I really enjoyed reading Because of Winn Dixie! It was a book I could not put down! I really liked the message about not judging a book by its cover, like with Gloria Dump and Otis. I think this is a great point to introduce to children. But my favorite passage in the book was on pages 162 and 163. Winn-Dixie has just run away during the storm, or so they thought, and India Opal was getting desperate the find him. Her father had mentioned that they might not ever be able to find him and then she made a list of ten things to remember him by like the Preacher had told her about her mother. I thought this showed the close relationship that some children can have to understanding loss when they have already experienced it. I also think it is part of human nature to want to hold on to something and never let it go. That is what India Opal was going to do with the list if she had never found her beloved Winn-Dixie. It also revealed how truly grown up she was and how the things that had happened in her past had such a major impact on her.
When I was reading this book I feel like I took the stance of being in and moving through, for most of the book. I really got involved with learning more about India Opal and the Preacher and then about all of Opal’s new friends that she met because of her new dog. I got so wrapped up in the book and just wanted to be able to find out what was coming next. I was able to use my own experiences with having pets to understand the relationship between Winn-Dixie and his owners. I think this was a major aspect because someone who had never had a pet before would probably not have been as quickly able to understand and appreciate their relationship.