Rocket Boys
A Memoir
Book - 1998
"Until I began to build and launch rockets, I didn't know my home town 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."
So begins Homer "Sonny" Hickam Jr.'s extraordinary memoir of life in Coalwood, West Virginia-a hard-scrabble little company town where the only things that mattered were coal mining and high school football. But in 1957, after the Soviet satellite Sputnik shot across the Appalachian sky, Sonny and his teenaged friends decided to do their bit for the U.S. space race by building their own rockets--and Coalwood, Sonny and A powerful story of growing up and of getting out, of a mother's love and a father's fears, Homer Hickam's memoir Rocket Boys proves, like Angela's Ashes and Russell Baker's Growing Up before it, that the right storyteller and the right story can touch readers' hearts and enchant their souls.
In a town where the only things that mattered were coal-mining and high-school football, where the future was regarded with more fear than hope, a young man watched the Soviet satellite Sputnik race across the West Virginia sky--and soon found his future in the stars. In 1957, Homer H. "Sonny" Hickam, Jr., and a handful of his friends were inspired to start designing and launching the home-made rockets that would change their lives and their town forever.
Looking back after a distinguished NASA career, Hickam shares the story of his youth, taking readers into the life of the little mining town of Coalwood and the boys who would come to embody its dreams. Step by step, with the help (and occasional hindrance) of a collection of unforgettable characters, the boys learn not only how to turn scrap into sophisticated rockets that fly miles into the sky, but how to sustain their dreams as they dared to imagine a life beyond its borders in a town that the postwar boom was passing by.
Rocket Boys has already caught the eye of Hollywood: The producer of Field of Dreams is now working to produce a major motion picture in time for next year's Academy Awards.
A uniquely endearing story with universal themes of class, family, coming of age, and the thrill of discovery, Homer Hickam's Rocket Boys is evocative, vivid storytelling at its most magical.
So begins Homer "Sonny" Hickam Jr.'s extraordinary memoir of life in Coalwood, West Virginia-a hard-scrabble little company town where the only things that mattered were coal mining and high school football. But in 1957, after the Soviet satellite Sputnik shot across the Appalachian sky, Sonny and his teenaged friends decided to do their bit for the U.S. space race by building their own rockets--and Coalwood, Sonny and A powerful story of growing up and of getting out, of a mother's love and a father's fears, Homer Hickam's memoir Rocket Boys proves, like Angela's Ashes and Russell Baker's Growing Up before it, that the right storyteller and the right story can touch readers' hearts and enchant their souls.
In a town where the only things that mattered were coal-mining and high-school football, where the future was regarded with more fear than hope, a young man watched the Soviet satellite Sputnik race across the West Virginia sky--and soon found his future in the stars. In 1957, Homer H. "Sonny" Hickam, Jr., and a handful of his friends were inspired to start designing and launching the home-made rockets that would change their lives and their town forever.
Looking back after a distinguished NASA career, Hickam shares the story of his youth, taking readers into the life of the little mining town of Coalwood and the boys who would come to embody its dreams. Step by step, with the help (and occasional hindrance) of a collection of unforgettable characters, the boys learn not only how to turn scrap into sophisticated rockets that fly miles into the sky, but how to sustain their dreams as they dared to imagine a life beyond its borders in a town that the postwar boom was passing by.
Rocket Boys has already caught the eye of Hollywood: The producer of Field of Dreams is now working to produce a major motion picture in time for next year's Academy Awards.
A uniquely endearing story with universal themes of class, family, coming of age, and the thrill of discovery, Homer Hickam's Rocket Boys is evocative, vivid storytelling at its most magical.
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Publisher:
New York : Delacorte Press, c1998.
ISBN:
9780385333207
038533320X
9780385333214
0385333218
038533320X
9780385333214
0385333218
Characteristics:
xii, 368 p. ;,25 cm.
Comment
Add a CommentI thoroughly enjoyed this book. Homer writes an excellent heart-warming story of growing up in coal country and doesn't hesitate to tell about the good times in Coalwood as well as the struggles of his mother trying to keep the family of four together in the community. His perseverance in building rockets made his dreams come true--that of becoming a NASA scientist. This book is a must read for all ages.
Wow. Quite possibly one of the best books I've ever read. I loved the movie that was based on this (October Sky), but the book puts the movie to shame, which is no easy feat. Absolutely spectacular. For anyone who's ever dreamed of space, and faced the long hard journey to get there.
One of the best books I've ever read, I had seen the movie "October Sky" long ago. Still I was not prepared for the detailed and humorous accounts of author Hickam's and his rocket-building partners' tenacious efforts, interwoven with heavy yet non-melodramatic stories of life in a mining town past its prime. Hickam not only is a fearless, prize-winning, boyhood rocket builder, Vietnam vet, and retired NASA engineer, but a first-rate author as well. He paints perfect word pictures with his word choices and pacing.
An inspiring memoir that features determination and team work. Very enjoyable read.
The book was great, but it was slow at times. I would recommend this book to my friends.
A good book, as long as you are not being forced by your mom to read it within three days.
While it was a dated book from a different era, it was a very entertaining book even for a teenage reader. Doctor-at-Bass! T. A.
Rocket Boys – A Memoir by Homer H. Hickam Jr. – teenage prodigy, Vietnam veteran, Aeronautical Engineer, and former employee of NASA is a warm and very rewarding adult rated book; suitable for readers 16 years of age and older. The book was a little slow for the first fifty to sixty pages while Mr. Hickman describes his childhood and his arduous relationship with his father and older athletic brother Jim. He also describes in detail what life was like in a coal mining town in West Virginia in the 1950s. Homer was a typical teenage boy of the early space race era and perhaps this book may appeal more readers who were youngsters or teenagers in the period 1950-1970. The book picks up nicely when Homer and his friends build their first rocket so-to-speak; i.e., it performed more like a stick of dynamite than a shooting star. The author has a great sense of humour which is scattered sparsely throughout his book. The book grows on you and I personally hated to see it end. Homer’s story was made into the movie ‘October Sky’ which is also available at the Ottawa Public Library. The movie of course deviates somewhat from the book and while very entertaining, the book in many ways was better. Highly recommended by Senior Doctor-at-Bass! D. A.
A great read--A boy's interest in rockets, his shaky relationship with his father explored. And his winning of a national science fair--true story---
Made into a movie--October Sky!!