Ray Bradbury
Wednesday, August 22nd by CarlaRay Bradbury was born on this date in 1920. His birthplace, Waukegan, Illinois, was the inspiration for the setting “Greentown, Illinois” in Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Although he is considered primarily a writer of science fiction, he has also written horror and fantasy.
President and Mrs. Bush awarded Bradbury the 2004 National Medal of Arts.
Bradbury is most famous in schools for short stories like “The Veldt” and “There Will Come Soft Rains” and for Fahrenheit 451, his novella set in a dystopian future when a fireman’s job is to find books and burn them.
I always thought Dandelion Wine was a delightful book, but I could never convince my students of it. The “magical” aspect of the novel was too unsophisticated for them. The feel of a new pair of sneakers never reminded them of antelopes or gazelles. When new technology was introduced, they didn’t mourn the loss of the old; and they didn’t question the human relationships involved. An old person telling stories would never seem like a time machine, and we won’t even think about what they would expect a Happiness Machine to do!
The stories near the end of the book hit closer to home. They could relate to Doug’s despair and to the support of Mr. Jonas, a caring adult, in “Dinner at Dawn.” And we all know someone like Aunt Rose in “The Magical Kitchen,” someone who means well but doesn’t understand the problems they cause.
My hope is that, when they’re 30, the book will return to them. As they read, I hope they’ll be better able to appreciate both the magic and the loss in the stories, the innocence and the danger, the importance of friends and family, and the value of memories made from ordinary situations, sweet as wine, stored safely in the basement.
