Bonus: Get to Know Your Ideal Reader with Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie

& filed under Children's Fiction, Podcast, Writing middle grade.

In episode #15 of the Middle Grade Made Easy(er) podcast, we talked about how to get to know the ideal middle-grade reader for your book by asking yourself eight key questions that are designed to help you understand who your story is truly for before you start writing.

If you haven’t listened to episode #15 yet, go back and listen to it before you listen to this bonus one, so that you understand why it’s important to get to know who you’re writing for. Then, you can come back and listen to today’s episode in which we’re going to do a case study of the ideal reader for Kate DiCamillo’s middle-grade novel Because of Winn-Dixie using those eight key questions.

I’ll link to episode #15 called Getting to Know Your Middle-Grade Reader, both in the transcription for this episode on my website and in the description of this podcast episode in your podcast player. There’s also a handout with the eight key questions that you can download from the last episode, and you can find it at loupiccolo.com/reader.

Questions for Fleshing Out Out Your Ideal reader

Now, let’s do a very quick recap of the eight key questions you can ask yourself to help you flesh out the kid who would become your book’s biggest fan, so that you can then write the story they are waiting to read.

  1.     What’s their name and where do they live?
  2.     How old are they?
  3.     What are their personality traits?
  4.     What makes them feel afraid or unsafe?
  5.     If they had one wish, what would they wish for?
  6.     How can your novel help them overcome their fears, or go after what they want?
  7.     What types of stories do they enjoy?
  8.     What does their favourite story make them feel, and why do they want to read it again and again?

Who is Opal Buloni from Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo?

Before we use these eight key questions to imagine the kind of middle-grade reader who would fall in love with Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, let’s have a look at the book’s main character, Opal Buloni.

You may be wondering why we need to do that first?

The reason is that knowing what Kate DiCamillo’s main character is like, and what she wants, will make it easier for you to imagine who Kate DiCamillo was writing for when she drafted her novel.

Opal Buloni is 10 and has recently moved to Naomi, Florida, with her father who is a preacher. She doesn’t have any friends, she’s lonely, and she misses her mother. Opal doesn’t really remember her mother who left when Opal was 3. Because of this, Opal can’t really accept or forgive other people’s idiosyncrasies, and her only joy comes from Winn-Dixie, a stray dog she adopts one day at the grocery store.

During the first part of the story, Opal makes friends with many older people in Naomi who understand the loss and pain she feels but, soon, over the course of the story, she realizes that even the younger people in town have some ideas about grief.

By the end of the novel, Opal accepts that her mother is not coming back and learns how to become more empathetic toward people she doesn’t really understand. She also comes to accept that life is a confusing mix of sadness and joy, and that it is sometimes impossible to tease out one emotion from another. Basically Opal’s character moves from loneliness to connection and from ignorance to understanding.

So, that’s Opal.

Now, I want you to remember that, in the last episode, I asked you to dig really deep when answering these questions. And today, I’m going to show you what I mean by that by giving you an example of what that process looks like in action.

Because of Winn-Dixie’s Ideal Reader

So, who is the reader who is going to be the biggest fan of Because of Winn-Dixie? The fan who will laugh, cry, and grow right alongside Opal Buloni because there’s just something about her they can relate to, something they can recognize, or a feeling they can identify with. Let’s find out by applying the list of eight questions and answering them as we go along. 

Questions #1 and #2: What’s their Name, Age and Where Do They Live?

Meet Ellie Parker.

Ellie lives in a small town in Georgia where the summers are hot, the crickets hum at night, and everyone seems to know everyone else. She’s ten years old, and she’s at that in-between stage where she’s old enough to notice that life isn’t always fair, but still young enough to be incapable of accepting this fact of life. Her weekends are filled with riding her bike down dusty roads, reading under the shade of a pecan tree, and helping her grandma bake biscuits on Sunday afternoons. Ellie loves the sound of rain on the skylight in her bedroom, and the smell of her Golden Retriever’s paws when he’s just woken up from a nap.

Question #3: What Are Their Personality Traits?

Ellie is the kind of kid who feels things deeply. She’s curious, observant, and empathetic, but she can also be shy. Ellie notices the details other people miss: the look on a classmate’s face when they’re left out, or how the librarian hums when she’s shelving books. She’s a bit of a daydreamer, and her imagination is always on the go. At school, Ellie isn’t the loudest or the most popular kid and, although she isn’t bullied or shunned, she doesn’t have a best friend or belong to any one group of kids in particular.

