Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate Dicamillo
Main Characters: a ten year old girl (Opal) and a dog named Winn-Dixie.
This isn’t a book review, so I won’t try to describe the book, except to say that it leaves you with a pleasant feeling. I just want to tell you about one small incident in the book.
Ten year old Opal meets an ‘old lady’ in the small town’s library; the woman who owns it. During their getting acquainted chat, the librarian tells Opal that when she was twelve years old, her father told her that for this special birthday, she could have anything she wanted. Anything! She explained that he was a very rich man, and she had no problem coming up with what she wanted. She wanted a library of her own, just a small one, of course; a room/house full of nothing but books, which she would share with others. To her great delight, her father built a small house and filled it with books, where she read them and shared them with the townspeople throughout her lifetime.
Having fallen in love with books myself, even before I learned how to read; I can only imagine the joy she got from that very special birthday gift. My father certainly wasn’t rich, but even if he had been, I’m sure it never would have occurred to me to ask for such a fantastic gift. Yes, the best birthday gift ever. In its way, my recent Kindle gift is my own little room full of books.
