Recalling the fiction of Harper Lee and Carson McCullers, here is a funny, poignant, and utterly genuine first novel from a major new talent.
The summer Opal and her father, the preacher, move to Naomi, Florida, Opal goes into the Winn-Dixie supermarket--and comes out with a dog. A big, ugly, suffering dog with a sterling sense of humor. A dog she dubs Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie, the preacher tells Opal ten things about her absent mother, one for each year Opal has been alive. Winn-Dixie is better at making friends than anyone Opal has ever known, and together they meet the local librarian, Miss Franny Block, who once fought off a bear with a copy of WAR AND PEACE. They meet Gloria Dump, who is nearly blind but sees with her heart, and Otis, an ex-con who sets the animals in his pet shop loose after hours, then lulls them with his guitar.Opal spends all that sweet summer collecting stories about her new friends and thinking about her mother. But because of Winn-Dixie or perhaps because she has grown, Opal learns to let go, just a little, and that friendship--and forgiveness--can sneak up on you like a sudden summer storm.
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It's a pipe dream of many an aspiring author: publish your debut novel, claim a spot on the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list, and rack up an astonishing array of awards, including a Newbery Honor. For Kate DiCamillo it was a dream-come true - and nobody could have been more surprised than she was. "After the Newbery committee called me, I spent the whole day walking into walls. Literally," she says. "I was stunned. And very, very happy." And it gets better: just three years later, Kate DiCamillo would receive another, even more stunning call from the Newbery committee.