Book Report Number:

Title of Book: Because of Winn-Dixie

Author: Kate DiCamillo
Number of pages: 182
Genre: Fiction

Setting: (When and where does the story take place?)

The story takes place in Naomi, mainly near Opal's home which is the Friendly Acres Trailer Park. The story
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starts when Opal is 10 years old.
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Main characters:
The main characters are: Opal, Opal's dad (the preacher), Winn-Dixie, Gloria and Miss Francy.
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Main events: (What important things happen in the story?) (50 words or more)

Opal meets Winn-Dixie at the local grocery store and decides to bring him home, her father agrees to allow
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her to let Winn-Dixie stay home.Opal thinks about her missing mother a lot during this time. After a while,
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Opal meets a granny named Gloria by chance and she goes to visit her every day. After a while, Gloria decides
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to show Opal her 'Mistake Tree' which is a tree full of hanging alcohol bottles. Opal asks Gloria to host a party
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and she agrees, at the party, Winn-Dixie suddenly goes missing. They start looking for him and they find him
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under Opal's bed. Opal then goes to the 'Mistake Tree' and tells her mom that she won't be thinking about her
as much going forward.
Problem/Conflict: (What problems does the character have in the story?) (1 Sentence)

Being abandoned by her mother, Opal feels loneliness and lacks maternal love as she is only living with
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her father and their relationship is not even that close as she callers him 'the preacher' instead of father.
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Name one of the themes of this book. Explain how the writer brings out this theme.

One of the main themes of this book is friendship. The writer starts the story with Opal who is 10 years old
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and having just moved to a new town, she knows no one and has no friends. Her remaining emotional reliance,
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her father is too concerned with his new job at the church to pay attention to Opal. In the story, even though
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there are many kids around Opal's age, she instead decides to make friends with the older people like Gloria
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Miss Franny and Otis. In the story Winn-Dixie is vital as he connects Opal with other people and helps her
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make friends, by the end of the story, Opal has all kinds of friends both humans and animals, young and old
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who all have a unique story like her own that she can connect to and understand.

Is this book good? Why?

This book is good as it brings out the childlike charm of Winn-Dixie and Opal who is adapting to her current
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life in Naomi. The story takes us on a journey together with Opal as to how she made friends with a lot of
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quirky people.
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