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October Sky (Mass Market Paperback) Pub. Date: 2/28/1999 Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
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October Sky Pub. Date: 6/1/1999 Publisher: San Val, Incorporated

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Overview

Looking back after a distinguished NASA career that fulfilled his boyhood ambition, Hickam shares the story of his youth, taking readers into the life of the little mining town and the boys who came to embody both its tensions and its dreams. With the help -- and sometimes hindrance -- of the people of Coalwood, the Rocket Boys learn not only how to turn mine scraps into rockets that soar miles into the heavens, but how to find hope in a town that progress is passing by. A uniquely American memoir, Rocket Boys is at once an inspiring chronicle of triumph and a luminous story of a mother's love, a father's fears, and a young man's coming of age. With the effortless grace of a natural storyteller, Homer Hickam beautifully captures a moment when a dying town, a divided family, and a band of teenage dreamers dared to look beyond their differences and set their sights on the stars -- and saw a future that the nation was just beginning to imagine.

Looking back after a distinguished NASA career, Hickam shares the story of his youth in a coal mining town.

Editorial Reviews

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

A story of overcoming obstacles worthy of Frank Capra. . . .Thoroughly charming. . .an eloquent evocation of a lost time and place. . .A touching memoir which makes a dark and threatening place seem as golden as the dawn of a promising new life.
-- The New York Times

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From The Critics

. . .[W]hatever its flaws, it's a good bet this is the story as he told it to himself. It is a lovely one, and in the career of Homer H. Hickam Jr., who prevailed over the facts of his life to become a NASA engineer. . .that made all the difference.
-- The New York Times Book Review

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780440235507
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication date: 2/28/1999
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 448
Sales rank: 50,740
Lexile: 900L (what's this?)
Product dimensions: 6.88 (w) x 10.90 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Meet the Author

Homer Hickam is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Rocket Boys, which was made into the acclaimed movie October Sky. A respected amateur historian, he is also the author of the military history best-seller Torpedo Junction, along with the popular historical novels The Keeper's Son and The Ambassador's Son. With such books as the award-winning memoir Sky of Stone, and the techno-thriller best-seller Back to the Moon, Hickam's talents clearly span many writing genres. He is a Vietnam combat veteran, a scuba instructor who has led underwater exploration teams across the world, a retired rocket scientist, and, recently, has become an avid field paleontologist. More than anything else, he loves to write. He is married to Linda Terry Hickam, an artist, who is also his assistant. They share their time with their cats between homes in Alabama and the U. S. Virgin Islands. Please see www.homerhickam.com for more information.

Read an Excerpt

October Sky

By Homer H. Hickam

Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media

Copyright ©1999 Homer H. Hickam
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0606189343

Chapter One

Coalwood

Until I began to build and launch rockets, I didn't know my hometown was at war with itself over its children and that my parents were locked in a kind of bloodless combat over how my brother and I would live our lives. I didn't know that if a girl broke your heart, another girl, virtuous at least in spirit, could mend it on the same night. And I didn't know that the enthalpy decrease in a converging passage could be transformed into jet kinetic energy if a divergent passage was added. The other boys discovered their own truths when we built our rockets, but those were mine.

Coalwood, West Virginia, where I grew up, was built for the purpose of extracting the millions of tons of rich, bituminous coal that lay beneath it. In 1957, when I was fourteen years old and first began to build my rockets, there were nearly two thousand people living in Coalwood. My father, Homer Hickam, was the mine superintendent, and our house was situated just a few hundred yards from the mine's entrance, a vertical shaft eight hundred feet deep. From the window of my bedroom, I could see the black steel tower that sat over the shaft and the comings and goings of the men who worked at the mine.

Another shaft, with railroad tracks leading up to it,was used to bring out the coal. The structure for lifting, sorting, and dumping the coal was called the tipple. Every weekday, and even on Saturday when times were good, I could watch the black coal cars rolling beneath the tipple to receive their massive loads and then smoke-spouting locomotives straining to pull them away. All through the day, the heavy thump of the locomotives' steam pistons thundered down our narrow valleys, the town shaking to the crescendo of grinding steel as the great trains accelerated. Clouds of coal dust rose from the open cars, invading everything, seeping through windows and creeping under doors. Throughout my childhood, when I raised my blanket in the morning, I saw a black, sparkling powder float off it. My socks were always black with coal dirt when I took my shoes off at night.

