Introduction of the author
Born in 1964, Kate DiCamillo is an American writer of children's fiction for all reading levels, usually featuring animals. She is one of six people who won two Newbery Medals, recognizing her novelsThe Tale of Despereaux and Flora & Ulysses. Her best-known books for children are the Mercy Watson series, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen. She won the 2000 Josette Frank Award for Because of Winn-Dixie and the 2006 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in the children's fiction category forThe Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. In 2012 Winn-Dixie was ranked number 30 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal – the first of three books by DiCamillo in the Top 100. DiCamillo is the fourth America National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.
Introduction of this book
Because of Winn-Dixie was published in 2000, and won the Josette Frank Award and the Mark Twain Award. It was adapted as a 2005 famliy film directed by Wayne Wang produced by Walden Media and Twentieth Century Fox. In 2007 the U.S. National Education Association listed Winn-Dixie as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children", based on an online poll.
Plot Summary
A 10-year-old girl named India Opal Baloney has just moved to a trailer park in the small town of Naomi, Florida, with her father, who is known as The Preacher because he preaches at the local church. While in the supermarket, Opal sees a scruffy dog wrecking the store and decides to take him home, naming him Winn-Dixie after the supermarket chain. Miss Franny Block, a librarian, shares great stories about her past, including one about her great-grandfather, whose family members died while he was fighting for the South in the Civil War. He invented Litmus Lozenge candies, which tasted like root bear and strawberry but included a secret ingredient—melancholy. Anyone who tasted the candies tasted sweetness mixed with sadness. In Because of Winn-Dixie, these candies symbolize that even though life sometimes deals people a bit of sadness, there is always much to appreciate. Opal learns that her sour-faced neighbor, Amanda Wilkinson, lost her younger brother Carson when he drowned in the town lake the previous summer. She vows to be nicer to her from then on.
Opal finds a dog collar that she wants to buy for Winn-Dixie, but she has no money and decides to work for the pet store to earn it. Otis, a worker at Gertrude's Pets, is unwilling to hire Opal as a cleaning girl, but she comes to work. When Opal and Winn-Dixie step into the store, the animals panic when they see the big dog. Otis plays his guitar to calm them. Opal learns that Otis once went to jail for battering a policer officer who told him that he could not play his guitar on the street because he was disturbing others and tried to confiscate it.
While Opal is riding her bike and Winn-Dixie runs ahead, they meet a woman named Gloria Dump. She and Opal become good friends. Opal and Gloria, a recovering alcoholic, decide to host a small party, inspired by the one in Gone With the Wind, inviting everyone they know. In the process, Opal becomes a friend to her former enemies, the brothers Stevie and Dunlap Dewberry. She also invites Amanda Wilkinson and Sweetie Pie Thomas, a younger girl who has no pet, and so has fallen in love with Winn-Dixie. Otis and Miss Franny Block are also invited.
Opal and Gloria set up everything outdoors, but it starts to rain, so they bring the party indoors. Opal can't find Winn-Dixie anywhere, even after searching the town. Ten minutes later she returns to Gloria's home to discover that Winn-Dixie has been there all the time, hiding because he is scared of storms. The book ends with Otis playing his guitar and everyone singing one of The Preacher's songs.
