signature themes: loneliness, connection, and the redemptive power of story.
Diction Profile
Informal, first-person, Southern-inflected — the voice of a ten-year-old preacher's kid telling you about her summer
Low-moderate