Our house, like every house in Coalwood, was company-owned. The company charged a small monthly rent, automatically deducted from the miners' pay. Some of the houses were tiny and single-storied, with only one or two bedrooms. Others were big two-story duplexes, built as boardinghouses for bachelor miners in the booming 1920's and later sectioned off as individual-family dwellings during the Depression. Every five years, all the houses in Coalwood were painted a company white, which the blowing coal soon tinged gray. Usually in the spring, each family took it upon themselves to scrub the exterior of their house with hoses and brushes.

Each house in Coalwood had a fenced-off square of yard. My mother, having a larger yard than most to work with, planted a rose garden. She hauled in dirt from the mountains by the sackful, slung over her shoulder, and fertilized, watered, and manicured each bush with exceeding care. During the spring and summer, she was rewarded with bushes filled with great blood-red blossoms as well as dainty pink and yellow buds, spatters of brave color against the dense green of the heavy forests that surrounded us and the gloom of the black and gray mine just up the road.

Our house was on a corner where the state highway turned east toward the mine. A company-paved road went the other way to the center of town. Main Street, as it was called, ran down a valley so narrow in places that a boy with a good arm could throw a rock from one side of it to the other. Every day for the three years before I went to high school, I got on my bicycle in the morning with a big white canvas bag strapped over my shoulder and delivered the Bluefield Daily Telegraph down this valley, pedaling past the Coalwood School and the rows of houses that were set along a little creek and up on the sides of the facing mountains. A mile down Main was a large hollow in the mountains, formed where two creeks intersected. Here were the company offices and also the company church, a company hotel called the Club House, the post office building, which also housed the company doctor and the company dentist, and the main company store (which everybody called the Big Store). On an overlooking hill was the turreted mansion occupied by the company general superintendent, a man sent down by our owners in Ohio to keep an eye on their assets. Main Street continued westward between two mountains, leading to clusters of miners' houses we called Middletown and Frog Level. Two forks led up mountain hollows to the "colored" camps of Mudhole and Snakeroot. There the pavement ended, and rutted dirt roads began.

At the entrance to Mudhole was a tiny wooden church presided over by the Reverend "Little" Richard. He was dubbed "Little" because of his resemblance to the soul singer. Nobody up Mudhole Hollow subscribed to the paper, but whenever I had an extra one, I always left it at the little church, and over the years, the Reverend Richard and I became friends. I loved it when he had a moment to come out on the church porch and tell me a quick Bible story while I listened, astride my bike, fascinated by his sonorous voice. I especially admired his description of Daniel in the lions' den. When he acted out with bug-eyed astonishment the moment Daniel's captors looked down and saw their prisoner lounging around in the pit with his arm around the head of a big lion, I laughed appreciatively. "That Daniel, he knew the Lord," the Reverend summed up with a chuckle while I continued to giggle, "and it made him brave. How about you, Sonny? Do you know the Lord?"

I had to admit I wasn't certain about that, but the Reverend said it was all right. "God looks after fools and drunks," he said with a big grin that showed off his gold front tooth, "and I guess he'll look after you too, Sonny Hickam." Many a time in the days to come, when I was in trouble, I would think of Reverend Richard and his belief in God's sense of humor and His fondness for ne'er-do-wells. It didn't make me as brave as old Daniel, but it always gave me at least a little hope the Lord would let me scrape by.

The company church, the one most of the white people in town went to, was set down on a little grassy knob. In the late 1950's, it came to be presided over by a company employee, Reverend Josiah Lanier, who also happened to be a Methodist. The denomination of the preacher the company hired automatically became ours too. Before we became Methodists, I remember being a Baptist and, once for a year, some kind of Pentecostal. The Pentecostal preacher scared the women, hurling fire and brimstone and warnings of death from his pulpit. When his contract expired, we got Reverend Lanier.

I was proud to live in Coalwood. According to the West Virginia history books, no one had ever lived in the valleys and hills of McDowell County before we came to dig out the coal. Up until the early nineteenth century, Cherokee tribes occasionally hunted in the area, but found the terrain otherwise too rugged and uninviting. Once, when I was eight years old, I found a stone arrowhead embedded in the stump of an ancient oak tree up on the mountain behind my house. My mother said a deer must have been lucky some long ago day. I was so inspired by my find that I invented an Indian tribe, the Coalhicans, and convinced the boys I played with-Roy Lee, O'Dell, Tony, and Sherman-that it had really existed. They joined me in streaking our faces with berry juice and sticking chicken feathers in our hair. For days afterward, our little tribe of savages formed raiding parties and conducted massacres throughout Coalwood. We surrounded the Club House and, with birch-branch bows and invisible arrows, picked off the single miners who lived there as they came in from work. To indulge us, some of them even fell down and writhed convincingly on the Club House's vast, manicured lawn. When we set up an ambush at the tipple gate, the miners going on shift got into the spirit of things, whooping and returning our imaginary fire. My father observed this from his office by the tipple and came out to restore order. Although the Coalhicans escaped into the hills, their chief was reminded at the supper table that night that the mine was for work, not play.

