Dandelion Wine

Written by Ray Bradbury

Narrated by David Aaron Baker

Ray Bradbury's moving recollection of a vanished golden era remains one of his most enchanting novels. Dandelion Wine stands out in the Bradbury literary canon as the author's most deeply personal work, a semi-autobiographical recollection of a magical small-town summer in 1928.

Twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding knows Green Town, Illinois, is as vast and deep as the whole wide world that lies beyond the city limits. It is a pair of brand-new tennis shoes, the first harvest of dandelions for Grandfather's renowned intoxicant, the distant clang of the trolley's bell on a hazy afternoon. It is yesteryear and tomorrow blended into an unforgettable always. But as young Douglas is about to discover, summer can be more than the repetition of established rituals whose mystical power holds time at bay. It can be a best friend moving away, a human time machine who can transport you back to the Civil War, or a sideshow automaton able to glimpse the bittersweet future.

Come and savor Ray Bradbury's priceless distillation of all that is eternal about boyhood and summer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781501966125

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

[Andrew Farnsworth · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stephen King, Robert McCammon and Dan Simmons have all read this book. It shows in their love letters to small town America in lots of their books. Especially IT, A Boys Life and Summer of the Night. They follow the structure Bradbury uses here; of vignettes of a towns characters, its uniwue folklore and their own memories, of young boys dealing with life and death. It isn't horror though but it's lovely and sad in a whimsical way.

[kslade-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Poetic fantasy stories.

[Lanette Sweeney · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful nostalgic reflection on the innocence of life the summer before the Great Depression, as seen through the eyes of a 13 year old boy. Poetic language and thematic delights make this well worth a read, but I shaved a star off because race does not exist in this book, not even among those who fought in the Civil War.

[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!

[theokester · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I think of Ray Bradbury, I usually think of science-fiction or at least fantastical-fiction. Dandelion Wine captures the magic and fantastical of his other writing but it does so in a much more subtle manner.This book is a story of the summertime adventures of Douglas Spaulding, a 12-year old boy in the small town of Green Town, Illinois in 1928. Douglas' experiences vary wildly in scope and nature but from a high level, they could mostly be considered fairly ordinary. And yet, Bradbury weaves them into magical tales of growth and imagination.The title of the book comes from the story of Douglas' grandfather bottling dandelion wine throughout the summer and Douglas presenting it as a metaphor for bottling up the various experiences and memories of each summer day. Each golden bottle represents a different memory, tucked away to be retrieved and savored at a later date.For the first few chapters, I kept waiting for something supernatural or literally magical to sweep onto the scene and take over the plot with its fantastical presence. Instead, each story works its way methodically through the pages and showcases the magic to be found inside the ordinary moments of life. The magic of extra speed found in a new pair of sneakers, the "time machine" to be experienced by listening to an old community member talk about their past, the sorrow of death bringing the painful realization that life will one day end.Each of the short scenes explores concepts of human nature and our interactions with one another. The stories remind us of the imagination and freedom of youth coupled alongside the realities learned as we grow into adults. In many ways, this could be read as a nostalgia for life in small town America a century ago. And yet, the emotional truths presented still resonate today. Our technology may have advanced and our lives may be more hectic, but the human condition remains and we should stop and consider how we interact with those around us and with the events we experience. We should bottle up our own Dandelion Wine memories so that we can savor them and learn from them and share them with others. *****4.5 out of 5 stars

[bxwretlind · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As writers--actually as people--we sometimes have to step back a moment and examine the what and why of our craft. I just finished reading DANDELION WINE by Ray Bradbury and found myself once again envious of the man's ability to spin yarns, to pour images into the crevices of my brain so they flow like streams down a mountainside.

I've always been a fan of Bradbury ever since I stole a copy of my brother's MARTIAN CHRONICLES from his bedroom and started reading about the "Rocket Summer." There are no words really to describe my complete fascination with that first opening chapter, but I found myself feeling the same once again this past week. Perhaps it was the description of the "Happiness Machine" I read about or the oration given about living the life we have now and not a life we can't have. Perhaps it was the feeling of being on a street in summer in Green Town, listening to the bees buzz, the apples fall, the susurrus of the wind through brilliant leaves.

Whatever it is that gave me that feeling, I know it's important to retain. It is that feeling, in fact, that drives some of us forward, to look at the words on a page and want to put them in just the right order to pull our readers into our story and drop them inside our own fantasy world, where gods do battle, princes and princesses run amok through ancient castles, monsters lurk in the woods at the very periphery of our vision.

I haven't felt whatever it is Mr. Bradbury put in me in quite some time. There are few books that really welcome me inside, and fewer still that keep me between the covers without the smallest desire to return to whatever world my flesh is stuck in. It's only when I can get my hands on those books--when I can travel through time or across the universe to bask under another sun--that I really feel like one can make a difference with words.

Because if one author can make a difference with words, can not another and another and another?

[m.belljackson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Starts SO beautifully - and the Dandelion Wine and the Summer Days! - then ends so horribly...

[farree_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A-ah! Bradbury writes like an angel. And this is one of his best!! What more can I say?

[streamsong_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

About weeds in the lawn and gardening : ..they bend you over and turn you away from all the people and the town for a little while and sweat you and get you down where you remember you got a nose again. And when you're all to yourself that way, you're really yourself for a little while; you get to thinking things through, alone. Gardening is the handiest excuse for being a philosopher. Nobody guesses, nobody accuses, nobody knows, but there you are. Plato in the peonies, Socrates force growing his own hemlock. " p 51Dandelion Wine is an episodic story about a remarkable 14 year old and his slightly younger brother's idyllic summer in 1928. Each summer their grandparents made dandelion wine to be doled in small glasses during the cold and illnesses of bleak Januaries when times were hard; a bit of summer memories to take you through the darker times. That's exactly what these stories feel like to me - glowing bright bits read during stressful summer of 2020.Hooray for how that first pair of tennis shoes could make you feel that summer had truly arrived; or the knowledge that you are really, truly alive, or that your elders could be time machines to the past.Several of the later chapters, though, took rather darker turns. It made me think that that although I would love to share some of the earlier chapters with a child, some of the later chapters, such as the one about women being strangled in the town would be tough going and need to be kept for a slightly older audience.This one is definitely a keeper.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[dele2451 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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

[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.

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

I loved it then and I love it now.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[laugal-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Delightful story of a boy and the magical summer of 1928.I read this book during our polar winter storms & it transported to the joys of summer! Summers and how children used to spend their days,the simple joys of life.Brothers Tom and Doug & their adventures with family,friends and the townspeople! Absolutely delightful!

[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.

[yvonne.sevignykaiser · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ray Bradbury is a master storyteller and I thoroughly enjoy his works.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was not what I was expecting. I thought it would be more about Douglas and his summer of dandelion wine. But it was about all the people in the town - almost like a collection of short stories. Themes include aging, lost youth, horror, tenderness, wonder.

[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.