Because of Winn-Dixie
| Because of Winn-Dixie | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Kate DiCamillo |
| Original title | Because of winn dixie |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Candlewick Press |
| Publication date | March 2000 |
| Media type | Hardcover and Paperback |
| Pages | 182 pp. |
| ISBN | 0-76360-776-2 |
| OCLC Number | 41601218 |
| Followed by | The Tiger Rising |
Because of Winn-Dixie is a children's novel by Kate DiCamillo published in 2000 and winner of a Newbery Honor distinction the following year.[1] It also won the 2000 Josette Frank Award,[2] and 2003 Mark Twain Award.[3] It has been adapted as a 2005 family film, directed by Wayne Wang, produced by Walden Media and Twentieth Century Fox.[4]
[edit] Plot
India Opal Buloni is a 10-year-old girl who has just moved to a trailer park in the small town of Naomi, Florida, with her itinerant preacher father. While in the Winn-Dixie supermarket, she encounters a scruffy dog wreaking havoc. She claims the dog is hers to save it from going to the pound and names it Winn-Dixie. Winn-Dixie's first act of inspiration on Opal is for her to challenge her father to name ten things about her mother, who abandoned them years before. Opal also befriends the very wealthy librarian Miss Franny Block, who shares great stories about her past, including a tale about her great-grandfather, whose family members died while he fought for the South in the Civil War. Grief-stricken after his return from battle, he decided he wanted to live the remainder of his life filled with sweetness. Thus, he invented Littmus Lozenge candies that tasted like a combination of rootbeer and strawberry with a secret ingredient mixed in -- sorrow. In Because of Winn-Dixie, these candies symbolize that even though life sometimes deals people a bit of sadness, there is always so much to appreciate.[5]