When we ambushed some older boys-my brother, Jim, among them-who were playing cowboys up in the mountains, a great mock battle ensued until Tony, up in a tree for a better line of sight, stepped on a rotted branch and fell and broke his arm. I organized the construction of a litter out of branches, and we bore the great warrior home. The company doctor, "Doc" Lassiter, drove to Tony's house in his ancient Packard and came inside. When he caught sight of us still in our feathers and war paint, Doc said he was the "heap big medicine man." Doc set Tony's arm and put it in a cast. I remember still what I wrote on it: Tony-next time pick a better tree. Tony's Italian immigrant father was killed in the mine that same year. He and his mother left and we never heard from them again. This did not seem unusual to me: A Coalwood family required a father, one who worked for the company. The company and Coalwood were one and the same.

I learned most of what I knew about Coalwood history and my parents' early years at the kitchen table after the supper dishes were cleared. That was when Mom had herself a cup of coffee and Dad a glass of milk, and if they weren't arguing about one thing or the other, they would talk about the town and the people in it, what was going on at the mine, what had been said at the last Women's Club meeting, and, sometimes, little stories about how things used to be. Brother Jim usually got bored and asked to be excused, but I always stayed, fascinated by their tales.

Mr. George L. Carter, the founder of Coalwood, came in on the back of a mule in 1887, finding nothing but wilderness and, after he dug a little, one of the richest seams of bituminous coal in the world. Seeking his fortune, Mr. Carter bought the land from its absentee owners and began construction of a mine. He also built houses, school buildings, churches, a company store, a bakery, and an icehouse. He hired a doctor and a dentist and provided their services to his miners and their families for free. As the years passed and his coal company prospered, Mr. Carter had concrete sidewalks poured, the streets paved, and the town fenced to keep cows from roaming the streets. Mr. Carter wanted his miners to have a decent place to live. But in return, he asked for a decent day's work. Coalwood was, after all, a place for work above all else: hard, bruising, filthy, and sometimes deadly work.

When Mr. Carter's son came home from World War I, he brought with him his army commander, a Stanford University graduate of great engineering and social brilliance named William Laird, who everyone in town called, with the greatest respect and deference, the Captain. The Captain, a big expansive man who stood nearly six and a half feet tall, saw Coalwood as a laboratory for his ideas, a place where the company could bring peace, prosperity, and tranquillity to its citizens. From the moment Mr. Carter hired him and placed him in charge of operations, the Captain began to implement the latest in mining technology. Shafts were sunk for ventilation, and as soon as it was practical, the mules used to haul out the coal from the mine were replaced by electric motors. Later, the Captain stopped all the hand digging and brought in giant machines, called continuous miners, to tear the coal from its seams. The Captain expanded Mr. Carter's building program, providing every Coalwood miner a house with indoor plumbing, a Warm Morning stove in the living room, and a coal box the company kept full. For the town's water supply, he tapped into a pristine ancient lake that lay a thousand feet below. He built parks on both ends of the town and funded the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Brownies, Cub Scouts, and the Women's Club. He stocked the Coalwood school library and built a school playground and a football field. Because the mountains interfered with reception, in 1954 he erected an antenna on a high ridge and provided one of the first cable television systems in the United States as a free service.

Although it wasn't perfect, and there was always tension between the miners and the company, mostly about pay, Coalwood was, for a time, spared much of the violence, poverty, and pain of the other towns in southern West Virginia. I remember sitting on the stairs in the dark listening to my father's father-my Poppy-talk to Dad in our living room about "bloody Mingo," a county just up the road from us. Poppy had worked there for a time until a war broke out between union miners and company "detectives." Dozens of people were killed and hundreds were wounded in pitched battles with machine guns, pistols, and rifles. To get away from the violence, Poppy moved his family first to Harlan County, Kentucky, and then, when battles erupted there, to McDowell County, where he went to work in the Gary mine. It was an improvement, but Gary was still a place of strikes and lockouts and the occasional bloody head.

