Because of Winn-Dixie by Danielle Underwood

I was very anxious to read this book. I had never seen the movie so I was really excited that I would get to experience this story through the book instead of having a pre-conceived idea based on a movie. I had heard many wonderful things about this book and was looking forward to reading it.
I definitely think that this is a self-discovery/becoming of age story. Yes, it fits into other categories but this one is the one that stuck out to me the most. While reading this story I felt as if I was on this journey with her. What I think DiCamillo did a great job on was writing this story in a way that you could really feel and understand the emotions that India Opal was going through. They weren’t to complex or overdone. I think that young readers could relate to India in many ways. Things that she was experiencing are things that I believe all children could understand and relate to. India's journey was very sentimental and heartfelt. The problems that she faced made her feel like her world was coming to an end which is something I think we have all felt many times throughout our life and will let children know that they are not alone in feeling that way.
The most defined journey for me was her coming to understand her mother and why she left. The lesson learned took me by surprise and really made me love how the journey ended. At the end when India says "Gloria says that you can't hold onto anything. That you can only love what you've got while you've got it." I knew that India had finally made peace with her mom and I couldn't have been happier for her. I think that this quote is amazing, one to live by and could be a great discussion in the classroom among students.

Now, I do have to say that personally I did not care for the book. I wouldn't read it again and I wasn’t excited to turn the page like have been with some of the other books. I felt a little disappointed after I had read it. I mean there were parts that I liked but for the book overall I was unsatisfied and I think that when reading something it needs to fill you up with all the good stuff that makes books come alive and I just did not get that in this book. However, I must say I can see the connection with children, I do think it is a great children's book and would use it in my classroom for many reasons but for me it did nothing personally.If I was to use this book I think one of the main things I would focus on are emotions. There were so many clear emotions in this book that I think it would be fun to explore these with my students and the things that make them feel these different emotions.