| Dandelion Wine (Grand Master Editions) | 
 enlarge | Author: Ray Bradbury
Publisher: Spectra
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $7.98 (100%)
New (49) Used (121) Collectible (7) from $0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  262 reviews
Sales Rank: 174889
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0553277537
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780553277531
ASIN: 0553277537
Publication Date: April 1, 1985
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Jerry Robbins and the Colonial Radio Theatre On The Air delivers again! January 18, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is NOT a book. I can highly recommend the book, however, it should be known that this is a dramatic play written by the author and it features Jerry Robbins and the Colonial Radio Theatre players.
I've become a fan of theirs within the last year, because of the historically accurate and well written/performed dramas about our nation.
This is the story based on Ray's life as a youngster and it is such a emotionally moving story.
This production is in line with Colonial Radio Theatre's standard of excellence, and I really don't think I exaggerate when I say that Jerry Robbins and this incredibly talented group of actors reminds me of Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air.
The sound quality, special effects are top notch and really lend a lot to draw the listener into the story and stimulate one's imagination. And the music score by Jeffrey Gage is incredible and quite beautiful and exciting.
What can I say about the author? I've been a Ray Bradbury fan ever since I read Farenheit 451. His writing is so incredible as his settings are only incidental, I really think it's his characterizations that are so powerful and this story is proof of that.
I would highly recommend this adaptation to teachers for students and school and public libraries for it's incredible quality and simple fun to listen to. This would be a great way to get kids back to stimulating imaginations and away from tv and video games for a while.
Amazing Audio Drama! January 12, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an incredible production. Ray Bradbury wrote a theatrical script for his book "Dandelion Wine," and now he has turned that into an audio drama. This is a riveting production, and it really has a "Twilight Zone" feel to it at times (especially in the second CD). But dont get me wrong - it still had the charm and feel of the original novel. The music is outstanding, and the opening scene where we see "Green Town" for the very first time is presented in a medley of music with vintage cars, trolley's, people - just very elaborate and thrilling. The actors are great, and the three boys who play the leads carry the action and are very engaging. There are hundreds of sound effects that make this feel like a movie. Without question, Dandelion Wine is one of the very best Bradbury audio presentations ever created.
It gives a nostalgic feeling of a childhood long gone. December 17, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Dandelion Wine is a moving collection of stories of a memoriable, magical small town summer in 1928. It gives a nostalgic feeling of a childhood long gone. This is not a typical work for Ray Bradbury. There are no supernatural or futuristic happenings. If that is what you want to read disappointment awaits you. It is a semi-autobiographical recollection. It is fun to read for ages twelve and older.
Dandelion Wine tells the story of twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding spending the summer in Green Town, Illinois. It is about Douglas Spaulding realizing that he is alive. It is very heavy on figurative writing. I think it would be challenging for younger people under high school age to read.
I was particularly touched by the story of the best friend moving away. Growing up in a military family, best friends moving away happened to often. It was always a sad time.
I highly recommend Ray Bradbury's stories of boyhood and summer.
Read several times and reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler.
A Thoroughly Charming Classic Of Bygone Americana June 27, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book is Bradbury in top form. Although not my absolute favorite title by this author, I have found a lot of joy over the years in re-reading this little book that I first picked up off a school library shelf when I was eight. It's obvious Bradbury was writing a story set in the time and place of his own childhood "as it should have been" and it makes me wonder if given time I'll think back on my own youth in similar terms. When I was little, after I read this book, all anyone had to do was say, "Watch out for Lonely One" referring to the killer who stalked Green Town's ravine at night and I was good and scared. Heck, that probably works today, too. From its unique May-December romance to its protagonist who becomes that one soul in a million to truly understand that precious gift of what it means to be alive, Dandelion Wine is simply wonderful. Read this book and travel back with the national treasure who is Ray Bradbury to the delightful world of the fantasy-powered Midwest of the 1920's (as it should have been).
Believe & Partake! or The Meaning of Life, a la Bradbury May 30, 2006
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
I first read Ray Bradbury's miracle of a book, Dandelion Wine, when I was 16, and I have read it every year since. Over time I continue to gain a deeper appreciation for these lovely, strange, often magical vignettes (more properly parables, each one with a little implied moral) that explore the nature of happiness, the magic of love and, above all, what it means to be alive. To me, the overarching intent of the book is to remind all us adults that:
* Being alive means maintaining a balance between Discoveries & Revelations and Ceremonies & Rites. Though the latter are important, binding us to our family & our community, our future & our past, it is Discoveries & Revelations that make us think, experience, change, and grow.
* Being alive means living in the present. Even if this means giving away the tokens of a beloved past, as happens in one particularly poignant tale.
* Being alive means being connected with the world - with family, neighbors, your community, the earth. It's no coincidence that the mysterious murderer haunting Douglas Spaulding's Childhood is called The Lonely One.
* Being alive means being able to experience happiness ... not only understanding the nature of happiness, but possessing the wisdom not to let yourself be tricked into pursuing something that can't/won't make you happy.
* Being alive means recognizing the presence of magic in our everyday lives. Because magic is out there ... in the spring of a new pair of tennis shoes, in the mysteries of love, in the essence of Dandelion Wine.
Contrary to popular opinion, I do not believe Bradbury intended this to be a book about childhood. In fact, his 12yr old narrator, Douglas Spaulding, does not appear in many of the parables. I do think that Bradbury intentionally chose a child as his narrator, however, because children are inherently alive -- always discovering, always filled with wonder, connected to their family and the world and the present in ways that we begin gradually to forget as adults. Dandelion Wine is both nostalgia and a cautionary tale, challenging us to remember what it felt like to be alive and reminding us adults that - unless we take care - we may become so consumed by life that we forget to be alive.
As far as I am concerned, this book is a little bit of magic in and of itself: part essence of childhood, part elixir of wisdom. Believe and partake!
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