The rising action in Because of Winn-Dixie takes place from chapter 2 to chapter 24 and includes Opal becoming attached to Winn-Dixie, coming to feel at home in the town of Naomi, and befriending and beginning to understand her neighbors.

Freytag's Pyramid uses five stages to analyze a narrative: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The rising action is usually the longest section of the narrative and can be considerably longer than the other four stages put together.

In Because of Winn-Dixie, the exposition involves Opal's initial encounter with Winn-Dixie, after which she brings him home to the Friendly Acres Trailer Park in chapter 2. After this, the rest of the book is rising action until the climax, which occurs in chapter 24 when Opal believes that she has lost Winn-Dixie and the preacher finally tells her that her mother is not coming back. Shortly after this, Opal finds that Winn-Dixie is at Gloria's house, an anti-climactic moment that begins the falling action.