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Summary: A great book for all ages
Review: One of the differences in the children's book world is that everyone always asks, "What age is the book good for?" We never ask this of adult books. Here is a book for any age. Anyway, this is a wonderful, warm book about survival and rebuilding. Opal,the young protagonist and her adopted dog, Winn-Dixie, both have to rebuild trust after betrayal. The setting is sultry Florida and the town is Any Small Town in America. The community that Opal discovers and the forgiveness she must extend will captivate all readers to the very end. I would compare this with Dicey's Song and with Clyde Edgerton's prose. I will give this book as a gift to ten year olds and anyone else, of any age, who can read!
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Summary: This is a great (x 12) book!
Review: My young friend Sofia Helene Jarvis has pronounced "Because of Winn Dixie" to be a great (repeat 12 times) book. From the very first sentence of the book, I was immediately engaged with the charming young protagonist and her dog, Winn Dixie. This book will no doubt become a classic!
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Summary: Dog lovers read this book
Review: Because of Winn-Dixie
By Kate DiCamillo This book is about a girl named Opal Boloni who's mother left, and is the daughter of the preacher. Opal went to the store to buy macaroni and eggs and came back with a dog. They had just moved and Opal had no friends. Because the preacher let Opal keep the dog, She made new friends.
I like this book because it remained me of when I first moved to my neighborhood. I did not know anybody. Then because of my brother I got to know my neighborhood.
I can recommend this book to students who love dogs. Then they will understand that dogs can help people a-lot.
The author did a good job selecting the front cover because it does not tell you most of the book. It only tells you the book is going to be about a dog and a girl.
Winn-Dixie is a gentle dog. He has a fear of thunderstorms. He was named after the store he was found in.
The genre is realistic fiction. Because it cold happen. Because of the dog she makes new friends.
Rating: 
Summary: A ok
Review: I recommend this book to anyone 13 or older because it's a really good book about friendship. For example, when the pet employ asked her if Winn-Dixie was her pet, Opal said, "He's not a pet he's my best friend." Also I recommend it to any one who loves dogs because Winn-Dixie is in many parts of the story. For example, when Winn-Dixie is in the store making a mess, the manager said that he was going to call the pound. Opal said to the manger," Wait that's my dog. Don't call the pound." She said to protect the dog from going to the pound. In conclusion, if you like a book about friendship and animals, this is the book to read.
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Summary: Touching and uplifting!
Review: I first heard of "Because of Winn-Dixie" several years ago, when Kate DiCamillo was interviewed on NPR soon after its release. Having lived in FL for many years and being well aware of the Winn-Dixie supermarkets, I suppose the idea of the story and its name intrigued me. I purchased the book some time ago, but as with many other book collectors, I set it aside and didn't get around to reading it till just recently. Although it's written for children, I must say it has appeal for all ages! I was deeply moved by the sweet story, and especially Opal, who someone else expressed my thoughts exactly when they likened her to Scout, from "To Kill a Mockingbird"(my all-time favorite story). She obviously is wise far beyond her years in the way she brings together the diverse personalities and ages of the people she meets in her new home, a small FL town called Naomi. Opal unconditionally loves her funny, quirky mongrel of a dog, and we certainly can't help but love him as well! We should all be so lucky as to someday meet such a gentle spirit as Opal and her Winn-Dixie. My highest recommendations for this touching and very uplifting little gem!
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Summary: Because of Winn-Dixie
Review: In this book the main Characters is India Opal Buloni, Opal for short. Opal is forced to move to a new town, Naomi, Florida because her dad has a new job as a preacher in the Open Arms Baptist Church. Opal's mother had left her and her dad when Opal was just a baby. So, it was just the two of them. That was until Opal finds a dog and names him Winn-Dixie. Winn Dixie is a special dog. He helps Opal through her lonely times and helps her to meet new friends when she doen't know anyone. She met Otis, a person that works in Gertrude's pet store. He is able to calm all the animals in the store by playing his guitar. Gloria Dump is another person she met and boy, does she like peanut butter. Amanda, is a Pinched faced girl who's brother drowed in a swimming accident. Two boys, Dunlap and Stevie are not very nice and called Gloria a witch. Opal and Gloria had a party for all of their friends. By the end of the story everyone had become close friends with each other and Opal opened up to her dad. She didn't feel lonely with Winn-Dixie, her dad and all of her new friends in her life. Yes, I recommend this book to others.
