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 building up the Rocket Boys' body of knowledge, going through several iterations of rocket design, propellants, etc. Some of my favorite moments are the schemes the boys concoct to obtain supplies, Sonny's epic sledding adventure, and Sonny's nerdy friend Quentin's insistence on him working through all the advanced mathematics behind their nozzle design.

When I wasn't grinning, I was often laughing or moved to tears. Excellent book.