In 1934, when he was twenty-two years old, my father applied for work as a common miner with Mr. Carter's company. He came because he had heard that a man could make a good life for himself in Coalwood. Almost immediately, the Captain saw something in the skinny, hungry lad from Gary-some spark of raw intelligence, perhaps-and took him as a protégé. After a couple of years, the Captain raised Dad to section foreman, taught him how to lead men and operate and ventilate a mine, and instilled in him a vision of the town.

After Dad became a foreman, he convinced his father to quit the Gary mine and move to Coalwood, where there was no union and a man could work. He also wrote Elsie Lavender, a Gary High School classmate who had moved on her own to Florida, to come back to West Virginia and marry him. She refused. Whenever the story was told, Mom took over at this point and said the letter she next received was from the Captain, who told her how much Dad loved her and needed her, and would she please stop being so stubborn down there in the palm trees and come to Coalwood and marry the boy? She agreed to come to Coalwood to visit, and one night at the movies in Welch, when Dad asked her to marry him again, she said if he had a Brown Mule chewing tobacco wrapper in his pocket, she'd do it. He had one and she said yes. It was a decision that I believed she often regretted, but still would not have changed.

Poppy worked in the Coalwood mine until 1943, when a runaway mine car cut off both his legs at the hip. He spent the rest of his life in a chair. My mother said that after the accident, Poppy was in continuous pain.

Continues...

Excerpted from October Sky by Homer H. Hickam Copyright ©1999 by Homer H. Hickam. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Introduction

This Reader’s Group Guide for Homer Hickam’s October Sky is designed to stimulate discussion and enhance the reader's appreciation of this exceptional book.

Foreward

1. As you read this memoir, did you begin to feel as if you knew the people involved? Did you like them? Do you think you’d have been happy to live in Coalwood in the late 1950’s? If you had, what position in it would you have wanted? Coal miner? Foreman? Teacher? Housewife? Preacher? Doctor? Rocket Boy or Girl? Football Star?

2. Was this memoir similar in its construction with others that you’ve read? What do you think of the memoir genre? Do you think it might be difficult to write a memoir that is interesting to readers?

3. How would you describe this book? Would you call is a man’s book or a woman’s book? Were you fearful it might be too technical? Is it just a story of a boy with a dream or the story of a small mining town? Or is it something grander and deeper?

4. Do you think Homer Senior and Elsie love each other? What is the principle cause of their conflicts? What is the importance of the mural Elsie is painting in the kitchen? Why is Homer Junior called “Sonny” in the book? Why did his teachers insist on calling him by that nickname rather than the one his mother wanted?

5. How would you describe Sonny’s father? Why does Homer Senior take Sonny into the mine, risking Elsie’s wrath? Why does he arrange for rocket materials when he seems so antagonistic to the rocket building? How does the conflict between his mom and dad motivate Sonny? Why was Geneva Eggers so important in Sonny’s understanding of his father?

6. In the first paragraph of the book, Homer writes that his hometown was “at war with itself over its children.” What does this mean?

7. Nearly all thewomen in Coalwood are shown to be strong women, a trait they must have to say goodbye daily to their husbands and sons who work in the dangerous mine and may not return that night. Although most of the women of Coalwood make the best of their lot, they want a better life for their children. How can they help this to happen? Are they feminists before the term existed? How about the teachers called “The Great Six?” What’s their role in Coalwood? What is your opinion of Elsie, Sonny’s mother? Is she too harsh with her husband in her attempt to better her life and that of her sons? And Miss Riley? What did it say about her when she stood up for the Rocket Boys against the feared principal, Mr. Turner?

8. Does the book tell a universal story? Could it be set in other times or is it specific to Coalwood and West Virginia in the late ‘50s? The book has been translated into eight languages and people from all over the world say Homer “told their story,” yet they have never held a rocket or even seen a coal mine! The book is dedicated “To Mom and Dad and the people of Coalwood.” Why do you think Homer made that dedication?

9. Many schools from fifth grade to college are studying Rocket Boys/October Sky in their classrooms, including English, math, and science classes. That makes it a pretty unique book! This is an adult book, but it is told from a young man’s point of view. Why do you think teachers are picking this book to study and why are they writing Homer that they think it was their most popular class read ever, sparking the most thoughtful discussion? (See the Web site’s Teacher’s button and the letters from them for many examples.)

10. This story is also about the rewards and costs of nonconformity. Who conforms, who doesn’t and what are the consequences of their actions? Is that a problem today and can this story help those who tend to go against the expected norms? How was Quentin a nonconformist? How about the other boys?

