DANDELION WINE is Ray Bradbury's semi-autobiographical novel about 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding of Green Town, Illinois, who discovers that summer is more than the repetition of established rituals whose mystical power holds time at bay. It can be a best friend moving away, a human time machine who can transport you back to the Civil War, or a sideshow automaton able to glimpse the bittersweet future.