Because of Winn-Dixie · Garden Heights

Part 6

for Because of Winn-Dixie · Part 6 · Chapters 18–20

8 Parts40 min

What Happens in Part 6

Opal brings Gloria Dump a Littmus Lozenge, and Gloria tastes exactly what everyone tastes: sweetness with sorrow folded inside. Because Gloria’s eyes are too weak for print, Opal begins reading aloud to her in the evenings — Gone with the Wind, borrowed from Miss Franny’s library, a story about the same war that broke Littmus Block. Night after night, girl, dog, and old woman sit together in the garden while the story unrolls. Then, at the pet store, the truth about Otis finally comes out: he was once arrested and spent time in jail. He had been playing his guitar on the street; the police told him to stop; the music was all he had, so he kept playing — and everything went wrong from there. Now Opal understands why he cannot bear a cage. When she carries the story to Gloria, expecting alarm, Gloria only asks her quiet question: what matters more — what Otis did once, or what he is doing now? Opal looks at the gentlest man in Naomi and knows the answer.

What We Will Learn

Section	What you will practice
Vocabulary	Words of confession and kindness: aloud, arrest, confess, sympathy, mercy…
Literary Elements	Parallel stories, character revelation, and dramatic irony
Cross-Curricular	Why reading aloud matters, and how second chances work in a community

Chapter Summary

Ch.	What happens
18	Evenings in the Garden — Gloria tastes the lozenge; Opal begins reading Gone with the Wind aloud to her.
19	Otis’s Secret — Otis confesses he was jailed once: he would not stop playing his guitar in the street.
20	Judge Him Now — Gloria hears the story and asks her question: what is Otis doing NOW?
—	The Pattern — lozenge, bottle tree, jail story: every grown-up’s past asks for the same mercy.

Part 1

Vocabulary

Study 10 key words from Chapters 18–20, then answer each question.

🧠Knowledge Bank · Jail, Mercy, and Second Chances

Lexicology · Jail, Mercy, and Second Chances

In many communities, a person who has once been to jail is watched with suspicion long after their sentence ends. Yet the truth is often gentler than the rumor. Otis, the quiet pet-shop worker, was locked up after a frightened misunderstanding on the street, not for any cruelty. When his neighbors learn his real story, they must decide whether to keep punishing him with cold looks or to offer a fresh start. A healthy community chooses the second path, because everyone stumbles and everyone deserves room to grow. Giving a person that room — refusing to judge them forever by their worst day — is one of the kindest gifts a town can offer, a quiet act of mercy.

aloudadv.Ch.18

Out loud; in a voice others can hear

“Opal read the first chapter aloud in the darkening garden.”

squintv.Ch.18

To narrow your eyes to try to see better

“Gloria would squint at the page, but the letters would not come clear.”

criminaln.Ch.19

A person who has broken the law

“The word criminal seemed far too heavy for gentle Otis.”

arrestv.Ch.19

To take someone to a police station because of a crime

“The police moved to arrest the young street musician.”

confessv.Ch.19

To admit something difficult or shameful

“Otis had to confess the whole story of his arrest.”

sympathyn.Ch.19

The feeling of sharing someone else’s sadness

“Opal felt nothing but sympathy as she listened.”

mercyn.Ch.20

Kindness shown to someone instead of punishment

“Gloria believed in mercy over judgment, every time.”

faithfuladj.Ch.18

Loyal; always there when needed

“Winn-Dixie was a faithful listener at every reading.”

hesitatev.Ch.19

To pause because you are unsure or afraid

“Otis would hesitate before every hard word of his story.”

murmurv.Ch.18

To speak in a soft, low voice

“Gloria would murmur along with her favorite lines.”

ⓘ The vocabulary words in this list are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the original novel.

🧠Knowledge Bank question

1According to the Knowledge Bank, Otis was locked up ___.Ch.18

2To ‘confess’ means to admit something difficult or shameful.Ch.19

3Kindness shown to someone instead of punishment is ___.Ch.20

4If you ‘hesitate,’ you act instantly without any pause.Ch.19

5Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.18–19

Word choices:squintfaithfularrestmurmur- some words will not be used

Gloria had to even to see the shape of the page.

The dog was a companion at every evening reading.

6The feeling of sharing someone else’s sadness is ___.Ch.19

7A ‘criminal’ is a person who has broken the law.Ch.19

8To speak in a soft, low voice is to ___.Ch.18

9Fill in the blanks with the correct words.Ch.19–20

Word choices:confessmercyaloudsympathy- some words will not be used

It took courage for Otis to what had happened.

Gloria answered the story with instead of alarm.

10To take someone to a police station because of a crime is to ___ them.Ch.19

Part 2

Comprehension

Show you understood what happens in Chapters 18–20.