11. In Chapter 22, Mr. Turner, the Big Creek High School principal, wryly tells Sonny, “In the queer mass of human destiny, the determining factor has always been luck.” But in Chapter 26, Homer writes, “There’s a plan. If you are willing to fight hard enough, you can make it detour for a while, but you’re still going to end up where God wants you to be.” Are these quotations about human fate really in conflict with each other? How do they apply to the story?

12. Rocket Boys/October Sky is an excellent way to think about and discuss the many steps it takes to achieve a goal. Sonny’s idea of building rockets starts as simply a dream, but then he brings in the other boys and even approaches Quentin, the school outcast. The Rocket Boys first look upon their rocket-building as interesting and fun but then it becomes a challenge to defy expectations. Only much later does the idea of entering the science fairs occur to them. Discuss the importance of incremental steps in your life. Do you believe an incremental approach has validity in all walks of life, academic and otherwise? Why does Quentin believe in the necessity of obtaining what he calls a “body of knowledge?”

13. Miss Riley, the physics teacher, seems to regard education as a challenge and adventure. Sonny rises to meet the formidable task she sets before him. He writes, “I had discovered that learning something, no matter how complex, wasn’t hard when I had a reason to want to know it”(p. 168). That challenge is taken to the next level by Miss Riley when she gives him the book Principles of Guided Missile Design, saying, “All I’ve done is give you a book. You have to have the courage to learn what’s inside it”(p. 232). Discuss Miss Riley’s motivational techniques.

14. When Sonny thinks of giving up rocketry altogether, Miss Riley tells him: “You’ve got to put all your hurt and anger aside so that you can do your job ... Your job, Sonny, is to build your rockets.” When Sonny asks why that’s so important, she answers, “If for no other reason, because it honors you and this school”(p. 296). It’s clear that she means it also honors Coalwood. Discuss the concept of civic pride. How do the Rocket Boys help the town? Why are they celebrated in the newspapers? In church? In the Big Store? By both sides of the unionization conflict? Why do so many attend their rocket launches? Is it just because the football team is on year-long suspension?

15. Discuss the motivational aspects contained within this story. How did Sputnik motivate Sonny? Is his mother trying to be motivational after he blows up her rose garden fence with his first rocket? (“I believe you can build a rocket. [Your father] doesn’t. I want you to show him I’m right”(p. 52).) Early in his career as a rocket builder, Rocket Boy O’Dell says, “A rocket won’t fly unless someone lights the fuse”(p. 105). How important is it to find motivation in all our endeavors? Would the boys have gotten to the science fair without being motivated by something larger than themselves?

16. The final chapter in the book (before the epilogue) finishes with the launch of the last rocket of the Big Creek Missile Agency. Homer Senior is invited to launch this rocket. Why do you think this invitation was made? Why do you think he accepted?

Reading Group Guide

6. In the first paragraph of the book, Homer writes that his hometown was “at war with itself over its children.” What does this mean?

7. Nearly all the womenin Coalwood are shown to be strong women, a trait they must have to say goodbye daily to their husbands and sons who work in the dangerous mine and may not return that night. Although most of the women of Coalwood make the best of their lot, they want a better life for their children. How can they help this to happen? Are they feminists before the term existed? How about the teachers called “The Great Six?” What’s their role in Coalwood? What is your opinion of Elsie, Sonny’s mother? Is she too harsh with her husband in her attempt to better her life and that of her sons? And Miss Riley? What did it say about her when she stood up for the Rocket Boys against the feared principal, Mr. Turner?

8. Does the book tell a universal story? Could it be set in other times or is it specific to Coalwood and West Virginia in the late ‘50s? The book has been translated into eight languages and people from all over the world say Homer “told their story, ” yet they have never held a rocket or even seen a coal mine! The book is dedicated “To Mom and Dad and the people of Coalwood.” Why do you think Homer made that dedication?

