Dandelion Wine

Written by Ray Bradbury

Narrated by Jerry Robbins, The Colonial Radio Players and A Full Cast

Ray Bradbury’s endearing, lyrical tale of boyhood and an idyllic Midwestern summer is presented here as a full-cast audio dramatization by The Colonial Theatre on the Air, complete with sound effects and a brilliant music score.M

Twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding knows Green Town, Illinois is as vast and deep as the whole world that lies beyond. For Douglas, summer is a pair of new tennis shoes, the first harvest of dandelions for Grandfather’s renowned intoxicant, the distant clang of the trolley bell on a hazy afternoon. But, as young Douglas is about to discover, summer can be more than the repetition of established rituals that hold time at bay. It can be a best friend moving away, a human time machine that can transport you back to the Civil War, or a sideshow automaton able to glimpse the bittersweet future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio
• Release date: Jan 5, 2007
• ISBN: 9780786147144

Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury (22 August 1920 – 5 June 2012) published some 500 short stories, novels, plays and poems since his first story appeared in Weird Tales when he was twenty years old. Among his many famous works are 'Fahrenheit 451,' 'The Illustrated Man,' and 'The Martian Chronicles.'

Reviews for Dandelion Wine

[librarycin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I listened to a radio production of this book, so it wasn't quite the book itself. I can't really give much of a summary beyond that the main character was 12-year old Doug, and it was the summer of 1928. I can't give a summary because I don't quite know what all happened. I know bits and pieces, but it didn't really come together as one story, I didn't think. I am giving it as many stars as I am because the production of it was entertaining, even if I didn't completely "get" what was happening. For a while, I thought I might enjoy it more if I was reading it, so that I understood what was going on, but I also may have liked it less, if I found it boring, because the production itself was so entertaining and in reading the book, I wouldn't have had the entertainment factor. So, it gets points for the production... the story, meh.

[unclebob53703 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bradbury classic story of a small town boy and one magical summer in 1928 when he realizes both that he is alive and that someday he must die, and the word becomes almost unbearably real and immediate to him. Recently re-read this after more than forty years and was stunned anew by the beauty of the writing--I think it's among his very best. It brought back my own memories and feelings of that far off time when summer was freedom and magic, and the world was young.

[firewild · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Great book, but it was a slow read. Some stories have really touched me.However, I found some of Bradbury's effervescent descriptions to be a bit over the top.

[lamotamant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Review to come after our chaos-ridden move dies down a bit.

Some notes:
1. I think I fell back in love with Bradbury along the way.
2. It’s weird reading this a few weeks before Christmas. However, it was a beneficial weird. I'd gone from 60 to 0 in holiday spirit thanks to recent events. Stress-smothered and more angsty than a tree topper with pine needles up their butt, Christmas and I weren’t getting along. Plopping myself down in a field of newly risen dandelion heads in Bradbury’s Green Town just punched the right ticket at just the right time. Or maybe my better-ish mood is the result of breaking into the dandelion wine. Shhh.

[dele2451 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A nostalgic and tender look back at one boy's summer in 1928.

[laytonwoman3rd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Summer begins for Douglas and his younger brother Tom, as always, with the gathering of dandelions for his grandfather's press. As summer progresses, the ketchup bottles full of golden wine line the basement shelves, and the boys do what boys do when allowed to run blissfully free all summer...they explore, they imagine, they learn things, some of which they'd rather not know, some of which will color their lives forever. Along with a growing sense of his own "aliveness", inevitably Douglas comes to face his own mortality as well, and in the hideous heat of late August, with the help of a caring friend, shakes it off. "June dawns, July noons, August evenings over, finished, done, and gone forever with only the sense of it all left here in his head...And if he should forget, the dandelion wine stood in the cellar, numbered huge for each and every day. He would go there often, stare straight into the sun until he could stare no more, then close his eyes and consider the burned spots, the fleeting scars left dancing on his warm eyelids; arranging, rearranging each fire and reflection until the pattern was clear..."In the beginning, I struggled a bit with Bradbury's poetic style, which seemed wrong for the subject matter. I felt I was wading through hip-deep rose petals to find the dandelions. But either he eased up or I grew accustomed, because I soon found myself totally absorbed in the summer of 1928 in Green Town, Illinois. Many of the chapters of this novel could easily stand alone as short stories, and I think I will need to find a keeper copy of the book so that I can revisit some of them from time to time.Review written October 2015

[dasam-5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bradbury brings childhood and its immortality of summer to vivid memory. Regardless of when you were young, this book will fill you with bittersweet nostalgia for when every day was an eternity, before aging brought the rapid spinning of all alike and transitory days.

