Dandelion wine.

184 pages

English language

Published Sept. 10, 1969 by Bantam Books.

OCLC Number:
4308209

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5 stars (1 review)

The summer of '28 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma's belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding—remembered forever by the incomparable Ray Bradbury.

Dandelion Wine is unique amongst the works of the popular author Ray Bradbury, in that it provides us with perhaps the clearest insight into the thoughts and feelings of the author. The book was published in 1957, perhaps over twenty years after the era which it is about, thus providing an inevitable theme of nostalgia throughout the book. The principal character, Douglas Spalding, and his brother Tom, encounter a series of adventures which are described in a crafted and distinguished manner to provide a philosophical tone …

33 editions

Preserving the summer

5 stars

Dandelion Wine is a coming of age story, infused with the magic of childhood. It's about that first discovery and sharp awareness of being alive, and the attempt to relish every day of the summer. But that sense of life always comes with its twin shadow: the realization of mortality, the experience of loss, friends leaving, and the death of someone you love. What's at stake is to always reaffirm that first sensation of life. For this a new kind of magic is needed: the ethics of passing over the help your received onto others. Summer will be gone but we can preserve the wine of summer in bottles to help us through the winters to come. This is our mundane act of creation that sustains life in all its mystery.

Subjects

  • City and town life -- Illinois -- Fiction.