Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

 

Title: Because of Winn-Dixie 

Genre: Fiction

Author: Kate DiCamillo 

Major Awards: Texas Bluebonnet Award, Newbery Honor Book

Age group: 9 to 12 years

 

Summary: 

This famous novel by Kate DiCamillo is about a little girl named Opal who finds an ugly, stray dog inside a supermarket and adopts him after she sees him. She decides to name him, Winn-Dixie just like the supermarket. Winn-Dixie was a dog full of character that helps Opal make new friends since her father, the preacher and herself are new to Naomi, Florida. Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal learns new things about her mother and all summer long she thinks about her nonstop. Through the guidance of her friends and how much she starts growing up, she decides to let go of the hope that one day she will see her mother. She decides to let go and live while enjoying and cherish her father, her dog, and her friends. 

Evaluation: 

Appropriate grade levels would be 4^th to 7^th grade. 

I have heard of this book many times and always saw the covers of the movie, but I never actually had the time to pick up any of them until I had to work on this project. I am glad I finally got the chance to read this book because even though it is Children’s literature, I still enjoyed it very much. Just like my other chapter novels, I would definitely use this book as reading comprehension. I would love to talk about all the different characters and themes in this book. I would love to create a board for this specific book and let my students display their favorite characters and why they loved this character so much or how they can relate to this character.