Dandelion Wine (English and French Edition) - Softcover

Ray Bradbury

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007284748 ISBN 13: 9780007284740

Publisher: Harper Voyager, 2001

Synopsis

An endearing classic of childhood memories of an idyllic midwestern summer from the celebrated author of 'Farenheit 451'. "He stood at the open window in the dark, took a deep breath and exhaled. The street lights, like candles on a black cake, went out. He exhaled again and again and the stars began to vanish. Douglas smiled. He pointed a finger. There, and there. Now over here, and here. . .Yellow squares were cut in the dim morning earth as house lights winked slowly on. A sprinkle of windows came suddenly alight miles off in dawn country. 'Everyone yawn. Everyone up.'" In the backwaters of Illinois, Douglas Spaulding's grandfather makes an intoxicating brew from harvested dandelions. 'Dandelion Wine' is a quirky, breathtaking coming-of-age story from one of science fiction's greatest writers. Distilling his experiences into "Rites & Ceremonies" and "Discoveries & Revelations", the young Spaulding wistfully ponders over magical tennis shoes, and machines for every purpose from time travel to happiness and silent travel. Based upon Bradbury's own experiences growing up in Waukegan in the 1920s, 'Dandelion Wine' is a heady mixture of fond memory, forgiveness, magic, the imagination and above all, of summers that seemed to go on forever.

About this title

Review

World-renowned fantasist Ray Bradbury has on several occasions stepped outside the arenas of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. An unabashed romantic, his first novel in 1957 was basically a love letter to his childhood. (For those who want to undertake an even more evocative look at the dark side of youth, five years later the author would write the chilling classic Something Wicked This Way Comes.)

Dandelion Wine takes us into the summer of 1928, and to all the wondrous and magical events in the life of a 12-year-old Midwestern boy named Douglas Spaulding. This tender, openly affectionate story of a young man's voyage of discovery is certainly more mainstream than exotic. No walking dead or spaceships to Mars here. Yet those who wish to experience the unique magic of early Bradbury as a prose stylist should find Dandelion Wine most refreshing. --Stanley Wiater

From the Publisher

The summer of '28 was a vintag 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.

"Bradbury is an authentic original." -- Time

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper Voyager
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0007284748
• ISBN 13: 9780007284740
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336