Because of Winn-Dixie not only tells a delightful story, but also it addresses several socially sensitive and pertinent issues that many young people encounter today.

The story includes references to alcoholism, prejudice, the elderly, death, single-parent families, and the importance of community.

Opal's mother is an alcoholic, as is Gloria Dump. However, the contrast between how the two women deal with alcoholism is clearly evident and used to aid Opal in finding solutions to her own problems.

Opal's mother abandons her family, leaving Opal to struggle with self-doubts and insecurities. She remembers very little about her mother and searches for anything that will keep her mother alive to her, similarities between them, stories, "Just ten things, that's all," she tells her father. She also does this when she loses Winn-Dixie: "I memorized it so if I didn't find him, I would have some part of him...