C A N D L E W I C K P R E S S T E AC H E R S ’ G U I D E

KATE DiCAMILLO

ABOUT THE BOOK

Because of Winn-Dixie is a funny, poignant, and utterly genuine
novel that has become a children’s literature classic. This guide
provides an array of thoughtful, student-friendly activities
that deepen students’ understanding of characterization and make
teaching this Newbery Honor–winning book a fun and enjoyable
experience.

STORY SUMMARY
When ten-year-old Opal returns home with a stray dog she names
Winn-Dixie, things begin to change in Naomi, Florida, the sleepy
town where Opal and her father, a reticent preacher, have recently
settled. Winn-Dixie helps Opal make friends with the endearing
outcasts of Naomi, including a woman rumored to be a witch; the
elderly town librarian, who gives Opal candies that taste like
melancholy; and an ex-con musician who runs the local pet store.
Through these new friendships, Opal learns not to judge people—
including the mother who abandoned her—for their past mistakes,
but to appreciate people for who they are in the present. These
unassuming characters become a dependable community in which
everybody has a sorrow to let go of and a story to tell.
PHOTO BY CATHERINE SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kate DiCamillo is the author of many
adored and award-winning books for young
HC: 978-1-5362-1434-5 readers, including The Tale of Despereaux
Ages 9–12 and Flora & Ulysses, which each received a
Newbery Medal, as well as The Tiger Rising,
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,
“My name is India Opal Buloni, and last
The Magician's Elephant, and the Raymie
summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me Nightingale sequence of novels. A former National Ambassador for
to the store for a box of macaroni-and- Young People’s Literature, she lives in Minneapolis.
cheese, some white rice, and two
tomatoes and I came back with a dog.
This is what happened. . . .”

written and developed by Marilyn Bousquin and Rhonda Berkower

C A N D L E W I C K P R E S S T E AC H E R S ’ G U I D E

BEFORE READING students brainstorm a title that sums up the main idea and
reflects the plot, character, or mood of each chapter. For example,
The following prereading activities set a context for the story,
in Chapter One, Opal rescues Winn-Dixie from the pound and
spark students’ interest, and set a purpose for reading.
takes him home. Students might title this chapter “Opal Meets
MAKE PREDICTIONS Winn-Dixie” or “Winn-Dixie: Lost and Found.” Write the
Encourage students to make predictions about the setting, chapter titles on a large chart. When students have finished
characters, and plot of the story based on the information reading the book, prompt them to use the chapter titles to help
provided on the book cover. Prompt students to check and them recall and retell the story. You may also want to prompt
modify their predictions as they read. students to summarize what happens “because of Winn-Dixie” as
they read the novel. For example:
WHOSE POINT OF VIEW?
Read aloud the first page of the novel. Talk with students about • Chapter Three: Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal finds the courage
the author’s use of the first-person voice. Ask: Who is telling the to ask her father about her mother and the preacher starts to
story? What can you tell about Opal from the way she speaks? What come out of his shell.
do you think of the opening sentence? Does it make you want to read
UNDERSTANDING CHARACTERIZATION helps readers to
more?
explore the feelings, thoughts, and motivations of the characters.
ASK QUESTIONS Review Chapter Four with the class and create a list of the ten
After reading the first page of the book, ask students, What are things Opal learns about her mother. Point out that list
some things that you would like to know about Opal? What are some characterizes Opal’s mother, giving the reader a sense of who
things you would like to know about the dog? What other questions do Opal’s mother is, even though she doesn’t actually appear in the
you have about the story? Record students’ questions on a chart to story. Ask: Do these ten things paint a whole picture of Opal’s mother?
revisit during reading. What else might Opal want to know about her mother? What else
would you like to know?
DURING READING
Encourage students to apply the following COMPREHENSION As students read or listen to the book, have them create
STRATEGIES and SKILLS as they read or listen to the story. Read character collages for the characters. Their collages should
aloud Chapter One and model the strategies and skills for include a drawing or sketch of each character framed by
students. Ask students to think about how these strategies can expressive adjectives (for example, splendid or grand as opposed to
help them to understand the story and its characters. good) as well as phrases and sentences that describe the
character’s physical appearance, personality traits, and behaviors.
MAKING CONNECTIONS helps readers draw on prior Encourage students to use quotes from the book when possible.
knowledge as they incorporate and assimilate new information Use the collages to discuss what students know and would like to
from a text. Encourage students to make text-to-self connections know about each character.
between the story and their own lives. Ask questions such as the
following to help students make meaningful connections: POINT OF VIEW is the perspective from which a story is told.
Because of Winn-Dixie is narrated in the first person by the main
• Does Opal remind you of anyone in your life? Who? Describe character. In the first-person point of view, everything the reader
him or her. learns is through the perspective of one character. Have students
• Opal compares her father, the preacher, to a “turtle hiding experiment with point of view by retelling scenes from different
inside its shell, in there thinking about things and not ever characters’ perspectives. For example, challenge students to retell
sticking his head out into the world” (p. 10). Do you know the opening scene in which Opal meets Winn-Dixie in the
anybody like that? Describe him or her. grocery store from Winn-Dixie’s perspective. How does a different
perspective change the scene? What can we learn from Winn-Dixie’s
• Opal is afraid that the preacher will get mad if she asks him perspective that we can’t learn from India Opal’s?
about her mother. Have you ever been afraid to ask someone
something? When? APPRECIATING THE AUTHOR’S CRAFT helps students become
better readers and writers. Conduct a mini-lesson that explores
SUMMARIZING portions of a text during reading helps students the vivid language Kate DiCamillo uses to describe her
identify main ideas and remember what they have read. Have characters. Explain that a simile is a direct comparison of two

