Because of Winn-Dixie

DiCamillo, Kate (2000). Because of Winn-Dixie. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.

10 year old India (Opal) Buloni has just moved to a small town in Florida where she knows no one. She is sad and lonely because the only person she really knows (there) is her father. One day, while Opal is at the local Winn-Dixie supermarket, she finds an old dog and decides to claim him so that he won't end up in the pound. She names him Winn-Dixie. Opal really connects with the stray dog because she knows what it feels like to be abandoned. Opal's mother has been gone her whole life. The dog acts as an inspiration to Opal throughout the story. It is because of Winn-Dixie that she is brave enough to ask her father about her mother, and make friends with some of the town's oddest people and outcasts (That is an unexpected insight given to the reader by the author). She even has a party where she invites all the new friends she has made. The author does a great job of making us feel so much love for little Opal. We really know that is all she needs :) The dialogue in the story helps the reader connect to the characters and the bonds that they build with one another.