Rocket boys

by

English language

Published Sept. 15, 1998

ISBN:
978-0-385-33320-7
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5 stars (1 review)

October Sky is the first memoir in a series of four, by American engineer Homer Hickam Jr. originally published in 1998 as Rocket Boys. Later editions were published under the title October Sky as a tie-in to the 1999 film adaptation. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boy's pursuit of amateur rocketry in a coal mining town. The book won the W.D. Weatherford Award in 1998, the year of its release. Today, it is one of the most often picked community/library reads in the United States. It is also studied in many school systems around the world. October Sky was followed by The Coalwood Way (2000), Sky of Stone (2002), and Carrying Albert Home (2015). Rocket Boys was made into a film in 1999, titled October Sky (an anagram of "Rocket Boys"). The book was then re-published as October Sky shortly afterwards.

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reviewed Rocket boys by Homer H. Hickam

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5 stars

I think I grinned most of the time I read this book. Homer Hickam's memoir is a Twain-esque coming of age story, complete with rural characters and situations, beautifully capturing a snapshot of a bygone era, but strapped to a solid-rocket booster. I found so much to relate to in Sonny's (young Hickam's) character and those of his friends as they navigate the labyrinths of adolescence while pursuing their dreams of greatness with their homemade rockets. His town of Coalwood, West Virginia, is a mining company town, and aside from shipping out coal, the town is focused on high school football. While being genuinely inspired by Sputnik and Von Braun, Sonny and his non-athletic friends also hope to ride their rockets out of town. Indeed, the whole community roots for them, defies company policy to help them, almost as their liberators. All the while, Hickam describes the tortuous process of …