Because of Winn-Dixie
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50 free Because of Winn-Dixie trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Because of Winn-Dixie is a fixture of American classrooms and school reading lists. Ten-year-old Opal walks out of a store with a big, ugly, smiling stray dog, and the dog goes on to introduce her to half the town: a librarian with a wild story, a shy pet-shop worker with a past, and an old woman the local children are afraid of. This quiz covers the whole book: how Opal and Winn-Dixie meet, what her father tells her about her mother, the stories Miss Franny Block and Gloria Dump share, the candy with a strange taste, and the party that nearly goes wrong. A final stretch covers the author, the awards and the cast of the film version. It works as a comprehension check after finishing the novel, as revision before a reading test, or as a way to see how much of the story has stayed with you. Every answer comes with a short explanation, and the full set can be printed for a class or a book club.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal names her stray dog after what kind of business, where she first finds him?
A supermarket
A supermarket is where it happens: Winn-Dixie is a real grocery chain, and the name is simply the first thing that comes into Opal's head when the dog needs one fast.
Q 02In Because of Winn-Dixie, what frightens Winn-Dixie into tearing around the trailer and knocking the preacher over?
Thunderstorms
Thunderstorms send him into a blind panic, which the preacher calls a pathological fear: one he cannot be talked or reasoned out of. Father and daughter agree to watch him closely so he never bolts.
Q 03In Because of Winn-Dixie, what do two boys from church say Gloria Dump is when Winn-Dixie runs into her overgrown yard?
A witch
A witch who will eat the dog is the boys' warning, so Opal goes in after him. She finds a kind, nearly blind old woman feeding him from her hand.
Q 04In Because of Winn-Dixie, which famously long novel did young Miss Franny Block hurl at a wild intruder in her library?
War and Peace
War and Peace was the book in her hands, and it never came back: the intruder left with it. Jokes about the well-read visitor followed her for years.
Q 05In Because of Winn-Dixie, which wild animal does Miss Franny Block mistake Winn-Dixie for at the library window?
A bear
A bear once strolled into her library when Florida was still wild, so a big furry face at the glass sends her diving behind her desk. Telling Opal the tale makes them friends.
Q 06In the original edition of Because of Winn-Dixie, which Southern epic does Opal read aloud to nearly blind Gloria Dump?
Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind is Miss Franny's pick, and its barbecue scene gives Opal the idea for a party. The 20th-anniversary edition swaps the book for David Copperfield.
Q 07In Because of Winn-Dixie, what does Miss Franny Block name as the secret ingredient of the Littmus Lozenge candy?
Sorrow
Sorrow is what Littmus Block somehow worked into his sweets, and only people who have known sadness can taste it. Opal's father says his tastes melancholy.
Q 08In Because of Winn-Dixie, where has Winn-Dixie been hiding while Opal and the preacher search the town in the rain?
Under Gloria's bed
Under Gloria's bed is where the party guests find him, in the very house Opal set out from. Otis's music coaxes him out covered in dust, looking like a ghost.
Q 09In Because of Winn-Dixie, which creature does Opal liken the preacher to for hiding from the world and sad thoughts?
A turtle
A turtle pulling its head into its shell is how Opal pictures him dodging anything sad. By the last chapter he is smiling and offering to teach her the songs her friends are singing.
Q 10Which author, after hundreds of rejection letters, saw Because of Winn-Dixie accepted as her first published book?
Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo nearly missed her break: the manuscript sat lost in a pile at the publisher until an editor's office was cleaned out. She then left her day job to write full-time.
Q 11In Because of Winn-Dixie, what is Winn-Dixie eating from Gloria Dump's hand when Opal first finds them together?
Peanut butter
Peanut butter wins him over, and Gloria says you can always trust a dog that likes it. She then makes Opal a sandwich of the same stuff.
Q 12In Because of Winn-Dixie, which instrument does Otis play to keep the loose animals at Gertrude's Pets calm and still?
Guitar
Guitar music holds every creature in the shop spellbound, and the moment Otis stops they run wild. He lets them out because he knows how it feels to be locked up.
Q 13In Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal gets the pet-shop job only if Gertrude likes Winn-Dixie; what animal is Gertrude?
A parrot
Q 21Because of Winn-Dixie follows Opal through her first lonely months in a new town during which season of the year?
Summer
Summer leaves Opal with long, idle days in a town where she knows nobody, which is why a dog matters so much. By the season's end she has a houseful of friends.
