Opal The Help Sparknotes

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo is a realistic fiction book because it draws you in and allows you to feel like you are there. It gives you the feel of a true story even though it is based solely on a fictional story. A ten year old girl who goes by her middle name, Opal moves to a new town with her dad. Her mother abandoned them and it’s been just her and her dad for awhile and she feels alone a lot even when her dad is around. Opal’s dad sends her to Winn-Dixie for a few things and while in the store she hears a lot of commotion and goes to see what it’s all about. A dog is running around knocking everything over and the store owner is getting ready to call the pound. Opal quickly lies and says the dog is hers to save it. Opal

brings the dog home and names it Winn-Dixie because that’s where she found it. Opal and Winn-Dixie develop a great bond and Opal really enjoys having Winn-Dixie to do everything with. Together Opal and Winn-Dixie take a town of broken people and reunite them. They remind them of what it’s like to feel joy, happiness and a sense of community again.
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is a realistic fiction book because you feel as though this fictional story could happen to you or anyone else you know and that you too would fight to save Shiloh from his abusive owner the same way Marty did. Marty is an eleven year old who finds a beagle walking around all alone one day. The dog follows him home and he names him Shiloh. Marty finds out that Shiloh actually belongs to his awful neighbor Judd who is always drunk and is known to treat his hunting dogs badly. Marty does not want to return Shiloh to Judd but his dad makes him. Shiloh returns to Marty and he keeps him hidden from his family, feeding him whatever scraps he could sneak away. But one night a German Shepherd attacks Shiloh and he needs to go to a veterinarian. While Shiloh is recovering Marty decides to try to reason with Judd and see if could keep him some how. Marty witnesses Judd kill a doe out of season and blackmails him. Judd says he will let Marty keep Shiloh if he works for him. Halfway through his agreed working arrangement Judd breaks the agreement because the doe is gone and Marty has no incriminating proof on him. Marty decides to show Judd his integrity and determination and he works the rest of the agreed upon time. During that time Judd starts warming up to Marty and he opens up to him, telling him about his abusive upbringing. Judd finds it in his heart to let Marty keep Shiloh.
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls is an adventure book because it is a story full of the wild adventures of a boy and his two coonhounds. Billy tells his parents that he wants two coonhounds to go hunting with but his family is very poor and they could not afford even one coonhound. Billy works very hard for two years to save up for his two coonhounds and he walks to another city to pick them up from the train station. Billy names the dogs Old Dan and Little Ann and he starts training them to tree raccoons. In no time Old Dan and Little Ann become the best coon dogs in the area. Billy and his coonhounds spend every night raccoon hunting and they love their adventurous times together in the Ozark Mountains. Billy’s grandfather enters Old Dan and Little Ann in a championship raccoon hunting competition and they win Billy’s family $300. One day Old Dan and Little Ann encounter a mountain lion and get in a fight with it while trying to protect Billy. Old Dan didn’t make it out of the fight and Little Ann refused to eat after his death. She died by Old Dan’s grave a few days after his death. A red fern grew between Old Dan and Little Ann's graves. According to Native American legend a red fern can only exist if an angel plants it.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London is an adventure book because it follows the adventures of a St. Bernard mix named Buck who gets stolen from his owners and is made to be a sled dog. Buck is a happy house pet in California but when his owner’s gardener needs money to pay a gambling debt he steals Buck and sells him. Buck is transported to the frozen wilderness where he must learn to endure the harsh environment, the cruel treatment, the lack of being fed and still he must rise to the leader of the pack to survive. After several bad owners Buck is taken in by Thornton who truly cares for him and they develop a close bond. One day while Buck is out befriending a wolf Thornton and the rest of his camp are killed by a native tribe. Buck who has been turning wild over the time he has spent in the wilderness joins the wolf pack and becomes their leader.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is an adventure book because it follows Katniss in her dangerous and at times exciting journey to win the 74th Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a televised arena game where a boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each of the 12 districts is chosen at random and they are forced to kill each other until only one of them remains. Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place in the Hunger Games after she is the girl chosen for their district. The boy chosen from the same district is Peeta and he tells everyone on live television that he has feelings for Katniss. After training for the Hunger Games the players are released in the arena. They start killing each other right away and forming alliances. After several of the players have died the rules of the game are changed and two people can remain alive at the end of the games as long as they are from the same district. Katniss and Peeta team up and they start to develop feelings for each other. Once they kill off everyone else and think they have won the rules are changed back and they are told one of them must die for the Hunger Games to be over. Katniss and Peeta threaten to eat poisonous berries so neither of them have to kill each other. They are stopped and both are declared winners of the 74th Hunger Games.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is an adventure book because it follows the life of a boy who is in his young teenage years but has been on his own surviving for much longer. Huck enjoys finding excitement and being out on his own. His dad is an abusive alcoholic who only wants Huck around when he needs money for more alcohol. One day Huck’s father takes him out of town and imprisons him in a secluded cabin. Huck waits for his dad to leave and then he fakes his own death and leaves. Huck crosses paths with a friend’s slave named Jim who had also run away. Jim was escaping to a nearby town where everyone is a free man because his master was going to sell him to harsher masters. Huck is torn between helping a slave and turning him in. Huck decides to go with Jim and together they encounter many dangerous situations. Both of them grow fond of each other and both of them protect and save each other in many situations. Jim’s master dies and leaves it in her will that he is now a free man and Huck’s father dies so he too can be a “free man” now.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a drama book because it deals with conflict, judgement and racism through the eyes of a six year old named “Scout”. Scout and her older brother Jem live in a small, rundown town in the time of the Great Depression. Their widowed father Atticus does pretty well for himself as a lawyer but there are a lot of very poor people in their town. There is a man named “Boo” Radley that lives in Scout and Jem’s neighborhood and they are very curious about him because they have never seen him. Boo starts leaving little gifts for the children in his tree but he still never appears. Meanwhile a white woman named Mayella claims to be raped by a black man named Tom and Atticus agrees to defend Tom. It is a long trial in which Atticus proves that Mayella was actually attracted to Tom and her father Bob who is a drunk became enraged by this and the rape was a lie. Even though Atticus was able to prove that Tom was innocent the judge still ruled him guilty. While trying to escape jail Tom was shot and killed. Bob was angry with Atticus after the trial because he felt like he made a fool of him in front of everyone. Bob attacked Scout and Jem one night while they were walking home from a Halloween event at school. He broke Jem’s arm but Boo showed up and saved the children. Bob died in the fight but it was ruled that he fell on his own knife and died.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a drama because it gives us a look inside the emotional, conflicting and interesting life of African American maids in the 1960s.

