"Because of Winn- Dixie"

"The Hook"

'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. This is what happened: I walked into the produce section of the Winn- Dixie grocery store to pick out my two tomatoes and I almost bumped right into the store manager. He was standing there all red- faced, screaming and waving his arms around .

'Who let a dog in here?' he kept on shouting.
'Who let a dirty dog in here?'
'At first I didn't see a dog. There was just a lot of vegetables rolling on the floor, tomatoes, and onions and green peppers. And there was what seemed to be a whole army of Winn-Dixie employees running around waving their arms just the same way the store manager was waving his.'

'And the dog came running around the corner. He was a big dog. And ugly. And he looked like he was having a really good time. His tounge was hanging out and he was wagging his tail. He skidded to a stop and smiled right at me. I had never in my life seen a dog smile, but that was what he did. He pulled his lips back, and showed me all of his teeth.'(pages 1 and 2)

'Daddy, do you know how you always tell me that we should help those less fortunate of ourselves?'
'Mmmmmmmm-Hmmmmmmm,' he said. He rubbed his nose and looked around his papers.
'Well," I said, 'I found a less fortunate at the grocery store today.'
'Is that right?' he said.
'Yes sir' I told him. I stared at the preacher real hard. Sometimes he reminds me of a turtle hiding in his shell, in there thinking about things and not ever sticking his head out into the world. 'Daddy, I was wondering. Well, could this less fortinate stay with us?'
Finally the preacher looked up at me. 'Opal,' he said, 'What are you talking about?'
'I found a dog today.' 'And I want to keep him.'
'No dogs,' the preacher said. 'We've talked about this before. You don't need a dog.'
'I know it,' I said, 'I know I don't need a dog. But this dog needs me. Look,' I said. I went to the trailer door and hollerd, 'Winn-Dixie!'
Winn- Dixie popped his head up and came right over to the trailer door. Then he put his head on a piece of paper near the preachers lap and grinned at him. The preacher looked at Winn-Dixie. He looked at his ribs and the matted up places where he was bald.
'What did you call this dog?' the preacher asked.
'Winn- Dixie" I whispered.
'Well,' the preacher said, 'If he is a stay than I've never seen one." He put his pencil down and scratched Winn-Dixie behind the ears. "You looking for a phone" he asked.
'Well, you just found one.

"Recommendation"
Have you ever felt lonley? I know I have. Well, thats what a young girl, name India Opal Buloni has to deal with all the time. She and her father move a lot, due to his job. Now, Opal lives in the Friendly Cornors Trailer Park. One day her father sends her to the store to get some food, and just when she is about to grab some tomatoes of off the shelf, she sees a dog. An ugly one at that. Opal doesn't care how ugly it is, she brings it home anyway. She talks to Winn-Dixie on the way home from the store. When she gets home she asks her father is she can have a dog, and he says when a single dad moving place to place and of now is living in a trailer park, no. Opal shows the poor dog that she has now named Winn-Dixie to her father. He feels just as bad as Opal did when she first saw the dog. So he looks at the dog and examines it, and then figures out, that he needs a nice, small yet cozy, home. When he says yes, Opal gets right to work on him, and.... wait, I don't want to give away the ending, so to end this recomendation, I think all there is left to say is, read this book and find out what happens to Opal and her new best friend, Winne-Dixie

Recommendtion By: Lauren Molloy