🧠Knowledge Bank · The Reasons Behind the Deed

Narrative Logic · The Reasons Behind the Deed

Behind everything a character does lies a motive, the reason or need that drives the action. Authors seldom announce these reasons, so readers must infer them. Why does Otis play music on the sidewalk even after it once landed him in trouble? Why does Gloria ask Opal to read aloud from an old, thick book? When we dig beneath the surface, we find that Otis plays to soothe a loneliness he cannot speak, and Gloria listens because her failing eyes still hunger for stories. Understanding motive turns flat actions into meaningful choices. Whenever a character does something puzzling, pause and ask what hidden need might explain it, and the person will suddenly make sense once you name the true motive.

Visual AidThe reason behind the deed

Diagram for the Knowledge Bank on motive. The left boxes are two puzzling things characters do; the right boxes are the hidden needs the Knowledge Bank says explain them. Neither reason is announced in the book. Notice that both needs are a kind of hunger — for company, for stories — and that neither person could easily say so out loud.

Motives named in the Knowledge Bank. Drawn for Garden Heights Academy.

🧠Knowledge Bank question

1The Knowledge Bank says Gloria listens to Opal read because ___.Ch.18

2Where does the borrowed copy of Gone with the Wind come from?Ch.18

3When Gloria tastes the Littmus Lozenge, she notices only sweetness and nothing else.Ch.18

4What secret about Otis finally comes out?Ch.19

5Write the numbers 1–5 in the boxes to show the correct order of events in Chapters 18–20. Number 1 = what happens first.Ch.18–20

Opal begins reading ‘Gone with the Wind’ aloud in the garden.
Gloria asks what Otis is doing NOW — and Opal knows the answer.
Otis confesses the story of his arrest.
Gloria tastes a Littmus Lozenge and names its two flavors.
Opal carries Otis’s story to Gloria.

6Otis was arrested because he refused to stop playing his guitar in the street.Ch.19

7After jail, why can’t Otis stand to see animals in cages?Ch.19

8How does Opal expect Gloria to react to Otis’s story — and how does Gloria actually react?Ch.20

9Winn-Dixie attends the garden readings and listens along.Ch.18

10By the end of Chapter 20, how does Opal judge Otis?Ch.20

Part 3

Literary Elements

Understanding HOW and WHY Kate DiCamillo tells the story across Chapters 18–20.

🧠Knowledge Bank · Stories Echoing Stories

Literary Technique · Stories Echoing Stories

DiCamillo builds this book out of many smaller stories, and she lets them echo one another. Gloria has Opal read a thick old novel about war and loss at the very time Opal is hearing about Littmus, a boy ruined by war, and meeting Otis, a man haunted by his past. Each story rhymes with the others, so a single idea — that people carry old sorrows and keep going — sounds again and again like a bell struck in different rooms. When a writer sets stories side by side so they reflect each other, the meaning deepens. Listen for these repetitions, and you will hear how one small tale echoes. A story that rhymes with itself feels finished long before the final page, and that feeling is the quiet work of structure.

A wall built from tightly stacked old hardcover books, their worn spines in faded reds, greens, blues and browns, seen straight on — Photograph of old books stacked into a wall at an antique store in Italy. The *Knowledge Bank* explains that DiCamillo builds this book out of many smaller stories and lets them echo one another, so that a single idea sounds again and again like a bell in different rooms. These books are not the ones in the novel. Notice how the spines line up and repeat — a wall of stories, each one leaning on the next, is a fair picture of how this novel is built.
Stacked old books at an antique store, Venice area, Italy (Unsplash). Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Parallel stories

Two storylines that mirror each other — the war novel read aloud in the garden echoes the war that made the Littmus Lozenge.

Character revelation

A single scene that changes how we read a person — Otis’s confession explains the opened cages, the shyness, the music.

Dramatic irony

When readers know something a character does not — we can predict Gloria’s mercy before Opal even finishes the story.

🧠Knowledge Bank question

1According to the Knowledge Bank, when stories are set side by side so they reflect each other, ___.Ch.18

2Fill in the blank with the correct literary term.Ch.19–20

Word choices:revelationironyflashbackmotif- some words will not be used

Otis’s confession, which recolors all his past actions, is a character .

Readers predicting Gloria’s mercy before Opal does is dramatic .

3Otis’s confession changes how readers understand ___.Ch.19

4Dramatic irony is when a character knows more than the reader does.Ch.20

5Placing Otis’s jail story right after the bottle-tree and lozenge chapters makes the theme ___.Ch.18–20

6The evening readings — girl, dog, old woman, one book — mainly give the novel ___.Ch.18

7A character revelation is a scene that changes how we understand a person’s earlier actions.Ch.19

8Fill in the blank with the correct literary term.Ch.18

Word choices:parallelcircularrhymingbackward- some words will not be used

Storylines that mirror each other are called stories.

9DiCamillo gives her gentlest characters the heaviest pasts. Across these chapters, that pattern argues that ___.Ch.18–20

10Chapter 20 ends not with an event but with Opal’s changed judgment of Otis. Ending there puts the spotlight on ___.Ch.20

Part 4

Think Deeper

Four deeper challenges — no single-word recall. Read, weigh the evidence, and reason it out.

