Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Because of Winn-Dixie



Finished Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. It won the Newbery Honor Medal in 2001. This is the story of Opal who has just moved to a new town in Florida. She lives with her father, a minister, who is kindly, but preoccupied with his work and the memory of his wife, who abandoned them years ago.

Opal feels a bit disconnected from the world at first. One day she goes to the Winn-Dixie for some groceries and encounters a stray dog running wild in the store. She befriends him, takes him home, cleans him up and names him Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie and his tremendous smile, Opal is able to make friends with various quirky and sometimes lost characters around town, bring them together and formulate something like a new family. This is a charming book. There were times that it made me think of Lucky in The Higher Power of Lucky.

Kate DiCamillo also won the Newbery Medal in 2004 for The Tale of Despereaux.

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