Book vs. Film: Because of Winn-Dixie

When comparing books and videos, I find that it is important to always read the book first before watching the video. When using this story in my classroom we always read the story first then watch the video in order to compare and contrast the two. Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo is a wonderful story about a young girl who finds friendship with a dog she finds at the supermarket. India Opal is the main character in this story and she has moved to a new town with her father, the preacher. Opal's mother left her and her father when she was a baby leaving just the two of them. Opal tries to make friends in this new place and while doing so she meets several very intriguing characters. I love the way Kate DiCamillo described these characters in the book. I was able to visually picture the characters while reading the book. I read aloud this book every year to my third grade students. They get so into the book that they always ask me to read one more chapter. This is a great book to use with children because it addresses issues that many students go through everyday, divorce and friendship. It addresses the issue of divorce and what children must go through when their parents split up. It also addresses the issue of children making friends when they move somewhere new. Making friends in a new place can be very overwhelming and hard for a child.

The movie Because of Winn Dixie is very similar to the book version. However, the movies does leave out a few scenes from the book and it doesn't emphasize some scenes as much as the book does. While watching the movie I was shocked to see that the visions of the characters that I had in my mind were not what they actually looked like in the movie. That is one thing that my students pointed out as well. Gloria Dump is one character who looked totally different in the movie than she was described in the book. I also felt like the book added scenes that weren't necesarily needed. All in all, I truly enjoyed the book better than I did the movie. I think it is defintely a great family film but would recommend that everyone read the book first before ever thinking about going to see the movie.

DiCamillo, K. (2000). Because of Winn-Dixie. New York: Scholastic, Inc.