Colonel Freeleigh passes away, causing Douglas to feel further loss, since he believes the magic of the Time Machine to have left the world. He copes by getting angrier than he wants to. Douglas is devastated when John Huff tells him that he is moving up north to Milwaukee. Another well-loved mode of transport, the town trolley, is taken out of commission. Elated, Douglas sets off with his friends John Huff and Charlie Woodman to complete the list.ĭouglas is saddened when an electric car called the Green Machine is put into storage. Sanderson decides to give him the shoes if he runs a list of errands. Sanderson, a shoe salesman, compelling the man to reminisce on his own childhood. Before he can truly relish summer, Douglas believes that he needs the new Royal Crown Cream-Sponge Para Litefoot Tennis Shoes. The act of making the wine becomes a ritual, and they brew a new batch at the end of each summer month. Around this time, he brews dandelion wine with his grandfather and Tom, his ten-year-old brother. It is well known for developing a sense of youthful wonder about the simple joys of growing up in small-town American life.Īt the beginning of the summer of 1928, Douglas has a sudden epiphany about the preciousness and beauty of life, perceiving the world as if it were brand new. Highly nostalgic in style, the story is loosely based on Bradbury’s own childhood. The story follows Douglas Spaulding, a twelve-year-old boy who lives in Waukegan, Illinois, known colloquially as “Green Town.” The title is a reference to a wine made out of dandelion petals, which Spaulding’s grandfather brews while relating it to a metaphor for the process of packing the essence of summer into a bottle.

Dandelion Wine (1957) is a coming-of-age novel by Ray Bradbury, best known as one of the fathers of speculative fiction.

Dandelion wine book