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Anonymous

Posted January 13, 2009

October Sky

October Sky is definitely one of the best books I have ever read. * I think the real turning point in the book and in Sonny¿s life is the Bump. I would say that Roy Lee is my favorite character because he likes to have a lot of fun and is funny and I can relate to that. I had fun reading this book because it is very funny and is very adventurous. I also thought that the theme of this book can be very inspiring to many people and that¿s sometimes rare and I think that is very unique.
I feel like Homer Hickam was very descriptive in October Sky I felt like I was actually at the launch pad when he rockets took off. Mr. Hickam also had a very wide range of vocabulary of when the rockets took off, like (it vroomed off, it wooshed off, it shot off). *My Favorite Part of the book is at the very end when his dad launches off the last rocket, because it seemed like that¿s all he ever wanted was his dad to see what he can do and when his dad launched that rocket his dad not only saw, but felt how much sonny could do.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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vencen_wv

Posted October 1, 2010

I would highly recommend you to read this book

Book title and author: October sky Homer Hickem

October sky is an ok book its about a small mining town called coal wood .A boy who wasn't very wealthy and didn't have much and one day decided to get all of his friends together and build a rocket. After blowing his moms fence up he started thinking about it and they made some pretty good rockets.

Description and summary of main points
They got into trouble for shooting one off on company property homers dad told them no more rockets. So they went to a whole new place. I want say so I want ruin it for you.

Your final review
This is a Farley good book so I encourage every one who reads this to read the book .This seems to be
a good book review.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted January 13, 2009

Great Book For All Ages

October Sky is an incredible book about the story of Sonny Hickam, the son of a coal miner. The story takes place in McDowell County, West Virginia. Coalwood is the small town where coal mining is the main job, and most boys go into the mine at a young age.
Sonny¿s father is the head of the mine, and wants Sonny to follow in his footsteps. Sonny does not wish to go into the mine; however, and feels pretty strongly about his decision. One part in the book where he expresses this is when he talks about his dog falling down the mine shaft, and his father bringing home the dog¿s limp body. This and other parts show the worst of coal mining.
The main plot in this book is about Sonny and his friends attempting to build a rocket after seeing the Russian Sputnik fly over Coalwoood. Once that part occurs, the mood of the book changes. Sonny begins to build rockets, fight with his father, deal with women, and learn to be responsible all at the same time.
Homer Hickam dives deep into his life in this book and reveals thoughs he has accumulated over the years. His writing style is easy to understand and gives description so that you can visually tell what he is writing about. This book is great, and audiences of all ages can enjoy Sonny¿s life in October Sky.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted January 13, 2009

If you like a story with a good meaning this is the book for you.

October Sky Book Review

This book is basically about a young boy named sonny that lives with his family in a coal mining town in West Virginia. He deals with the fact that his brother Jim is better at sports and has got the good girl and gets along better with their dad.

The setting is right around the time of the launching of the sati light sputnik and sonny takes a real interest in it along with a few of his friends. (Spoiler alert) sonny gets so interested in that they build some rockets of their own and at first they have some trouble with it.

I truly recommend this book to any one who likes to read. I must warn you its not a book that you can just skim over you have to take your time. I want say to much more so I don¿t give any thing away but I have to say it was a great book with a very real meaning.

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted January 13, 2009

October Sky Review

I didn¿t like the book because it was slow to find out the plot. Basically it was about a kid who didn¿t like his in a coal mining town and wanted to build rockets. The main character is Sonny. I wouldn¿t recommend this book to people that don¿t have a good patience, a good attention span, or don¿t like to read. If you skim books and read fast you wouldn¿t understand it.
Something I would recommend to the writer is making it more exciting. If they used more exhilarating sentences it wouldn¿t be as slow. My favorite part was when they started building rockets. I like the main character Sonny. He is sometimes funny and I can sometimes relate to him. I hope this review helped you make a decision if you want to read the book or not.

2 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted January 13, 2009

Good Book

October Sky is a good book it made me get very into the book a little ways through. I liked how sonny gets very interested into rockets and wants to get one flying really far. Spoiler alert! My favorite part of the book is when sonny gets drunk. It¿s very funny but not good.
He lives in coal wood and he loves to build rockets. He builds a lot of rockets and has tried different types of nozzles to see if it is getting better. The book is very interesting. If you¿re the type of reader that likes dramatic happenings and like to read a lot then I would read this book.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted January 13, 2009

One of Hickam's fine works....

Hickam, Jr. keeps coming at you with truth after truth, and its breathtaking to see the development of this teen of whom Hickam writes- himself. I couldn¿t stand nearing the end, the pages growing thinner and thinner, until there was only the cover.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Shawn_wv

Posted October 1, 2010

this book is not highley recommended by me but read it and see what you think

By Shawn Salmons
This book isn't highly recommended by me and throughout the essay I will explain why.
This book is about a young group of boys, who wanted to fire off rockets but as they try as many people that can stop them try to. The more the boys fire the better they become, but when they think everything's going well tragedy strikes and cops show up at their school. When the boys fire off one of their first successful rockets they "burn down a forest."

