The Magic of Summer

Dandelion Wine 

By Ray Bradbury 

Adult Fiction 

"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." 

This book is rife with magic-the magic of summer according to two boys. But by the end of the book, you are sure to be as enchanted by this fictional town and its unique charm as the boys are by the rows and rows of green bottled dandelion wine lining their grandfather's cellar. 

This book is episodic: told in little episodes rather than weaving one plot throughout the book. I wasn't expecting that and haven't read many novels written in that style, but I quite enjoyed it. The style works well for the two boys who see the summer and life as a series of exciting or terrifying incidents. I didn't enjoy all the episodes the same, but they were definitely created of various flavours: silly, sweet, creepy, or just plain ridiculous, and I enjoyed most of them. Besides, if you don't like one particular 'story,' it's sure to be over in a few pages (by the end of the chapter, in fact). It was also nice that there were several threads connecting all the episodes or stories, since the two brothers play a part in each one, and they all occur in the same town in the same summer. 

The first chapter, or episode, was the most difficult for me to enter, just because I was still trying to nail down Bradbury's style and what was happening, but once you soar through that dramatic, vague chapter, you're good to go! The rest of the book is as lovely as a cup of tea during a rainstorm. 

I loved how lyrical this book is; similes, metaphors, and other various types of figurative language pop out on nearly every page like a sunset begging to be savored and admired. So beautiful! 

It was also quite different from the only other novel I've read by Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451. Dandelion Wine is as lighthearted and fun as that book is depressing and bleak. So, this is a great novel if you prefer the former, especially for a warm, bird-chatter filled summer day! It also helped that I read this book while being in Illinois, where the story takes place; it makes the story just lift off the page, alive and breathing. Have you read any books while being in the setting where it takes place? 

I give this tale a 4 out of 5 and recommend it for fifteen-year olds and up. The main characters are young boys, but the novel is written to be savored by an older audience. 

What I learned: I am alive, and each day is to be truly felt, from the delightful to the ordinary to the sorrowful.  

What great books have you been reading this summer?