Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Summary
This story follows the move of a young girl named Opal. her and her father who is a preacher move to small town Naomi, Florida. Opal like most children when they move and leave behind any familiarity they know is the opposite of thrilled. Luckily she meets a street dog while he's ransacking a Winn Dixie Grocery store. She brings the dog home and her dad agrees to let her keep it. Through the help of Winn Dixie, Opal is able to make friends that she probably would not have made. She meets friends like the librarian, or the pet shop keeper, and even the alleged witch! Each time she makes a friend the sit and tell each other so many stories. In the back of Opal's mind she is longing for storytime with her mother who left her when she was young. Each of the stories she learns a lesson from and things continue like this for a while until one day Gloria Dump convinces opal to host a party and invite everyone on the block. So Opal does just that and things are going so well until a thunderstorm strikes and Winn Dixie runs off super scared. Opal and her father search high and low for Winn Dixie but they had no luck. Her dad attempts to convince her to give up and go inside out of the rain, here Opal has a huge fit. She begins telling her dad she did not Winn Dixie to feel as though she did when her mother gave up on her. Her father and her have a heart to heart right then and there and he lets her know all the good she has going on in her life despite not having a mother. Her and her dad return home to find Winn Dixie hiding under the bed and so Opal learns that she has so many people who love her in her life and she loves them all too.
Evaluation
This story pulls at the readers heart strings because everyone has a little Opal inside them. In the classroom I utilize this novel in order to teach the theme of compassion and forgiveness and even isolation. I also think this book would be a good tool to use when discussing the diferent types of conflict such as man vs man or man vs self.
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