🧠Knowledge Bank · The Label and the Man

Ethical Reasoning · The Label and the Man

It is easy to pin a single word on a person — jailbird, witch, drunk, oddball — and then stop looking. This part quietly argues against that habit. Otis is labeled a criminal, yet he is gentle enough to charm a roomful of animals; Gloria is labeled a witch, yet she is among the wisest, warmest people Opal knows. A label is quick and easy, but it flattens a whole human being into one flat word. DiCamillo asks us to peel the label off and meet the real person underneath, with all their sorrow and goodness. Choosing to know someone fully, instead of dismissing them with a name, is a daily act of kindness.

Think back over the chapters. An old woman who cannot see asks a girl to be her eyes, and every evening a war story unrolls in a garden while a dog listens. A shy man finally says the hardest sentence he owns — I was in jail once — and waits to lose his newest friend. Instead, the girl carries his story to the wisest judge in Naomi, who asks only one question: never mind what he did — child, what is he DOING?

Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.

1Claim: “Opal has truly learned Gloria’s rule: judge people by what they are doing now.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence

2What the label says about Otis, or What his actions say about Otis? Tap each detail to sort it — tap again to switch sides. You can keep tapping to change your answer.Sort into two

◄ What the label says about OtisWhat his actions say about Otis ►

3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect

Gloria’s eyes have grown too weak for print→

Otis keeps playing his guitar when the police say stop→

Opal expects Gloria to be alarmed by the jail story→

Otis remembers what a locked cage feels like→

🧠Knowledge Bank question

4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument

The Knowledge Bank argues against labels like jailbird and witch because , which shows that .

Part 5

Standardized Test

Reading passage · The Old Magic of Reading Aloud · SAT & TOEFL-style practice

The Power of Reading Aloud

Long before most people could read, stories traveled by voice — and in many ways, they still do. When one person reads aloud to another, something happens that silent reading cannot duplicate. The listener borrows the reader’s eyes, and the reader borrows the listener’s attention, so the story belongs to both of them at once. Teachers prize reading aloud because young listeners absorb the rhythm of good sentences years before they can read such sentences themselves. Doctors recommend it because a familiar voice steadies anxious patients, young and old alike. And for people whose eyes have failed, a faithful reader is nothing less than a bridge back into the world of books. The habit asks for no machine and no money — only a book, a voice, even a murmur, and a little time given generously. Families who read aloud together often say the same surprising thing afterward: the story was wonderful, but the closeness was the point.

Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.

1What is the main idea of the passage?SAT · Central Ideas

2In the passage, a faithful reader is one who ___.SAT · Words in Context

3According to the passage, why do teachers prize reading aloud?TOEFL · Factual Information

4In the passage, anxious patients are patients who feel ___.TOEFL · Vocabulary

5For people whose eyes have failed, the passage calls a willing reader ___.SAT · Detail

6What does the passage say the habit of reading aloud requires?TOEFL · Factual Information

7In the passage, a murmur is ___.SAT · Words in Context

8According to the last sentence, what do read-aloud families say was ‘the point’?TOEFL · Inference

9Which scene from the novel does this passage BEST illuminate?SAT · Text Connections

10Prose Summary (TOEFL). The passage explains why reading aloud still matters. This TOEFL task lists six sentences; choose the THREE that best capture the passage’s main ideas. The other three do not belong — they state minor details or ideas the passage does not present.TOEFL · Prose Summary

Part 6 · Optional

Creative Writing

A bonus challenge to practice your English. Take your time and have fun with it.

About This Section

This writing task is optional and is not part of your auto-graded score. The feedback below checks only the basics — length, spelling, and grammar — not whether your ideas are right or wrong. It is meant for classroom discussion and creative practice, so feel free to use your imagination!

Writing Task — Part 6 “Read to Me”

Opal gives Gloria the gift of reading aloud. Think of a person you could give that same gift to — someone younger, older, or simply tired. Which book would you choose for them, and why? Describe the person, the book, where you would read, and what you hope they would feel. Write 6–10 sentences.

You can start with: “If I could read aloud to anyone, I would choose...”

0 / 40 words minimum

🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)

No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.

Part 6 Complete!

You finished Chapters 18–20 of Because of Winn-Dixie.

Here are your auto-graded results:

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points out of 100

Teach it to someone

The best last step is to teach it. In your own words, explain what happened — retell a favorite scene, teach a character’s big choice, or sum up the main idea for a parent, friend, or classmate. When you can teach it clearly, you truly own it.

Move on to Part 7 →

Independent study guide by Garden Heights. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Kate DiCamillo. Contains original analysis only; no text from the novel is reproduced. Reference text: This workbook follows Kate DiCamillo’s classic text (the standard Puffin edition sold worldwide). Revised 2023 UK editions change some wording and may not match the vocabulary studied here.