This critical review has not only a big title, but a big topic as well. Differing from previous critical reviews, this is more of a comparison of two well-celebrated pieces of literature. These two books are Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo and The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden, the former about a girl who moves to a new place without friends yet finds a dog, the latter about a cricket who accidentally went to New York. Both are very famous, very well-written, and both have won the Newbery Honor. This prize for literature is one of the most important and famous awards a book can have. Although these two novels didn’t win the award itself, they won the Newbery Honor, still a big deal. In this critical review, we will compare these books’ excerpts and find their similarities and differences. We will discuss technicalities and themes, characters and settings, comparing them to find how these wonderful pieces of literature differ and relate with each other.
First of all, let’s talk about similarities between the two works. The main idea of interest is that both books share the same general plot: The process of going to a new place, being lonely, and then finding new friends. When traveling to a new location, it is impossible to not leave friends behind. One might feel lonely or homesick because of the shift in environment. Thus begins the process of finding new friends in this new place, searching for people who would make one less lonely and perhaps more at home. Both books have this process. In Because of Winn-Dixie, the main character, a girl named Opal, has to move to another place, leaving all her friends she knew. In The Cricket in Times Square, Chester Cricket is accidentally transported to New York and feels extremely homesick and lonely in this new and strange location. Both characters felt lonely, and both characters seeked friends to lessen this loneliness. This connection is the main similarity between the two, no matter if the character in question was a girl or an insect.
Now let’s discuss the differences, and these are abundant and quite technical. Instead of themes and plots, differences will be mainly in characters, settings, genre, perspective, and so on. In Because of Winn-Dixie, the characters are mostly human (aside from Winn-Dixie) and the main character is Opal. In The Cricket in Times Square, the characters are mostly animals (at least in the excerpt) and the main character is Chester Cricket. Place setting for Winn-Dixie is Naomi, Florida, and place setting for Cricket in Times Square is New York, Times Square. Winn-Dixie and The Cricket in Times Square also differ in perspective and genre, the former being a realistic fiction with 1st person perspective and the latter being a fantasy with 3rd person perspective. There is one more thing that differs between the two, and that is their endings (in the excerpts). At the end of Winn-Dixie’s excerpt, Opal befriends someone, making her less lonely and happier, thus it is a happy ending. For Cricket in Times Square however, even though Chester meets new friends, he is still homesick, making it a not-completely-happy ending.
Now of course, we cannot simply ignore and pass up the opportunity of talking about the two books’ themes, so in this paragraph, we are inspecting the themes reflected from these two works of literature, mainly loneliness and friendship. Both books have a strong theme of friendship, overcoming loneliness by making friends. This might already sound very repetitive, and indeed it is connected to the first paragraph, where we discussed the similarities as mainly the process of finding friends. However, there is another theme that both books have in them: Different types of connections. In Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal became friends with Miss Franny (an old woman in charge of a library) because they both had connections. Both liked Winn-Dixie, and both liked reading books. These connections were what made their friendship possible. In The Cricket in Times Square, Chester is able to see a certain star in New York that he could also see in the night skies of Connecticut (his hometown), making the star a connection between Chester’s home and New York. Even though the connections are used differently, both books contain them and use them to develop themes.
In conclusion, Because of Winn-Dixie and The Cricket in Times Square are both highly famous and celebrated pieces of literature. Both have won Newbery Honors, a very important and rare award. In this critical review of comparing the two works, we found the similarities and differences of these two books. The main similarity between the two is the process of going to a new place, being lonely, and then finding friends. This also means they both have friendship and loneliness as themes. Both also have connections, Winn-Dixie having connections between characters and Cricket in Times Square having connections between the main character’s home and New York. Differences are quite technical, including contrasts of characters, settings, genre, perspective, and endings. All in all, these books are different in technicality yet they have the same core, the same themes that make them appealing. But no matter if the two are different or the same, their fame and true magnificence is undeniable.
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