Q 22In Because of Winn-Dixie, the preacher's Baptist church meets in an old Pick-It-Quick store; what is the church called?
Open Arms
Open Arms Baptist Church still has the old shop's name written on its floor tiles, whatever the preacher tries. Worshippers bring their own seats.
Q 23In Because of Winn-Dixie, what does Winn-Dixie chase and catch alive in the middle of the preacher's sermon?
A mouse
A parrot who normally cannot stand dogs, Gertrude takes to Winn-Dixie at once and perches on his head. That is all the approval Otis needs to let Opal start work.
Q 14In Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal claims the stray as her own to stop the store manager from calling whom?
The pound
The pound is where the manager wants the dog sent after it knocks him flat. Opal blurts out that the dog is hers and has to invent a name for him on the spot.
Q 15In Because of Winn-Dixie, which sandwiches do Opal and Gloria Dump spend a whole afternoon making for their party?
Egg salad
Egg salad sandwiches are the party food, served with a fruit-juice mix called Dump Punch. Gloria slips Winn-Dixie one on the sly, minus its toothpick.
Q 16In Because of Winn-Dixie, what does shy Otis bring in a huge jar as his contribution to Gloria Dump's party?
Pickles
Pickles are his offering, and Opal assures him they are just right for a sandwich party. He hovers out front until she coaxes him into the yard.
Q 17In Because of Winn-Dixie, pulling his lips back in a huge toothy smile often makes Winn-Dixie do what?
Sneeze
Sneeze: he smiles so wide outside the store that it happens on the spot, and Opal falls for him at once. Later the same noise tells her friends where he has got to.
Q 18In Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal's first name is which country, where the preacher once served as a missionary?
India
India is her given name, but the preacher calls her Opal, the name her grandmother had. She explains all this to Winn-Dixie on the walk home from the store.
Q 19In Because of Winn-Dixie, which nickname did kids in Opal's old town give her because of the surname Buloni?
Lunch Meat
Lunch Meat was the taunt, since Buloni sounds like bologna. Opal admits it to Gloria Dump straight after Gloria complains about her own unlucky last name.
Q 20In Because of Winn-Dixie, what hangs from the branches of the old tree at the back of Gloria Dump's yard?
Empty bottles
Empty bottles of whiskey and wine clink there, every one drained by Gloria in her drinking days. She says they keep away the ghosts of all the things she did wrong.
A mouse is caught unharmed and dropped at the preacher's feet while the congregation cheers. He asks everyone to pray for it, then tosses it out of the door.
Q 24In Because of Winn-Dixie, the preacher explains why Amanda Wilkinson misses someone named Carson; who was Carson?
Her little brother
Her little brother Carson drowned at the age of five the year before, which is why Amanda always looks so pinched. Learning it changes how Opal treats her.
Q 25In Because of Winn-Dixie, which two flavors does Opal taste in the Littmus Lozenge that Miss Franny Block gives her?
Root beer and strawberry
Root beer and strawberry are the flavors Opal names. The candy is no longer made, but Miss Franny keeps a desk full of it, and Winn-Dixie swallows his in one gulp.
Q 26In Because of Winn-Dixie, Littmus W. Block lies about his age at fourteen to go and fight in which war?
The Civil War
The Civil War cost Littmus his home and his whole family, and Miss Franny says it left him craving something sweet. That craving became a candy factory in Florida.
Q 27In Because of Winn-Dixie, which disease killed Littmus W. Block's mother and three sisters while he was away fighting?
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever took them, his father fell in battle and enemy soldiers burned the house. Littmus walked all the way home to find nothing left.
Q 28In Because of Winn-Dixie, what landed Otis in jail after he refused to stop playing music in the street?
Hitting a policeman
Hitting a policeman hard enough to knock him out is what Otis confesses to. He lashed out because handcuffs meant he could no longer play.
Q 29In Because of Winn-Dixie, what does Opal offer Otis to persuade him to come to the party at Gloria Dump's house?
A week of unpaid sweeping
A week of unpaid sweeping at the pet shop is her offer, plus a promise that he need not talk to anyone. Otis only says maybe, but he is smiling down at his boots.
Q 30In Because of Winn-Dixie, Gloria Dump agrees to host the party only if Opal promises to invite whom?
The Dewberry boys
The Dewberry boys, Dunlap and Stevie, tease Opal daily, but Gloria suspects they only want to be friends. Dunlap accepts with a smile.