The seven rocket boys have to use their wits to overcome most of the situations they get themselves into. Even when push came to shove they pulled themselves out of the situation. At whatever cost they had to suffer whether it was police or even an injury they overcame it.
I do not think the book is worth reading I never really understood why the boys wanted to fire rockets or what even caught their interest. The book may be good for some other people but the book just wasn't for me it wasn't a bad book but in my opinion I just didn't like it. The few parts in the book that were good is when the young boy (Homer Hickam) made a oath to work for his family sake. The young boy was very brave to do so and I respect him for what he did.

Every situation of this "October Sky" was a stunning/shocking one but somehow the boys found a way to overcome the bad and embrace the good. No matter the situation the boys did everything and anything they wanted to, for themselves and anyone they wanted to help.
The ending of the story was a very shocking ending as well the boys understood everything that was thrown at them. The end was a scholarship for many and a very important lesson in life. The rockets were finally perfected to go state and won a fair prize and won many scholarships for all the "Rocket Boys

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shannon_w_wv

Posted October 1, 2010

you most read this book.

Book Review Outline
Book title and author: OCTOBER SKYS Homer Hickman
Title of review: book review
Number of stars (1 to 5): 5

Introduction

Description and summary of main points

Evaluation

Conclusion

Your final review

My book report is about October Sky's. Well this is some reasons why I chose this book from my review. Ok to start with I chose this book because it is a very good book. This book is also interesting and under standing. This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. The main part of this story is about this boy that lives in coal wood and he builds rockets. He is very smart because he built a bunch of rockets. He also tries to get his father to watch his rockets. Then in the story his father watches his rockets and is very proud.......... My favorite part in the story is when he builds the rocket and it hit the build. It is the most addictive book I have ever read and it is pretty funny. I would so recommend this book to every one in the world. That is some reasons I liked this book.......... But I have some more reasons why Liked this book. The other thing I like this book is it is not fake it is a real story. He is a real boy from West Virginia. Then he is a young boy and is very talented. That is all I can say for now well bye..........

I WOULD RECOMED THIS BOOK IT IS GOOD......... SHANNON W pirate 13

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MarekMS

Posted May 18, 2010

October Sky Book Review

October Sky, by Homer "Sonny" Hickam is the memoir of his youth in a coalmining town, called Coalwood, and his experiments with rockets. Hickam writes about his experience with his friends his Roy Lee, Odell, Sherman, Billy, and Quentin and their launching rockets and improving them. Sonny faces problems with his rockets and people who disagree with his launching but he continues to strive to new heights.

In Coalwood West Virginia, you either become a miner or join the army, but Sunny sets out to become a Rocket Engineer, through the encouragement of Miss Riley his teacher, his Mother, and various people in the town. Many people such as his father believe Sonny should become a miner or engineer, but Sonny begins to believe he is destined for space. The BCMA is able to create rockets that fly thousands of feet and eventually miles. Sonny becomes so proud of his rockets he decides to eventually work to winning the national science fair.

Homer Hickam is able to weave the science of rocket building and their various experiments with his life in Coalwood and normal teenage problems. Hickam shows the process the boys went through to create working rockets. I overall found the book very interesting, but I also found it a little dull at some times when they dicussed Coal Mining.

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DD24

Posted March 25, 2010

October Sky Review By: Dalton Davenport

The true story of Homer Hickam Jr.'s rise to being one of the most famous rocket scientists ever is truly an awe inspiring story. The book October Sky takes place in Coalwood, West Virginia and tells the tale of Homer Jr. building and experimenting with rockets. I thought that the book was great because it showed that even the most hopeless dreams can come true. Homer faced many challenges throughout the book and overcame every single one of them to reach his dream. For example, he overcame his father's disapproval of building experimenting with rockets and the scarcity of materials where he could build his rockets. I also like the story because Homer's character is real. He constantly strives to make better rockets so that he can beat the Russians in the space race and because he wants to be just like Dr. Wernher von Braun. Dr. Wernher von Braun is Homer Jr.'s role model and it because of him and other people close to him like Miss Riley and Homer's Mom are what influence him to build rockets. I give the book a "Two Thumbs Up." It left me satisfied and wanting to read more about the life of Homer Hickam Jr. I recommend for all ages and think everyone should read this book in their lifetime.