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things that are usually not alike. Similes use words such as like or • Why do you think the preacher cries when he and Opal can’t
as to make the comparison. Writers use similes to help us to see find Winn-Dixie?
things in new, often surprising ways. For example, Kate
• At the end of the book, Opal imagines that she is speaking to her
DiCamillo writes that Winn-Dixie “looked like a big piece of old
mother and says, “I miss you, but my heart doesn’t feel empty
brown carpet that had been left out in the rain” (p. 5). Have
anymore. It’s full all the way up.” What does Opal mean? Why do
students note in a journal the similes they encounter as they read.
her feelings about her mother change?
Discuss these similes and the images they evoke. Help students
visualize these similes by folding a piece of paper in half, then Love, Friendship, and Community
drawing the objects being compared on either side of the fold.
• Do you think Because of Winn-Dixie is a good title for this novel?
Encourage students to write and illustrate their own similes that
Why or why not? How does Winn-Dixie change Opal’s life?
describe a favorite character.
How does Opal change Winn-Dixie’s life?

VOCABULARY • Because Gloria doesn’t see well, she tells Opal to “tell me
everything about yourself, so as I can see you with my heart”
Encourage students to note unfamiliar words in a
(p. 60). What does she mean by this? What do you think it
Word Log and try to define them from the context of
means to see someone with your heart? How is that different from
the story. Use words from students’ Word Logs as
often as possible in class discussions, and encourage seeing with your eyes?
students to look and listen for these words outside
• What does Opal learn about friendship? What did you learn
class. You may want to preview the following words
before reading: about friendship from reading Because of Winn-Dixie?

• How do the people in Naomi act like a community? In what ways

missionary (p. 8)
is Naomi, Florida, like your community? In what ways is it
exception (p. 9) different? Encourage students to notice differences and similarities in
peculiar (p. 41) race and class, as well as the ways people treat and help one another.
identical (p. 55) Understanding the Characters
pathological (p. 69)
• Opal often finds that her first impression of the people she
roundabout (p. 85) meets is not always accurate. Choose a character from the book
imitated (p. 86) and describe how Opal’s impression of him or her changes by
notion (p. 99) the end of the story. What causes Opal’s impression to change?

melancholy (p. 115) • Gloria says that she made her mistakes before she learned “the
amuse (p. 145) most important thing” (p. 90). What do you think Gloria
means by “the most important thing”? Why does Gloria say
complicated (p. 147)
that “the most important thing” is different for everyone?
wheezed (p. 168)
• Kate DiCamillo says, “I love strange names and I love making
them up.” Names often contain other meanings and can
AFTER READING influence a reader’s perception of a character. Choose a
Open-ended questions encourage students to think critically character with an interesting name. Is there a story
about the book’s themes. Cross-curricular activities help extend behind the character’s name or nickname? Does the
students’ understanding of the story through writing, art, drama, name influence the way you see and understand the
science, geography, and math activities. character? Does the name reflect the character’s
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS personality and character traits?

