Because of Winn-Dixie

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Synopsis

India Opal Buloni only recently moved to a small Florida town with her preacher father who took a position at the local church. Having difficulty connecting with the kids at church and it being the summertime, Opal has been feeling lonely. One day, The Preacher sends her to the Winn-Dixie supermarket for groceries, but instead she comes home with a stray dog who caused some mayhem at the store. She's rather surprised when her father allows her to keep the dog she dubs Winn-Dixie, but it turns out to be the best thing that could have happened to her. Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal finds the courage to ask her father about the mother he never talks about who abandoned them years ago. Because of Winn-Dixie, she also starts to make friends around town, both adults and kids. Basically everything good that happens to Opal that summer is because of Winn-Dixie. But when a thunderstorm--something the dog is terribly afraid of--rolls into town during a party Opal throws for her new friends and Winn-Dixie disappears, it seems like she may have lost her pet, who's come to mean the world to her.

Review

Because of Winn-Dixie is a stand-alone, middle-grade, children's book about ten-year-old India Opal Buloni. Ever since young Opal's mother left when she was three, it's just been Opal and her father, who is a minister she thinks of as The Preacher. They only recently moved to the small town of Naomi, Florida, where The Preacher has taken a position as pastor of a little Baptist church that meets in an old storefront. It's summertime, and Opal hasn't really connected well with the few kids she's met at church, so she's feeling lonely. When The Preacher sends her to the Winn-Dixie supermarket one day to get food for dinner, a stray dog comes into the store, too. After the manager says he's going to call the dog-catcher, Opal impulsively says the dog is hers and takes him home to The Preacher, who surprisingly lets her keep him. She calls him Winn-Dixie and pretty much everything else that happens to Opal that summer is all because of Winn-Dixie. She persuades her father, who never talks about the woman who birthed her, to tell her ten things about her mother, one for every year she's been alive. She meets the librarian, Miss Franny Block, who shares stories about her family, and Gloria Dump, a nice woman who is called a witch by a pair of kid brothers Opal doesn't like. She also meets Otis, the man who runs the pet store and gets a job cleaning up around the store to earn money to buy Winn-Dixie a collar and leash. And finally Opal starts interacting with the church kids she didn't really care for and begins to understand them better. With the help of Gloria, she throws a party that brings all these disparate people together. But the night may be ruined when an unexpected thunderstorm hits, and Winn-Dixie, who's terrified of storms, disappears.

Over the past couple of decades, from the time my kids were still school-age, I've heard a lot of good things about Kate DiCamillo, and I've had Because of Winn-Dixie on my TBR list for quite a while. I'm really glad that I finally got around to reading it, because it's an utterly charming story that I very much enjoyed. I could relate well to Opal, being from a single-parent home and feeling lonely. I, too, as a child, often found myself interacting more with adults than kids my own age. Opal is far more outgoing than I've ever been, though. She isn't afraid to talk to people and ask for what she needs. However, Winn-Dixie's presence usually helps to facilitate many of her interactions with the people she meets that summer. Opal is a very likable character, kind and caring toward everyone she meets, except maybe the Dewberry brothers, but by the end, she's even buried the hatchet with them. I love how she brings these misfit-type characters, all of whom are lonely in their own ways, together for her party, helping all these people she's come to care about connect with one another. Because of Winn-Dixie and all her new friendships, Opal, herself, also comes to a place of forgiveness and acceptance of her mother's abandonment. There are deft touches of magical realism sprinkled throughout that give the story an enchanting air. The book does explore some difficult topics such as parental abandonment and death, but IMHO it was all handled very age-appropriately. Because of Winn-Dixie was so well-written, it's hard to believe it was Kate DiCamillo's first published book. It's made me eager to check out more of her work and to watch the movie version of the story.

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Kate DiCamillo