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Anonymous

Posted January 13, 2009

October Sky book review

October Sky is about a boy that lives in West Virginia. Sonny (the main character) starts a club that builds rockets, The Big Creek Missile Agency. The other BCMA members are Quentin, O¿Dell, Roy Lee, Billy, and Sherman. Sonny¿s brother Jim is a popular football player at their high school. Dorothy is the girl that Sonny is in love with but she does not love him back.
I would recommend this book to kids over thirteen. In some parts it gets really boring and might put you to sleep when they keep talking about rockets and math. On the other hand there are some really exciting parts that are very well written.
My option is this book is pretty good, but sometimes it gets a little boring.

*Spoiler Alert*
Sonny¿s brother Jim takes Dorothy to a dance. Sonny gets really upset and will not talk to his brother.

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Anonymous

Posted January 13, 2009

A great read for all

This is a wonderful story about a little coalmining town in West Virginia. I really like how Sonny¿s mom supports his idea to build rockets even though it is not what the average boy would do. It is really heartwarming how much the boys care about and support each other. Sonny and his friends face some hard times while trying to build a successful rocket. Sonny tries really hard to get the materials and the knowledge that he needs to fulfill his dream.

Sonny¿s hard work pulls off when he *Spoiler Alert* wins the science fair.
This story is about friendship, love, and the little thing inside of us that pushes us to pursue our dreams. If you have ever been n a situation where all odds were against you I think that you should definitely read this book. I am sure glad that I did.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted January 13, 2009

October Sky

This story is very descriptive. It is exciting and funning. Sonny is very smart and solves most of his problems. He also stands up for what he believes in even though his dad does not believe in him. His dad must have had a hard time teaching him self calculus, but he is very smart.
*In this story when the kids at the science fair took Homer¿s rocket equipment I thought he would lose. Home had a hard life and worked through it. Homer didn¿t let anyone in his way. It was his dream and he wasn¿t going to give up.

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Anonymous

Posted January 13, 2009

One of Hickam's best books yet...

First off this is a really good book, and I extremely recommend it to any young or old reader. The plot is like four boys and a lot of adults are trying to build and launch a rocket. My favorite part is when he first tries to launch a rocket and he blows up his mom¿s rose garden fence.
I think that the characters are really unique. Even though they are real he changed the names. I kind of wish he wouldn¿t have.

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Anonymous

Posted January 6, 2009

October Sky

The book was not very absorbing. I wouldnt recomend it, I only read it because I had to for school.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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joe12

Posted January 6, 2009

book

I read this book and I think it was kinda weird. The rocket part was good. I only give it a three because it drags one. It gets pretty boring

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted January 6, 2009

I Also Recommend:

October Sky - Great Book.

October Sky was a very interesting book. It started off quite slow, but about a fourth of the way in, it becomes interesting. The storyline of the book is impressive, seeing as it follows a Young Mans journey through High School. The book had it's boring parts, and yet it's exciting ones. It was a great book, and will probably be a good movie.

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The_Sketch_Artist

Posted January 6, 2009

October Sky( commonly known as Rocketboys) is truly a masterpiece.

This book is an enthralling autobiography that shows the power of a community working together and the power of hard work. Unlike other autobiographys that I have read this book really sucked me into the story. I laughed many times and felt sad when Mr. Bykovski died. Anyone young or old should love this book.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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captaizen

Posted October 5, 2011

I love this book

October Sky by, Homer H. Hickam, jr. is a great book about Homer. He is a kid growing up in Coalwood, WV. The book takes place around the 1950s he is a boy fascinated by science. In particular space and how to get rockets in to space he loved to read books about science-fiction. Coalwood was a coal mining town in McDowell, WV his dad Homer Hickam worked all his life in that mine and his mom was Elsie Hickam his brother was the big star in Coalwood he played on the football team he was one of the best players on the team.

I thought the book was very good and I suggest it to you if your looking for a good book to read. It has suspense and comedy there are some pretty funny parts in it. I think this is one of the best books I have ever read in my life.
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October Sky

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October Sky

Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media

Chapter One

Table of Contents

Introduction

Foreward

Reading Group Guide

Rating Distribution

October Sky

I would highly recommend you to read this book

Great Book For All Ages

If you like a story with a good meaning this is the book for you.

October Sky Review

Good Book

One of Hickam's fine works....

this book is not highley recommended by me but read it and see what you think

you most read this book.

October Sky Book Review

October Sky Review By: Dalton Davenport

October Sky book review

A great read for all

October Sky

One of Hickam's best books yet...

October Sky

book

October Sky - Great Book.

October Sky( commonly known as Rocketboys) is truly a masterpiece.

I love this book