Family • Why do you think Otis kept on playing music even after the
police told him to stop? What do you think Otis means when
• How would you describe Opal’s relationship with her father at he tells Opal that “the music is better if someone is listening to
the beginning of the book? How does their relationship change it” (p. 124)?
by the end of the book?
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• At the end of the book, Opal observes that Amanda no longer WRITING
looks “pinch-faced” (p. 175). What causes Opal to see Amanda Small-Group Character Sketches: Who Am I?
differently? Organize the class into small groups and assign each group a
Loneliness and Sorrow character from the book without letting groups know who each
other’s character is. Instruct each group to write a short
• Why is Opal lonely when she first moves to Naomi, Florida? In description of their character in the first person, without
what ways does Opal deal with her loneliness? revealing the character’s name. For example, a group describing

• Opal tells Winn-Dixie that they are a lot alike. In what ways Winn-Dixie might write, I like to smile and sometimes I sneeze. I am

are Opal and Winn-Dixie alike? In what ways are they afraid of thunderstorms, and my best friend thinks I look like a big old

different? piece of brown carpet that’s been left out in the rain. Who am I?
Encourage groups to refer to their Character Collages as they
• How does the Littmus Lozenge taste to Opal? The preacher? create their sketches. Remind groups to use vivid language to
Gloria? Amanda? Otis? Why does the Littmus Lozenge taste describe their character’s physical appearance, personality, and
different to each character who tastes it? behavior. Ambitious writers may want to incorporate original
similes into their descriptions! Invite groups to read their
CURRICULUM descriptions aloud and guess each other’s characters from the
CONNECTIONS sketches presented.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS Extension: Have students pick each other’s names out of a hat
Using a Thesaurus and write a Who Am I? description for that person. Have the
When the preacher eats his Littmus Lozenge, he tells Opal it class listen to each description and guess who the sketch
tastes melancholy, then explains that melancholy means “sad.” describes.
Have the class look up the word melancholy in a thesaurus. How
Letter Writing
many other words are similar in meaning to the word melancholy?
Imagine that you are Opal. Write a letter to your mother telling
(Unhappy, depressed, dejected, low, glum, gloomy, miserable, etc.)
her everything that has happened over the summer because of
List these words on the board. Then organize the class into small
Winn-Dixie.
groups and assign each group a word from the list. Ask each group
to come up with several sentences that use its word to describe Narrative Writing: Because of . . .
the setting, mood, plot, and/or characters in the story. Have students think about how India Opal’s life changes “because
of Winn-Dixie.” Have students write a first-person narrative
Partner Interview: Ten Things About Me
about a person (or pet!) who has made a difference in their life.
As a class, brainstorm interview questions for students to use to
Before they begin writing, encourage students to make a list of
find out more about one another. For example: What is the first
ten things about this person or pet. Suggest that they use this list
thing people notice when they see you? How did you get your name or
to create their characterization of the person or pet.
nickname? What is your favorite thing to do? What is something you
don’t like? How would you describe your personality? What is ART
something unique about you? Do you have a hobby? Have partners Dioramas
help each other create a Ten Things About Me list by Invite students to use shoe boxes and art supplies such as pipe
interviewing each other. Encourage students to create Ten Things cleaners, fabrics, colored paper, toothpicks, beads, feathers, etc.,
About Me posters, and display these posters around the to create three-dimensional dioramas that reflect some aspect of
classroom. Because of Winn-Dixie. Students may want to re-create a favorite
incident from the book or create a three-dimensional scene that
To learn more about these and other reading represents a dominant theme or relationship in the novel.
comprehension strategies, see Mosaic of Thought:
Encourage students to present their dioramas to the class and to
Teaching Comprehension in a Reader’s Workshop by Ellin
Keen and Susan Zimmerman (Heinemann, 1997) and explain the meaning and importance of the objects that they use
Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance to create it.
Understanding by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis
(Stenhouse Publishers, 2000).

