6
APRIL 20�27, 2022
FROM THE SHELF
CHECKING OUT THE
WORLD OF BOOKS
A celebration of youth, summer and life
1957 novel
‘Dandelion Wine’ is
first in a series by
Ray Bradbury
By Cheryl Hoefl er
GO! Magazine
I
’ll confess — it was the title of
this book that intrigued me.
Wine made from a weed? This
called for some investigation.
In fact, I might not otherwise
have selected this one from the
school library shelf. Author Ray
Bradbury is often associated
with sci-fi and fantasy genres —
“Fahrenheit 451,” “The Martian
Chronicles” — not particular
favorites of mine.
However, I quickly discovered
within the fi rst few pages that
the subject here was something
dear to my heart and soul —
summer. A carefree time, heap-
ing with youthful plans and end-
less promise — in my opinion,
it’s the best season of the year.
Let’s just say I was sucked in
faster than an ice cream cone
melting on a hot August day.
The setting for “Dandelion
Wine” (1957) is the small fi ctional
town of Green Town, Illinois,
1928. Sandwiched between
World War I and the Great De-
pression/Dust Bowl years, it was
indeed a time ripe for innocence,
contentment and prosperity.
The book is a series of
vignettes — events and occur-
rences in Green Town as seen
through the eyes of 12-year-old
Douglas Spaulding. Douglas, an
imaginative and analytical lad,
mature for his age, has begun
this summer with an awakening
of what it feels to be truly alive.
Along the way, we meet a sun-
dry array of relatives, neighbors
and other characters: neighbor
Leo Auff mann, who builds a
Happiness Machine; conductor
t
sco oo u k n s on a ly)
i
d
0% d b ing
Mr. Tridden, who thrills Doug-
las; his brother, Tom, and their
friends with one last ride on the
electric trolley on the eve of the
town’s new bus; Miss Fern and
Miss Roberta, spinsters and
fearful owners of an automobile,
dubbed the “Green Machine”;
and Colonel Freeleigh, war hero
and adventurer whom the boys
have claimed as their own per-
sonal “Time Machine.”
The dandelion wine? That’s
the endeavor of Douglas and
Tom, led by their grandfather
— a summer ritual with the sole
purpose of capturing the joys of
this savory season in a bottle.
“Dandelion wine. The words were
summer on the tongue.” And
“Hold summer in your hand, pour
summer in a glass … change the
season in your veins by raising a
glass to lip and tilting summer in.”
One tale that packed a punch
with me was of widowed Helen
Bentley and a visit from the
neighborhood children. Despite
Mrs. Bentley’s protestations and
her plethora of proof, the chil-
dren are fi rm in their conviction
that the old lady could not pos-
sibly have ever been a young girl
or even had a fi rst name! That
night, frustrated, Mrs. Bentley
peruses and ponders her “para-
phernalia of the years.” Why
indeed has she saved all these
treasures? “She may have been
a girl once, but was not now. Her
childhood was gone and nothing
could fetch it back.” And then
her late husband’s voice in her
head, “Time hypnotizes. You’re
not these trunks of junk and
dust. You’re only you, here, now
— the present you.” Wow.
The next day she gifts the
children with a bounty of her
trinkets. They’re still full of
doubts, but she has fi nally let go
of the past.
“Dandelion Wine” is loosely
based on Bradbury’s own youth
experiences in Waukegan, Illinois.
“Farewell Summer” (2006) and
“Something Wicked This Way
Comes” (1962) — the latter was
made into a 1983 movie star-
ring Jason Robards — complete
Bradbury’s “Green Town” trilogy.
Those are next on my reading
list.
But fi rst, I need to get my
hands on a bottle of dandelion
wine.
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