Because of Winn-Dixie |  | Author: Kate DiCamillo
Brand: CANDLEWICK PRESS
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $3.32
as of 9/9/2010 11:01 CDT details
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New (48) Used (27) Collectible (1) from $2.98
Seller: thermite-media
Rating:  785 reviews
Sales Rank: 3775
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Pages: 182
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.6
MPN: ING0763616052
ISBN: 0763644323
EAN: 9780763644321
ASIN: 0763644323
Publication Date: February 10, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780763644321 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Product Description
The summer Opal and her father, the preacher, move to Naomi, Florida, Opal goes into the Winn-Dixie supermarket-and comes out with a dog. A big, ugly, suffering dog with a sterling sense of humor. A dog she dubs Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie, the preacher tells Opal ten things about her absent mother, one for each year Opal has been alive. Winn-Dixie is better at making friends than anyone Opal has ever known, and together they meet the local librarian, Miss Franny Block, who once fought off a bear with a copy of War and Peace. They meet Gloria Dump, who is nearly blind but sees with her heart, and Otis, an ex-con who sets the animals in his pet shop loose after hours, then lulls them with his guitar. Opal spends all that sweet summer collecting stories about her new friends, and thinking about her mother. But because of Winn-Dixie or perhaps because she has grown, Opal learns to let go, just a little, and that friendship-and forgiveness-can sneak up on you like a sudden summer storm. Recalling the fiction of Harper Lee and Carson McCullers, here is a funny, poignant, and utterly genuine first novel from a major new talent. A Newbery Honor Book.
Amazon.com Review
Because of Winn-Dixie, a big, ugly, happy dog, 10-year-old Opal learns 10 things about her long-gone mother from her preacher father. Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal makes new friends among the somewhat unusual residents of her new hometown, Naomi, Florida. Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal begins to find her place in the world and let go of some of the sadness left by her mother's abandonment seven years earlier. With her newly adopted, goofy pooch at her side, Opal explores her bittersweet world and learns to listen to other people's lives. This warm and winning book hosts an unforgettable cast of characters, including a librarian who fought off a bear with a copy of War and Peace, an ex-con pet-store clerk who plays sweet music to his animal charges, and the neighborhood "witch," a nearly blind woman who sees with her heart. Part Frankie (The Member of the Wedding), part Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird), Opal brings her own unique and wonderful voice to a story of friendship, loneliness, and acceptance. Opal's down-home charm and dead-on honesty will earn her friends and fans far beyond the confines of Naomi, Florida. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 785
 "Because of Winn-Dixie" READ IT! April 23, 2000
C. Roseland (Livonia, MI)
141 out of 147 found this review helpful
As my ten-year-old daughter and I were browsing for new realistic fiction children's books to fulfill a school reading assignment, we, by chance, came across "Because of Winn-Dixie," by Kate DiCamillo. The title of the book (and the fact that it was new) influenced our purchase, but it wasn't until my daughter and I read it that we realized what a treasure we had discovered. Both children and adults will be drawn into the story of India Opal Buloni's tenth summer, when she adopts a big, ugly, but affable dog, Winn-Dixie, named after the Florida grocery store where he was found. India Opal, or Opal for short, is a preacher's daughter with a fairly unusual name. Opal has some major life adjustments to make, after moving with her dad to a trailer in a strange, new town. While trying to break through the seemingly impenetrable shell of her introverted father's feelings, she also has to wrestle with her own sadness, disappointment, and curiosity about her alcohol-abusing mother, who deserted the family when Opal was three years old. Winn-Dixie, a magnificent mutt who, among other talents, can smile with his teeth, is the facilitator of a number of new and sometimes unlikely friendships that Opal establishes over the summer, including one with her father. "Because of Winn-Dixie" acknowledges in is characters their shortcomings and sufferings, but the triumph of this book is how it celebrates friendship, forgiveness, tolerance, and new beginnings. (P.S. You might want to have a handkerchief on hand for some parts.)