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Summary: A Charming Girl and her Amazing Dog
Review: Kate DiCamillo's delightful novel of a young girl and her dog, is now transformed into a movie, but as a passionate reader, I tend to be more biased towards to book, and I found several discrepancies. Such as, a couple of the minor characters in the book are given actual lines in the movie and their personalities are more displayed. For instance, the trailer park owner has a very different disposition than what is attatched to him in the book. Likewise, the policeman in the book is hardly mentioned at, whereas in the movie, he appears several times with an agenda and brings a little comic relief to the story. The other major difference in contrasting the book to the movie is that in the movie the preacher only gives Opal nine descriptions of her mother instead of ten as in the book. This final difference is the most disturbing in that it strays so far from the original storyline. Overall, the movie is enjoyable and a good representation of the book, but it is not without its variances.
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Summary: Accept the Differences
Review: There has always been and will continue to be slight to extreme contradictions between the events and images understood within the mind through reading a book and the observed occurrences displayed in film. When objectively compared, the book Because of Winn-Dixie and its mass media counterpart do possess major differences, especially within the actions of the characters and the happenings of the plot. Beginning with the differences in characters, the adult trailer park manger, a dynamic and somewhat important character in the movie, is barely mentioned in the book. Also, Opal's father, known as the preacher, is also depicted as more distant and cold towards his daughter as she requests things of him in the movie, yet he is seen as slightly more understanding in the actual text. Such interactions between Opal and her father create some observable differences in the way their relationship is portrayed in the plot of both the movie and the book. The movie adds in an extra scene of their reconciliation and honest conversation that never occurs in the book, possibly to evoke a more emotional response in the movie's viewers. Because literature and film attract different viewers, discrepancies are bound to exist and the reader and the viewer must learn to appreciate each medium in its own realm.
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Summary: The Book Contrasted with the Movie
Review: DiCamillo's book is a wonderful tale about a girl and her dog. It is a delightful read for any age, but definitely geared towards the eight to eleven age bracket. The movie of the novel was just released. I definitely recommend that everyone read the book first, it is much better in development and content.
There are several differences between the book and movie. The movie brought in Mr. Alfred as a real character with who at least plays a minor role in the subplots of the movie. In the book, Mr. Alfred is simply mentioned as the owner of the trailer park that Opal and her father live in. The movie also introduces a new character of the town sherrif. His role in the movie seems simply to provide slap-stick comedy for the kids going to see the movie. His role seems contrived and unneeded to the plot, the screenwriter could've forgone his involvement. The character of Otis, played by Dave Matthews, has a considerably different spin than the Otis described in the book. DiCamillo's Otis seems weaker, more sympathetic, an introvert because of shyness. The movie's Otis is darker, angry, a wanderer--unwilling to be a part of society. Though both Otis' receive ultimate redemption when invited and coming to Opal and Gloria's party. He is welcomed and loved just for who he is, and appreciate for his musical ability.
Other differences include the amount of experiences that Opal has in Naomi, although most were probably cut out for the sake of time. Another change in the plot was the dialogue between Opal and her father concerning the ten things she wants to know about her momma. He decides to tell her only nine things in the movie, heightening the tension created by the fact of the tenth fact: her momma drank.
These are just a few of the differences between the book and the movie. This reviewer suggest enjoying both, and trying to see if the movie versions of the characters fit the pictures of them the reader's may have gotten in their mind.
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Summary: The Best Friend Ever Review from Jessica at Cutchogue East
Review: "Because of Winn-Dixie," by Kate DiCamillo, is a heartwarming story about real life, real emotions, and real friends. This heartwarming story iss portrayed in both the movie and in the book, but there were a few differences that added a different flavor to the movie than might have been intended by DiCamillo in the literary form. Mr. Alfred, the trailor park owner was mentioned merely by name in DiCamillo's book, but the movie portayed him as a main character that entered into the magic of that summer in Naomi led by a smiling dog. This brought a new character into the mix, which proved interesting, but could be considered odd since that character was not developed by the author herself. The characterization of the preacher in the movie seems drastically different from the wounded, but tender preacher we experience inside the pages of the book. The preacher is constantly trying to find a home for Winn-Dixie away from him and Opal instead of being taken in by the dog's smile relatively soon after their first introduction. The preacher also does not show up at the beginning of the party at Gloria Dump's, which proves to create more emotional drama between young Opal and her father, but was a detail evidently different from the intention of the book. A third main character difference seems to be in Otis, the pet shop operator. He is played by Dave Mathews, and seems to have a harder attitude--he throws a cuss word out here and there-- than the kind, shy animal-charmer that DiCamillo portrays as Opal's boss. The girl who plays Opal is wonderful, and despite lacking the red hair and freckles, she did a superb job portraying the character. The small-town, summer-day attitude of the south is shown in all of its glory from the church congregation to the sheriff on a power trip. DiCamillo's book is a wonderful story about friendship, but there are a few hollywood quirks thrown into the movie that are unnecessary as Winn-Dixie has enough purposeful quirks of his own.
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