Dandelion Wine

nThe summer of '28 was a vintage 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. nThe only god living in Green Town, Illinois, that Douglas Spaulding knew of. n nThe facts about John Huff, aged twelve, are simple and soon stated. n n- He could pathfind more trails than any Choctaw or Cherokee since time began. n- Could leap from the sky like a chimpanzee from a vine. n- Could live underwater two minutes and slide fifty yards downstream. n- Could hit baseballs into apple trees, knocking down harvests. n- Could jump six-foot orchard walls. n- Ran laughing. n- Sat easy. n- Was not a bully. n- Was kind. n- Knew the words to all the cowboy songs and would teach you if you asked. n- Knew the names of all the wild flowers and when the moon would rise or set and when the tides came in or out. n nHe was, in fact, the only god living in the whole of Green Town, Illinois, during the twentieth century that Douglas Spaulding knew of. n n Ray] Bradbury is an authentic original.--Timen