As Sweet as Dandelion Wine

Each year at Book Expo America the American Booksellers Association holds a luncheon to honor the authors who have had their books recommended by independent booksellers in our national monthly publication, now called the Indie Next List.  This year I was thrilled to be seated next to literary icon, Ray Bradbury.  Mr. Bradbury, now 88, is confined to a wheelchair and is very hard-of-hearing but he's sharp as can be and incredibly charming.  Each of the authors at the luncheon--more than forty in all--received enthusiastic applause from the room full of booksellers.  However, when Ray Bradbury's name was announced, the room exploded in a spontaneous standing ovation.  The visit with him sent me back to read Dandelion Wine, a book he wrote in 1957 and set in Green Town--a fictional substitute for his own hometown of Waukegan, Illinois, not far from my own hometown.  A couple of years ago Bradbury published a sequel to Dandelion Wine titled Farewell Summer.  The signed copy given to me at the luncheon is next on my reading list.