A charming dog story full of grace and wisdom! May 18, 2001
Volkert Volkersz (Snohomish, WA United States)
94 out of 97 found this review helpful
Our elementary school library just acquired two copies of "Because of Winn-Dixie," because of its status as a Newbery Honor book. I gave it to one of our fourth grade teachers to preview. She devoured it, raved about the book and immediately began reading it aloud to her class. Now we have a growing list of students waiting for it on hold.Before letting the kids check it out, I read it, and absolutely loved it. The other reviews here give you a good picture of what the book is about. What I liked about "Winn-Dixie" is that it packs a lot of grace and wisdom into an appealing scruffy dog story. For example, when Opal befriends elderly Gloria Dump, she asks her about learning "the most important thing." "'It's different for everyone,' she said. 'You find out on your own. But in the meantime, you got to remember, you can't always judge people by the things they done. You got to judge them by what they are doing now.'" Quite often in the past few years I've been disappointed by titles that have received the Newbery Medal or Honor. "Because of Winn-Dixie" is a title that genuinely deserves this honor. In my opinion, this Honor book will become a classic, much as the Laura Ingalls Wilder Newbery Honor books of the 1930s and 1940s are still being read today. Very rarely do I read a book that I insist my friends and fellow teachers read, or that I'm tempted to buy for many people. "Because of Winn-Dixie" falls into that category.
Winn-Dixie is a winner! June 2, 2000
D. Treiber (Lake Tahoe, California)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Racing through an airport, I spotted this book for sale and purchased it for my 9 year-old. I started reading Winn-Dixie just to get a feel for the story and the next thing I knew, I had finished the book, missed the first hour of the flight and had throughly enjoyed a book I thought was written for children! Needless to say, my daughter enjoyed the book so much that she, her father and her younger sister then read the book aloud together. I plan to read Winn-Dixie aloud to my 8th grade students next fall. Buy this book. It is remarkable and to not read it is to miss a wonderful story by a very talented writer for all ages.
Because of an AWESOME BOOK!!!!!!! October 16, 2000
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
Because of Winn-Dixie is the best book I've ever read!It is about a girl named India Opal who is new in Naomi Florida who is in desperate need of friends. Opal finds a stray dog at a Winn-Dixie grocery store who is also in need of a friend. Their lives change from that point on. This is a great story about friendship. You'll want to buy a dog after reading this book.
Because of Winn-Dixie February 12, 2003
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
Because of Winn-Dixie is a light-hearted story about a young girl named India Opal and the summer that changes her life. This is the summer that she gets her new dog, Winn-Dixie. One day in a Winn-Dixie supermarket, Opal stumbles across this funny looking and acting dog. Kate DiCamillo writes, "It's hard not to fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor". She is certainly right about that. Not only do we as readers come to love and wish we had this dog, but Winn-Dixie seems to attract all sorts of people in the book as well. This dog comes to help Opal meet many friends and to find out some interesting facts about her mother whom left when she was three years old. The friends that India meets are all very unique, yet believable. She becomes great friends with Miss Franny, the librarian whose family invented the sorrow-flavored litmus lozenge, Gloria Dump, who all the local children thought to be a witch, and Otis, the guitar-playing manager of the local pet shop. Through Opal's conversations with these individuals, we gain a lot of insight about their lives and their feelings. Otis tells Opal the story of why he was in prison, Miss Franny tells Opal about how she scared a bear away with a War and Peace novel, and Gloria discusses her ghost-scaring tree with her.
Overall, Winn-Dixie seems to give Opal that extra bit of courage to make friends in her new town. Kate DiCamillo creates an authentic setting in Naomi, Florida, where the reader can experience the life of Opal the summer she was 10 years old. The book also has several developed themes such as friendship, hope, companionship, and new beginnings, which become apparent to the reader by the end of the story. All these components make Because of Winn-Dixie a book of high literary merit.
Because of Winn-Dixie has a great story line and allows the reader to really experience the hope and bonds of friendship that this 10-year old girl experiences during the summer that changed her life. Children who like to read books filled with humor and companionship would really enjoy this story of India Opal and her dog.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 785
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