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India Opal Buloni, known best as Opal, has recently moved to Naomi, Florida, with her preacher father. Shortly after her arrival, Opal rescues a scrappy dog that she names Winn-Dixie, after the store in which she finds him.

India Opal Buloni, known best as Opal, has recently moved to Naomi, Florida, with her preacher father. Shortly after her arrival, Opal rescues a scrappy dog that she names Winn-Dixie, after the store in which she finds him.

She convinces her father, who often preaches about caring for the needy, that this dog is certainly in need.

Thus a summer of adventures begins.

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I spent a lot of time that summer at the Herman W. Block Memorial Library. The Herman W.

Block Memorial Library sounds like it would be a big fancy place, but it’s not. It’s just a little old house full of books, and Miss Franny Block is in charge of them all. She is a very small, very old woman with short gray hair, and she was the first friend I made in Naomi.

It all started with Winn-Dixie not liking it when I went into the library, because he couldn’t go inside, too. But I showed him how he could stand up on his hind legs and look in the window and see me in there, selecting my books; and he was okay, as long as he could see me. But the thing was, the first time Miss Franny Block saw Winn-Dixie standing up on his hind legs like that, looking in the window, she didn’t think he was a dog. She thought he was a bear.

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This is what happened: I was picking out my books and kind of humming to myself, and all of a sudden, there was this loud and scary scream. I went running up to the front of the library, and there was Miss Franny Block, sitting on the floor behind her desk. “Miss Franny?” I said. “Are you all right?” “A bear,” she said. “A bear?” I asked. “He has come back,” she said. “He has?” I asked. “Where is he?” “Out there,” she said and raised a finger and pointed at Winn-Dixie standing up on his hind legs, looking in the window for me. “Miss Franny Block,” I said, “that’s not a bear. That’s a dog. That’s my dog. Winn-Dixie.” “Are you positive?” she asked. “Yes ma’am,” I told her. “I’m positive. He’s my dog.

I would know him anywhere.” Miss Franny sat there trembling and shaking.

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“Come on,” I said. “Let me help you up. It’s okay.” I stuck out my hand and Miss Franny took hold of it, and I pulled her up off the floor. She didn’t weigh hardly anything at all. Once she was standing on her feet, she started acting all embarrassed, saying how I must think she was a silly old lady, mistaking a dog for a bear, but that she had a bad experience with a bear coming into the Herman W. Block Memorial Library a long time ago, and she never had quite gotten over it. “When did that happen?” I asked her. “Well,” said Miss Franny, “it is a very long story.” “That’s okay,” I told her. “I am like my mama in that I like to be told stories. But before you start telling it, can Winn-Dixie come in and listen, too?

He gets lonely without me.” “Well, I don’t know,” said Miss Franny. “Dogs are not allowed in the Herman W. Block Memorial Library.” “He’ll be good,” I told her. “He’s a dog who goes to church.” And before she could say yes or no, I went outside and got Winn-Dixie, and he came in and lay down with a “huummmppff” and a sigh, right at Miss Franny’s feet.

She looked down at him and said, “He most certainly is a large dog.” “Yes ma’am,” I told her. “He has a large heart, too.”

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“Well, there was no answer. And I thought it might have been a wild man or a wild woman, scared of all these books and afraid to speak up. But then I became aware of a very peculiar smell, a very strong smell. I raised my eyes slowly. And standing right in front of me was a bear. Yes ma’am. A very large bear.” “How big?” I asked. “Oh, well,” said Miss Franny, “perhaps three times the size of your dog.” “Then what happened?” I asked her. “Well,” said Miss Franny, “I looked at him and he looked at me. He put his big nose up in the air and sniffed and sniffed as if he was trying to decide if a little-miss-know-it-all librarian was what he was in the mood to eat. And I sat there. And then I thought, ‘Well, if this bear intends to eat me, I am not going to let it happen without a fight. No ma’am.’ So very slowly and very carefully, I raised up the book I was reading.” “What book was that?” I asked.

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“Why, it was War and Peace, a very large book. I raised it up slowly and then I aimed it carefully and I threw it right at that bear and screamed, ‘Be gone!’ And do you know what?” “No ma’am,” I said. “He went. But this is what I will never forget. He took the book with him.” “Nuh-uh,” I said. “Yes ma’am,” said Miss Franny. “He snatched it up and ran.” “Did he come back?” I asked. “No, I never saw him again.

Well, the men in town used to tease me about it. They used to