Question #4: What Makes Them Feel Afraid or Unsafe?

Change is what scares Ellie. She has a hard time saying goodbye, she doesn’t like it when people move away, or when her parents argue. Lately, her parents have been arguing a lot, and they’ve been a bit distracted. Although she knows they love her, she can sense a quiet tension around the house, and she’s worried that she may be the reason her parents have been arguing. At school, she sometimes wonders if the other kids would notice if she disappeared for a while. Basically, monsters in the dark aren’t what make Ellie feel unsafe; being left behind when others move on is what scares her the most. She likes things to stay the same, thank you very much!

Question #6: If They Had One Wish, What Would They Wish For?

If Ellie had one wish, it would be to belong. She’s looking for a best friend or someone who “gets her”. She’s at that age where she feels a need for true connection with someone with whom she can share secrets and have inside jokes. Right now, she relies on her dog, who loves her no matter what, for that, and on her grandma who doesn’t treat her like a little kid.

Question #7: How can your novel help them overcome their fears, or go after what they want?

Kate DiCamillo’s novel Because of Winn-Dixie can show Ellie that she’s not the only one of her age who feels loneliness. It can help her understand that friendship can grow in the most unexpected places, and that when people leave, their place can be filled with other people who bring just as much joy. Because of Winn-Dixie can help Ellie feel a little braver, and more willing to trust that things will work out in the end.

Question #7: What types of stories do they enjoy?

Ellie loves stories that are hopeful: the kinds of stories where ordinary kids face small but powerful challenges and come out stronger. She’s drawn to books like Because of Winn-Dixie, The One and Only Ivan, and The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street.

Question #8: What does their favourite story make them feel, and why do they want to read it again and again?

Ellie’s favourite story makes her laugh and feel sad, sometimes both even in the same chapter! Her favourite story has a happy ending, and when she reads it, she feels like the character in the book would understand her if they knew each other, because she understands them!

Writing middle-grade fiction with empathy and clarity and focus

So, as you can see, Ellie doesn’t have to be exactly like Opal. They may have different personality traits and life circumstances but, if they could meet and get to know one another in real life, they could become friends. If they did become friends, it would be because Kate DiCamillo’s ideal reader is identifying with the internal character arc that Opal had to work through.

If you’re not sure what the internal character arc is, it’s the emotional journey that your protagonist has to go on throughout the story, and the obstacles that they need to conquer in order to grow and change.

Opal’s growth is all about learning how to change her perspective on loss and loneliness, coming to terms with grief and accepting that loss is part of living. And those are the issues that Ellie is grappling with in her life to some degree. So, if they became friends it would probably be because they would understand each other’s feelings and reactions to the obstacles that life throws in their way.

The point of this exercise is not to give you a meaningless task that takes you away from your precious writing time; it’s to give you an opportunity to lay down some of the foundational work you need to do to write a novel. In this episode, that foundational work is all about getting to know the type of kid who would enjoy the book you want to write, so that you can write it in such a way that they will love it.

Understanding the ideal middle-grade reader for your book on this level helps you write with empathy, clarity and focus. When you can imagine your version of Ellie Parker — their fears, their wishes, and what they need from your story — you’re far more likely to create a book that resonates deeply with her.

Is my ideal middle-grade reader always the same for every book I write?

It goes without saying (but I’m going to say it anyway) that this type of foundational work needs to be done for every book you write because the protagonist in each book will be different and will have a different internal arc, or set of obstacles they need to conquer and beliefs they need to work through and change so that they can grow.

As your ideal reader will always need to be able to identify with your protagonist, the ideal reader for each of your books will always be different. Basically, the ideal reader isn’t connected to you, as an author, but to your story’s protagonist and theme and to how your protagonist needs to learn and grow, and to how your protagonist can help your reader make sense of the world.

So, as you work on your own middle-grade novel, take these eight key questions and try this exercise for yourself. Picture your reader as vividly as you can. Connect to them. Give them a name, a home, and a heart, and then write your story, because that connection between the protagonist you are going to create and the kid holding your book is where the magic happens.

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FREE GUIDE: NAILING MIDDLE-GRADE VOICE

In middle-grade fiction, voice is the way your character thinks, speaks, and experiences the world. It’s the bridge that communicates your story and your protagonist in the most effective way to kids reading your book. If your draft is missing voice, this guide has the solutions!