Review: Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

4 stars for Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.

This easy read book is a welcome change from my previous book, Walk Two Moons. But wait... what's with all the mamas leaving their daughters behind? This is the third book running where I see a daughter living with the papa because the mama has left the family. It seems that authors of children's literature enjoy spinning a yarn where the mama goes away. Is it because the empty space left behind by a mother can better awaken poignant memories of happier days? Or because a mother plays a more nostalgic role (than say a father) when she is in the story but her physical presence is not? I believe it never is an easy choice for any mama to make. But still, a story is a story. And a mama who is in the story but not in the story makes a moving tale.

This is a story about friendship. It opens on a lonely 10-year old girl named Opal who chances upon a stray dog and takes him home. Through her friendship with the dog, Opal gets to meet more people and make more friends. The dog also gives her the courage to ask her father about her mother and let her feel like she knows her mum some. Because of Winn-Dixie the dog, good things happened to Opal that summer. She finds herself surrounded by friends and is lonely no more.

Besides friendship, the novel also centers around the themes of loneliness and sadness. Most of the characters in the book experience some kind of loneliness and sadness. We see a parallel drawn between a child (Opal) and two elderly women (Miss Franny and Gloria) to show that there can be much in common between people who are very different in age. One is young, the other two elderly and silver-haired, yet all of them are lonely and sad at times, for different reasons.

It is also interesting to see how the author brings the feeling of loneliness and sadness out of her characters through a mere candy - the Littmus Lozenge. This one of a kind hard candy becomes an important symbol in the story. It tastes sweet and sad at the same time and only peope who have their share of sadness can taste it fully. It does make me want to try this Littmus Lozenge, only that it is not real. Ha, I did my research, it is purely fictional, there is no such candy. Unfortunately. Oh well.

Overall, this short inspiring story projects a nice warm feeling. Though short on words, it is not short on lessons. What Opal learns from her friend-making adventures can help to serve young readers well. These include learning from our mistakes and trying to do better, seeing beyond what we can see on the surface of things and not judging other people from their past as people can and do change.


Publisher: Walker Books Ltd
Publication date: 1 Jan 2001

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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.

*Blurb from author's website*

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