“Skeeter” is a white, privileged journalist graduate just returning from college. When her family’s maid is gone upon her return she has questions as to where she went and why but she can’t get an honest answer from anyone. Skeeter then tries to ask some of the other maids around town what happened to her but they don’t trust her. Gradually one of the maids named Aibileen starts to open up to Skeeter. Skeeter comes up with the idea to write a book about the secret life of African American maids. At first it’s only Aibileen and then one of her friends Minny who will share stories with Skeeter. Over time though the maids get more and more fed up with how their white bosses are treating them and they too open up to Skeeter. The book becomes a hit all over town and everyone starts reading it and learning things about everyone in town that they never knew. The maids finally feel like they have been

heard.
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult is a drama because it follows a thirteen year old through her emotional battle to claim her body as her own.

Anna has an older sister named Kate who has fought leukemia most of her life. Their parents had Anna so she could be her sister’s donor when needed and Anna has willingly donated everything her sister has needed so far because she loves her sister. Now Kate needs a kidney but it is a risky surgery for both girls and it’s not guaranteed to save Kate’s life. Anna decides enough is enough and she fights her parents in court for medical emancipation. Little does anyone know until it is revealed in court that it is actually Kate who wants Anna to have the freedom to choose what she does with her body. The judge rules in Anna’s favor and her lawyer becomes her medical power of attorney. After the trial her lawyer drives her home and a truck hits them. At the hospital Anna is declared brain dead. Her lawyer who was okay after the crash says that as her medical power of attorney Kate needs her kidney. Kate comes out of surgery okay and lives many years after with her sister’s

kidney.
A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks is a drama book because it takes you on an emotional journey with a young girl who is dying of leukemia. Jamie is an unpopular high school student who carries her Bible around with her everywhere she goes and spends her free time helping those less fortunate than herself. Landon is a popular high school student whose father is rich and always busy. One night Landon has no one to go to the school dance with so he invites Jamie to go with him. That night is the start of a life changing journey for both of them. They fall in love but Jamie tells Landon that she is dying of Leukemia. Landon is heartbroken but he stays by her side the whole time. He remembers how when they met Jamie said all she wanted in life was to get married in a church full of people and to have her dad walk her down the aisle. Landon asks Jamie to marry him and through all her pain and weakness Jamie walks down the aisle with her dad in a church full of people and she marries Landon. It was a walk to remember and one of the last things she did before leaving for heaven.