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DRAMA Winn-Dixie makes when he is tied up outside the church:

Character Role-Play and Interview: The Party! Aaaaaarrooo, Arrrroooowwww, Arrruiiiiipppp, and
Character role-plays and interviews deepen students’ Owwwwww. You may want to hold a name contest and offer
understanding of the story by encouraging them to explore a “strange-name prize” (p. 59) to the student who comes up
the feelings, thoughts, and motivations of the characters. with the most unusual and descriptive name for his or her
animal.
Have students act out the party scene, using Chapter
Twenty-Three as a guide for creating a script. (You may want MATH
to include egg-salad sandwiches, pickles, and Dump Punch Installment Plan
as “props” for the scene!) Ask for volunteers to play each of Opal plans to buy Winn-Dixie the red collar and matching
the characters: Opal, the preacher, Sweetie Pie, Amanda, leash from Gertrude’s Pets on an installment plan. The collar
Gloria Dump, Stevie, Dunlap, Otis, and Miss Franny. costs $8.75 and the leash costs $11.25. Ask students to use
Instruct the “actors” to remain in character after the role- their math skills to answer the following questions:
play, and have the audience ask each character questions
• What is the total amount Opal will pay for the collar and
about his or her thoughts, feelings, and actions.
leash?
For example:
• If Gertrude pays Opal $3.50 an hour and she works three
• Miss Franny, what were you feeling and thinking as you got
hours a week, how much does she earn in one week?
dressed for the party?
• If Opal pays Gertrude’s Pets $4.00 a week, how many
• Opal, how did you feel when you realized Winn-Dixie was
weeks will it take her to pay off the collar and leash?
missing?
• How many hours will Opal have to work to pay off only
• Dunlap, how did you feel when you waved to Opal and she
the collar? Only the leash?
didn’t wave back?
• How much would Opal earn in three and a half hours?
• Otis, what was it like to meet so many new people?
• If Opal were to purchase one collar and two leashes, how
• Gloria, what were you feeling when you yelled “Good luck” to
many hours would she have to work? Round your answer
Opal as she went outside in the rain to look for Winn-Dixie?
to the nearest hour.
Encourage the actors to answer the questions from the
You may also want to challenge students to create their own
perspective of the character they are playing. installment plans for something they (or the class) would
like to purchase.
SCIENCE
Gathering Information: Animal Facts
GEOGRAPHY
Ask students to choose a specific animal they would like to
Where Is Florida?
have as a pet. Encourage students to be specific in their
Have students locate Florida on a map of the United States.
choice. Instead of choosing “birds,” they should choose a
Encourage them to measure the distance between Florida
parrot or goldfinch; instead of “dogs,” a dachshund or beagle.
and the state where they live. Tell students that Winn-Dixie
Encourage students to use the library and the Internet to
is a chain of supermarkets with locations in the Southeast.
find out ten things about their animal, then present their
Point out that Florida is located in the portion of the United
findings to the class. Questions to guide their research
States known as the Southeast. Students may want to take a
include: Where does the animal live? What does it eat? What are
virtual tour of a Winn-Dixie store at www.winndixie.com.
its habits? Is it a mammal? Reptile? Amphibian? What is its
average life span? How big does it get? Invite students to create
a word that describes the sound the animal they researched
makes. Point out that Kate DiCamillo uses such words
(known as onomatopoeia) on page 28 to describe the sounds

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C A N D L E W I C K P R E S S T E AC H E R S ’ G U I D E

AWARDS & PRAISE

A Newbery Honor Book

A New York Times Bestseller

A New York Times Book Review Notable Children’s Book of the Year

A Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

An American Library Association Notable Children’s Book

A Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner

“Poignant and delicately told.” —The New York Times Book Review

“In this exquisitely crafted first novel, each chapter possesses an arc of its own and reads almost like
a short story in its completeness; yet the chapters add up to more than the sum of their parts.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“This well-crafted, realistic, and heartwarming story will be read and reread as a new favorite
deserving a long-term place on library shelves.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

“Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale
of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow, and hope. And it’s funny, too. A real gem.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“It’s the kind of book people love and tell their friends to read.” —The Washington Post

“An enchanting little book with a touch of magic, a cast of great characters, and a lot of real life and
wisdom.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Both kids and grown-ups love it. . . . It’s a great read-aloud book. . . . It has scooped up numerous
awards. . . . It’s an unforgettable story about making friends.” —Orlando Sentinel

“Carefully touches on big issues: abandonment, loneliness, empathy, and belonging.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

“A gentle book about good people coming together to combat loneliness and heartache—with a little
canine assistance.” —The Horn Book Guide

“A tale not just about a dog found in a grocery store; it’s also about the healing power of truth.”
—The Boston Globe

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