Module 4 Realistic Fiction
June 23-29, 2014
Bibliography:
Summary: This was an enjoyable book about a girl who moved to a new town with her father and faced loneliness having had to leave behind her friends. She meets a new friend Winn Dixie who brightens up her life and helps her make some connections.
Impressions: I found this book to be inspiring, comforting and overall enjoyable to read. It flowed well and was an uplifting book.
Reviews:
"My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog." There you have it: main characters and conflict, all in the first sentence. But there's a lot more to this book. Opal has a singular voice with a simple, infallibly Southern inflection; her daddy is one of the nicest and quirkiest preachers to grace children's literature; and Winn-Dixie, named after the grocery store from which Opal rescued him, is an ugly dog with a smile that makes friends and also makes him sneeze, not to mention a pathological fear of thunderstorms. In addition, readers will meet an elderly librarian whose stories inject the small town Florida setting with a past; a "witchy" neighbor who has hung a tree with beer and whiskey bottles, each representing a mistake she's made in her life; a mentally challenged musician whose street-singing once led him to jail and who now plays for the residents of a pet store, including Gertrude the parrot, whose favorite word is "Dog!" The one person we don't meet is Opal's mother, who abandoned her family long ago. It is the pain of her absence that propels Opal into friendships with all the characters whom Winn-Dixie eventually brings together, lessening the loneliness of each. By turns funny and moving, vivid from trailer park to pet store, this will propel readers into a satisfying circle of companionship. BH
"My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog." There you have it: main characters and conflict, all in the first sentence. But there's a lot more to this book. Opal has a singular voice with a simple, infallibly Southern inflection; her daddy is one of the nicest and quirkiest preachers to grace children's literature; and Winn-Dixie, named after the grocery store from which Opal rescued him, is an ugly dog with a smile that makes friends and also makes him sneeze, not to mention a pathological fear of thunderstorms. In addition, readers will meet an elderly librarian whose stories inject the small town Florida setting with a past; a "witchy" neighbor who has hung a tree with beer and whiskey bottles, each representing a mistake she's made in her life; a mentally challenged musician whose street-singing once led him to jail and who now plays for the residents of a pet store, including Gertrude the parrot, whose favorite word is "Dog!" The one person we don't meet is Opal's mother, who abandoned her family long ago. It is the pain of her absence that propels Opal into friendships with all the characters whom Winn-Dixie eventually brings together, lessening the loneliness of each. By turns funny and moving, vivid from trailer park to pet store, this will propel readers into a satisfying circle of companionship. BH
Hearne, B. (2000). Because of winn-dixie. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 53(10), 354. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/223697376?accountid=7113
Suggestions for Use:
One suggestions I found on the Scholastic website is to have your students make a list of 10 things or qualities that show who you are. Find more suggestions here. http://goo.gl/6LUF9Y
One suggestions I found on the Scholastic website is to have your students make a list of 10 things or qualities that show who you are. Find more suggestions here. http://goo.gl/6LUF9Y
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