Special Collections
If you liked Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo...
Description: Kids who loved Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo should check out these great reads. #readalike #kids
- Table View
- List View
Because of Winn-Dixie
by Kate DiCamilloRecalling the fiction of Harper Lee and Carson McCullers, here is a funny, poignant, and utterly genuine first novel from a major new talent.
The summer Opal and her father, the preacher, move to Naomi, Florida, Opal goes into the Winn-Dixie supermarket--and comes out with a dog. A big, ugly, suffering dog with a sterling sense of humor. A dog she dubs Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie, the preacher tells Opal ten things about her absent mother, one for each year Opal has been alive. Winn-Dixie is better at making friends than anyone Opal has ever known, and together they meet the local librarian, Miss Franny Block, who once fought off a bear with a copy of WAR AND PEACE. They meet Gloria Dump, who is nearly blind but sees with her heart, and Otis, an ex-con who sets the animals in his pet shop loose after hours, then lulls them with his guitar.Opal spends all that sweet summer collecting stories about her new friends and thinking about her mother. But because of Winn-Dixie or perhaps because she has grown, Opal learns to let go, just a little, and that friendship--and forgiveness--can sneak up on you like a sudden summer storm.
Newbery Medal Honor book
A Dog's Life
by Ann M. MartinNewbery Honor author Ann Martin's "heartwrenching and heartwarming" (Kirkus) dog story, now in paperback, with After Words bonus material. Squirrel and her brother Bone begin their lives in a toolshed behind someone's summer house. Their mother nurtures them and teaches them the many skills they will need to survive as stray dogs. But when their mother is taken from them suddenly and too soon, the puppies are forced to make their own way in the world, facing humans both gentle and brutal, busy highways, other animals, and the changing seasons. When Bone and Squirrel become separated, Squirrel must fend for herself, and in the process makes two friends who in very different ways define her fate.
Everything for a Dog
by Ann M. MartinIn this companion to her acclaimed 2005 novel, A Dog's Life, Ann M. Martin tells the parallel stories of a stray dog (the brother of the dog featured in A Dog's Life), a boy dealing with unspeakable loss, and a boy whose most ardent wish is to own a dog and everything for a dog.
Bone and his sister, Squirrel, are stray dogs born in a shed. Left motherless as puppies, the two dogs survive together for a while, but are soon wrenched apart. Bone doesn't know if his sister is still alive, and must now go on, alone.
Charlie is a boy who has suffered a terrible loss. And, as he is healing with the help of his dog, another tragedy occurs.
Henry's best friend has moved away. All Henry has wanted is a dog of his own. But his parents won't let him.
Bone, Charlie, and Henry live very different lives, but they are fated to intersect in surprising ways.
Award-winning author Ann M. Martin has written a powerful, heartfelt novel that's perfect for anyone who has ever longed for a dog, or loved one.
Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace
by Nan MarinoWhen musical prodigy Elvis Ruby completely freezes up on television, he is forced to hide out in the Pinelands of New Jersey and try to find his way back to the music once again with the help of a new friend.
How to Steal a Dog
by Barbara O'ConnorDesperate to hold her struggling family together, Georgina Hayes is inspired after she spots a poster offering a $500 reward for the return of a missing dog. All she has to do is "borrow" the right dog and its owners are sure to offer a reward.
The Leanin' Dog
by K. A. NuzumMore than anything, Dessa Dean needed a friend. A friend to love and confide in, a friend with whom she could share her heart.
A friend who would delight in all the beauty and joy and fun of Christmas, only four days away. Hope had just about run out, but then... there came a scratchin' at the door and Dessa Dean's life was forever changed.
Maxi's Secrets
by Lynn PlourdeWhen a BIG, lovable, does-it-her-way dog wiggles her way into the heart of a loudmouth pipsqueak of a boy, wonderful things happen that help him become a bigger, better person.
With its diverse cast, authentic narrator, and perfect blend of spot-on middle-grade humor, drama, and wisdom, this powerful debut is relatable, funny, bittersweet, and full of heart.
Timminy knows that moving to a new town just in time to start middle school when you are perfect bully bait is less than ideal. But he gets a great consolation prize in Maxi--a gentle giant of a dog who the family quickly discovers is deaf.
Timminy is determined to do all he can to help Maxi--after all, his parents didn't return him because he was a runt.
But when the going gets rough for Timminy, who spends a little too much time getting shoved into lockers at school, Maxi ends up being the one to help him--along with their neighbor, Abby, who doesn't let her blindness define her and bristles at Timminy's "poor-me" attitude.
It turns out there's more to everyone than what's on the surface, whether it comes to Abby, Maxi, or even Timminy himself.
Protecting Marie
by Kevin HenkesRelates twelve-year-old Fanny's love-hate relationship with her father, a temperamental artist, who has given Fanny a new dog.
Stay!
by Lois LowryBorn between a board fence and a set of trash cans, the hero of this absorbing new novel by Newbery Medalist Lois Lowry is a lowly stray dog.
Abandoned at an early age by his mother and separated from his siblings, he faces every challenge with his nose upturned and his lustrous tail held high.
His journey out of puppyhood, during which he becomes the loyal companion to a homeless man, discovers an ear for poetry, and meets his match in his brutal rival, Scar, is a story of perseverance in a world of danger and unexpected opportunity.
But through it all, he cannot forget his frail little sister, Wispy, and he does not rest until he finds her again.
Told with humor and keen insight into both canine and human behavior, the story of this proud survivor will delight dog-lovers and adventure
Three Times Lucky
by Sheila TurnageRising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone's business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she's been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," she's found a home with the Colonel--a café owner with a forgotten past of his own--and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known.
Full of wisdom, humor, and grit, this timeless yarn will melt the heart of even the sternest Yankee.
Newbery Medal Honor book