Superfans rave about Kate DiCamillo’s 25-year-old ‘Because of Winn-Dixie’

When readers discuss the 25-year-old “Because of Winn-Dixie,” it’s like they’re talking about a book that came out yesterday. In a way, it’s as if it did, since most of them have read the book over and over since its release in 2000.

To celebrate that anniversary, “Winn-Dixie” publisher Candlewick Press, Red Balloon Bookshop and Riverview Theater have put together a Tuesday screening of the 2005 movie version of the story of Opal, a Florida girl who moves to a small town with her preacher father and meets a dog, Winn-Dixie, who seems to have a magical ability to unite people and solve problems.

“Winn-Dixie” writer and Minneapolis resident Kate DiCamillo will introduce the adaptation of her debut book, which won a Newbery Honor, and answer questions afterward.

Peggy Weber of Inver Grove Heights will be there with her daughter and two grandchildren. Now a Realtor, she’s a former principal of Osceola Elementary in Wisconsin who still has vivid memories of DiCamillo’s visit to the school.

“She comes in with that big smile and those dimples and that energy and authenticity she has with kids,” recalled Weber. “She really understood who her audience was and how to communicate a story and develop characters. I have to tell you that some of my staff members — I mean, she’s a rock star among the staff I had at the time — we continued to follow her career: ‘Oh Kate has another book’ and were gaga about them.“

Marcia Dressel, who was the librarian at Osceola then, is dazzled by the honesty with which “Winn-Dixie” addresses difficult topics, including alcoholism and absent parents. As a result, she became what she describes as a low-key “stalker,” reaching out to the author.

Even so, one day in 2001 when she was reading to students, she was surprised to get a message to report to the office for a phone call. It was DiCamillo, agreeing to an Osceola appearance that, to this day, remains a mic drop for Dressel.

Dressel isn’t always sure she believes it, either. Which is why, every once in a while, she gets out a thumb drive that contains a recording of the DiCamillo visit, to remind herself it really happened.

Carol Hutchinson Moen of Anoka also has solid evidence of her DiCamillo encounter, which took place at a bookstore reading, shortly after “Winn-Dixie” came out.

“I went with a couple friends and it was just delightful to see her talking. She was absolutely charming and I purchased her book. She signed it and drew a little dog in it — she doesn’t do that anymore," said Moen, who has read “Winn-Dixie” several times in the intervening years. “I loved it and have loved all of her books since then.”

Emily Garness, then Emily Dierberger, also had a bookstore encounter with DiCamillo — at Valley Bookseller in Stillwater. Shortly after the book was published, Garness attended a signing, bringing along a diorama of “Winn-Dixie” that she made, and still has.

Unlike many readers, Kurt Petersen came to DiCamillo’s book as an adult. The “sometime songwriter,” who admires the writer’s plainspoken poetry, read “Winn-Dixie” after seeing DiCamillo on Twin Cities Public Television. Now, the Cloquet, Minn., man thinks the book has something for every reader.

DiCamillo is thrilled that people are still loving what turned out to be the first of dozens of books she has created — and, like all of her titles, she is reluctant to take much credit for it.

“What I always think of when I think of this book is, it’s almost a joke that everything that happened to me, happened to me because of ‘Winn-Dixie.’ But that’s the case,” said DiCamillo, drawing a line between her life and the life of Opal. “This book, in my head, is not mine but has acted as what I genuinely feel like is a golden doorway that I got to walk through to do this work. Because of how people responded to the book, it let me become a storyteller.”

DiCamillo says that’s “a wonderful gift” and one message of the book is that dogs are gifts to us all. The titular pooch in “Winn-Dixie” reminded Petersen of a dog he used to have, named Abby. That human/dog connection is an important one for other lovers of the book such as Weber, who’s currently reading it with her grandkids and seeing it through their eyes.

“I love how the main character talks to the reader, as if they’re peers, talking about her experiences. I love Winn-Dixie and the descriptions of his smile, his toothy grin, his personality,” said Weber, who’s a dog lover. “You can see that personality and how he has a way of wheedling in and using that personality, getting into people’s hearts.”

Although she has read the book many times, Weber will be seeing the movie for the first time Tuesday. One person who won’t be able to make the screening is 10-year-old Arielle Brown, who lives in New York. She first read the book a little more than two years ago, not realizing it was by the same writer as her beloved “Mercy Watson” books.

The New Yorker tried to find a flight that would let her and her daughter attend the Minneapolis screening but they need to be back home the day after, and the timing didn’t come together. Instead, Arielle will have to make do with a new addition to the family.

He’s a poodle puppy who could be heard gently whining in the background as Caron spoke about “Because of Winn-Dixie” on the phone with a reporter. The puppy’s name, although he’s not yet answering to it, is Winn-Dixie.

“Because of Winn-Dixie” screening with Kate DiCamillo

When: 5 p.m. Aug. 19.

Where: Riverview Theater, 3800 42nd Av. S., Mpls.