Because of Winn-Dixie ... Opal makes friends in her new home of Naomi, Florida. Winn-Dixie is a special dog with an uncanny knack for making friends. The combination of his dog smile, wagging tail, and sneezing fits are lovable to almost everyone he meets.
When Opal and her father move to Naomi for ministry at her father's new church, Opal is lonely. It's summer so she doesn't have the opportunity to make friends at school. In addition, she becomes increasingly curious about her mother, who left when Opal was very young.
With Winn-Dixie's help, Opal befriends the lonely librarian, the local witch, a clerk at the pet store, some boys who tease her, a friendly younger girl, and a "pinch-faced" girl. In addition, Opal's relationship with her father improves because Winn-Dixie makes her brave enough to ask her father more and her father is brought out of his shell by lovable Winn-Dixie. Along the way, Opal learns to understand others more and is thus able to make what some might consider to be an unusual set of friends.
Each of her friends was able to help her grow in some small way. The witch helped her to understand personal demons (not in those words though) and mistakes, so that she could understand her mother a little more. Her father helped her to look beyond the front the "pinch-faced girl" put on and open herself up to boys who had a strange way of making friends.
By the end of summer, I'm sure Opal was not lonely anymore. I think children could relate to Opal's feelings of isolation and could also gain tolerance for others by seeing her befriend unlikely individuals.
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