Because of Winn-Dixie is Kate DiCamillo's first novel, and it catapulted her into the top category of children's writers working today. The book has won a number of prestigious awards, including a Newberry Honor Distinction in 2001. The New York Times bestseller was adapted into a movie in 2005. Although DiCamillo has gone on to write a number of successful children's novels, Because of Winn-Dixie is arguably her most beloved work.
Because of Winn-Dixie follows a young girl named India Opal Bulloni, who has just moved to the new town of Naomi, Florida, and is facing life with no mother and no friends. She lives alone with her father, an emotionally reserved preacher in the Friendly...