[kaitanya64 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An enchanting coming of age story. While "magical realism" became THE term for describing South American writers many years after this book came out, it is the best description for what Bradbury does here. Everyday people with everyday problems in a small sleepy town, live in a world of fascinating psychic and moral possibility.

[carol420 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Magical. If the word 'magical' didn't exist, we would have to invent it in order to properly describe Ray Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine". The premise is absurdly simple: one summer in a small Midwestern town during the late 1920's. On the surface it doesn't look like a lot to hang a novel on, but Bradbury puts so much heart, soul and, yes, love into his words that I defy anyone to call it an empty book. Bradbury has always written superbly for children, and slipping his characters into his own nostalgic childhood succeeds on virtually every level.

Most of the chapters are self-contained little story segments. In fact, I had come across portions of this book in short story collections, and had no idea that they were smaller parts of a larger work. Yet "Dandelion Wine" is much more than just a collection of stories. The children and adults alike grow and change as the summer days burn and then fade. Just like a real season, some events are disconnected from the rest and can involve seldom seen people, while other proceedings are intrinsically linked to their peers.

The book itself is fairly difficult to sum up; every definition that I've tried coming up with has omitted several major elements. Of course, any summary that tried to include everything would be far too long and would contain none of the magic of the text. Children discover some fundamental and universal truths for the first time.

Adults deal with their own fears and their own nightmares. And, of course, there are the usual wonderful collection of Bradbury eccentrics and strangers. Children are filled with awe and recognizably childlike without being annoying or unrealistic. There really are too many great little moments in this book to go into huge amounts of detail. To mention a handful of great things is to omit the other wonderful moments. Just like most perfect summers, the book isn't great because of one or two gigantic epics, but because of small quiet little days.

Beautiful little book. 4 stars.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This coming of age story is set in the summer of 1928. It's a fascinating look at the carefree summers of yesteryear and the memories made of small things--things as simple as "dandelion wine." Bradbury has a way with words, and he does an excellent job evoking the time and place. A series of vignettes give the novel its form.

[jameshold-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Some people adore Bradbury's work. I can take it or leave it. More often than not, I leave it. His early darker fantasy works can be interesting. But as the years went by it looks like he started reading his own reviews and convinced himself he was a "great writer" and a "poet" and from that point his writing went steadily downhill, all of it centering about remembrances of the good old days. One thing's for sure: he wasn't a sci-fi writer. Bradbury became an old man early in life, his work resembling Rod Serling's Twilight Zone where he has to sledgehammer a moral or a message into his prose. Dandelion Wine might make nice reading for a sweet little old ladies sewing circle, but for me it was just bits of pretty fluff strung together around a gossamer center. Cotton candy prose that passes the time but leaves nothing memorable in its aftermath. Still, he has a wide fan base so obviously somebody likes that sort of thing.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Generally I enjoy Ray Bradbury - however this kinda felt flat for me. I'm not the greatest fan of realistic fiction, nor am I a real fan of books that have no discernible story.

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved it then and I love it now.

[selfcallednowhere · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of my favourite Bradbury books, though it's quite different from his classic science-fiction. I think it does a good job conveying the way everything seems magical when you're a kid. My only criticism is that it does veer into overly-sentimental territory in spots.

[mcroushorn-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I asked my Facebook friends to recommend a book for me to read and the book below was one of their recommendations.Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury was a decent book to read. It was a slower read for me, taking a week, for a book of just over 300 pages. Dandelion Wine is the story of the summer that Douglas, a young boy living in Illinois in 1928, experiences a "Eureka" moment that he is alive and that life is to be relished. However, as the summer wears on, he is also confronted with his own mortality as several members of the community die of old age. He is also witness to the discovery of the body of a women who was murdered. He struggles to reconcile his own mortality to the point of falling into a deep fever but is eventually led out by the wise words of the local "junk" man.I can see how this book could be enjoyed greatly by people who grew up in a smallish town (20000 people) especially in a mid-western or southern setting. Personally, I had very little in common with Douglas. The town I grew up in was not particularly large (maybe 40k) but my extended family lived four hours away and I played sports constantly. Douglas wanders the town freely and, as a somewhat autobiographical rendering of the author, thinks deeply and in very flowing poetic language that I imagine is common to many authors. While I did my share of deep thinking, I also spent many hours playing sports and enjoyed Math and Science and am a little more into precision and efficiency of language than Douglas.In the end, there were some good thoughts to be taken from the book but I personally did not connect that strongly with the book. I'm glad to have read the book but it is unlikely to go on the re-read pile for me. If you identify with Douglas and the town he grew up in I would imagine that you would greatly enjoy the trip through Douglas' summer.

