Because of Winn-Dixie - Kate DiCamillo

Having Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo as an introduction to realistic fiction was a perfect transition from picturebooks to chapter books. Because of Winn-Dixie is an easy read (for a 22-year-old!) and created a fictional world that I wanted to live in. This fictional world of Naomi, Florida was so descriptively and picturesquely set up that I was able to have a completely functional picture of the town, the characters, and all of their idiosyncrasies in my head. I was able to see the bright colors of Gloria Dump's eclectic jungle of a backyard, hear Otis's music in the petshop playing in my head, and imagine the shaky Southern and gentle voice of Miss Franny Block reading and telling stories in her library.

Because of the transfer from picturebooks to chapter books, there is no longer a substantial amount of illustrations to evaluate or to provide the world of the book for us on every page. We now have to rely on the language of the author to provide those illustrations for us in our mind. Kate DiCamillo does this, particularly with the dialogue that she establishes between the characters and the use of Southern Vernacular English she employs, specifically in conversations that involve Miss Franny Block, Gloria Dump and even Sweetie Pie Thomas.
Often, when there are movie adaptations of books, I search in trailers and films to see if the mental images of characters that I form in my head are matched in their representations on screen. When I looked to find the trailer of Because of Winn-Dixie (here), I was met with exact representations of Winn-Dixie, India Opal, Preacher, the Dewberry boys, and Gloria Dump. Miss Franny Block was slightly different, and although Otis was not what I expected him to be, his spirit and calmness matched up exactly in the trailer. However, that could just be my love of everything Dave Matthews and me struggling to accept the fact that he was in this movie.
I was expecting the book to end up with some sort of sadness - with Opal not being able to find Winn-Dixie but realizing all of the good that he gave her while she had him. However, like a typical book that plays into our love for happy endings, Winn-Dixie was retrieved and everyone lived happily ever after, even though this wasn't a fairytale story. I think that this story could easily be a class read at any grade level in elementary school, particularly with the short chapter length. It definitely has potential to be a book that students are waiting for anxiously every day when they walk into class, and that is always what we want from them, right?