[meredk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a lovely book - nothing like anything else of Bradbury's that I've read, although I've liked other books by him. This is a book about the brink between childhood and beyond. It's written in a style that's almost magical realism, although it's distinctly Bradbury's unique voice and vision. It's a book about nostalgia, but it's not nostalgic. It's very special, and the writing is superb. Such a joy!

[mrgan-2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I think I'm ready to face the fact that I like poetic writing, but not poetry.

[renbedell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fantastic set of stories that are loosely connected. The book is set in a small town, largely by the view of a young boy, and tackles many questions such as childhood, aging, death, mystery, happiness, and culture. It is written really well with incredible prose that feels like it borders on poetry. The stories can be beautiful, funny, haunting, or even sad. Absolutely amazing book.

[bkohl_6 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Strange but almost believable things happen to Douglas Spaulding in the summer of 1928: a neighbors attempts to invent a happiness machine, a young boarder falls in love with someone several times his age, the junkman sells fresh air for nothing, folks leave Green Town willingly and unwillingly. If this genre is magical realism, there's definitely more realism than magic. A willingness-to-suspend-disbelief kind of realism with a good dose of philosophy thrown in, but realism nonetheless.

[kslade-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Poetic fantasy stories.

[sriddell_8 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This series of inter-related short stories describes the summer of 1928 in Green Town, as seen through the eyes of two young brothers Tom and Douglas.

Their world is full of wonder around every corner. I especially loved the "time travel" and the "happiness machine". Such a wonderful book!

[cail_judy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the most beautiful books I've read in a long while.

[nx74defiant · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There is no real plot or overall story. More like a series of vignettes happening over the course of a summer. Very poetic language. Perfect for listening to while doing other things.

[charrlygirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once I realized there wasn't going to be a plot, but instead a loosely connected set of vignettes about boys coming of age, I relaxed and enjoyed DANDELION WINE. I marked several pages that I wanted to quote in my review, but now find myself thinking that reviewing it is going to take some of the magic out of it for me.

I absolutely adored the end, (Aunt Rose got sent packing!), and there's no doubt that this book is steeped in nostalgia, but overall, it was a little too wordy for me. I would have liked fewer pages of solid text and more dialogue, but hey, this is Ray Bradbury and I love the guy, however- I think The October Country is still my favorite of all his works.

Lastly, much as I love Ray Bradbury, I still hold Robert McCammon's BOY'S LIFE as my favorite novel of all time.

[turrean_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Magnificent! Picked this up as a Kindle Daily Deal. It's always been one of my read-every-year favorites. Bradbury is just amazing.

[slpwhitehead · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ray Bradbury is perhaps best known for his fantasy, horror, science fiction novels; although the author, himself has stated that he does not write science fiction and that only one of his works--Fahrenheit 451--was science fiction while other works like the Martian Chronicles are fantasy.

Bradbury rarely steps out of those genres, but he did with a wonderful little novel that was one of his first in 1957. Dandelion Wine is a semi-autobiographical novel of Bradbury's childhood. The novel was originally produced as a set of short stories, but Bradbury brought the stories together and fleshed out some of the details to create the novel.

Dandelion Wine pulls readers into a 12-year old boys summer and reminds us how, for children, everything is magical. Through the eyes of Douglas Spaulding we, as readers, get to experience the magic and wonder of the essence of a well-lived summer when Douglas discovers he is indeed "alive".

This is easily one of my favorite Bradbury works because Dandelion Wine captures and exemplifies Bradbury's masterful control over and use of prose. There is something fantastic and magical about the words that dance across the page and infuse the fictional town of Green Town, Illinois as Bradbury brings the town and its inhabitants to life. I think this particular text showcases just what a great writer Bradbury is.

[deldevries · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a book to be savored and enjoyed bit by bit. A delightfully written series of short stories with a thread that runs between many chapters. The prose is excellent and keeps your attention. A worthy read!

[rbeffa_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was afraid at first that I had outgrown the Bradbury magic that let me enjoy his stories so much in my teens and early 20's. This starts off a little too far over the top, but I rather quickly got sucked in to that summer of 1928 in small town Illinois and the way it was for a 12 year old boy discovering the world, life and death. It was the small things in here that I really liked. There truly is magic in the writing in this book. Let yourself fall into it.

[wvlibrarydude · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bradbury is a master storyteller. His grasp of plotting, characters and language never cease to amaze me. A must read.

[bexaplex · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Strange but almost believable things happen to Douglas Spaulding in the summer of 1928: a neighbors attempts to invent a happiness machine, a young boarder falls in love with someone several times his age, the junkman sells fresh air for nothing, folks leave Green Town willingly and unwillingly. If this genre is magical realism, there's definitely more realism than magic. A willingness-to-suspend-disbelief kind of realism with a good dose of philosophy thrown in, but realism nonetheless.