Rocket Boys (The Coalwood Series #1) by Homer Hickam
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Book Reviews of Rocket Boys (The Coalwood Series #1)
Book Review: A Love Letter from a Son to his Father
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't tend to read many memoirs - too romanticized, too maudlin, too many happy (or unbearably terrible) endings. *Rocket Boys* is an incredible exception. While there is much nostalgia, there is no overly romantic sentiment. Just reality, as it appears through the eyes of a man looking back to his boyhood.
There are many key elements that make the story work - Sonny Hickam's alternating love and repulsion for his town, his relationship with his mother and father, the coming-of-age dynamic in finding his rockets - but the facet that draws me in most deeply is the father/son relationship so powerfully depicted in his work. It is complex, painful, dynamic and stagnant . . . rewarding and unfulfilling . . . the paradox that lies at the center of many parent/child relationships.
It is easy to assume that the elder Homer understood nothing about Sonny, and that it is to his mother that he owes his personality and drive. And yet, if you read the book as it is written and don't rely too heavily on the film, you see a man who is much like his youngest son. Perhaps as a young man he WANTED to be Jim, and therefore he lives vicariously through the accomplishments of the star athlete, but it is Sonny with whom he shares his major accomplishment - his career, a position of prestige without the benefit of education, at the mine. And it is from Sonny that he feels the ultimate rejection when his son does not wish to follow in his footsteps.
It is this rejection, at war with his ambitions and dreams, that makes him deny Sonny help with his words while supporting the cause with his actions - allowing the supplies to be procured, etc. In the closing chapter, at the final launch, those dreams win out and he chases the rocket that his son has built. It is an ultimate moment of elation and understanding. And you wish it was the foundation of a close-knit tie between them. Yet, as the reader learns in the epilogue, it wasn't. Just another chain in the struggle.
For all of the complicated emotions, an adult "Sonny" seems to see his Dad as a whole individual. It is that portrayal that elevates this memoir to something very special, even if you don't know or care much about rockets.
But . . . a word about the rockets. In my region, manhood is defined by the "Jim"s in the crowd. What sports do you play? How good are you? School and good grades are mostly for girls. Sadly, you even see this attitude among coaches and teachers who just assume that the majority of young men will just naturally prefer video games to books and television to original thought. I hope that young men will read this book and understand that there is nothing feminine about schooling, education or excellence in academics. And that excellence of the mind is just as important as excellence in the body.
Book Review: Simply inspiring!
Summary: 5 Stars
Rocket Boys is the amazing story of Homer "Sonny" Hickam, Jr. a quiet boys from the mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia. Sonny is inspired by German rocket engineer Dr. Werner von Braun to begin building rockets of his own. With the help of his boyhood comrades and an unexpected friend named Quentin, Sonny begins his journey towards space. Starting off, the boys knew little more than how to light a cherry bomb, but with the help of their teacher Miss Riley, Sonny's mom Mrs. Hickam, and other adults in the small town, they start their very own missile agency, the BCMA.
The Rocket Boys spend countless hours teaching themselves math and chemistry and eventually through a series of trial and error experiments manage to get a rocket off the ground. Their first rocket reaches an altitude of 6 feet. The boys are encouraged. While continuing his work on rockets, Sonny pursues his love interest; a girl named Dorothy Plunk. Though he tries his hardest, Sonny never does manage to win Dorothy's heart. Throughout high school, Sonny slowly wins over the affection of another important person in his life, his father. While at first his father is not supportive of the BCMA and their work in rocketry, by the end of the novel, Mr. Hickam has got to be one of their biggest fans.
The boys build their own version of Florida's Cape Canaveral, complete with launch pad and bunker. They name it Cape Coalwood after their hometown. With their rockets finally getting noticed, the boys dream of college and lives beyond the dreaded coal mine. They enter a county science fair and are surprised to win first place. Heading off to the area finals, the boys hope more than anything to win the medal for their school and town. Their dreams come true and they head on to Nationals. At the National Science Fair, Sonny is discouraged by the huge, expensive projects from other parts of the country. After a small argument between judges and participants, a separate division is created for propulsion projects. It seems a miracle when Sonny wins first place in this division. Who would have thought that a young boy from a small mining town in West Virginia could beat out hundreds of kids from all over the country? Through years of hard work, the Rocket Boys' dreams of space become obtainable when their final rocket reaches a whopping altitude of 6 miles.
Sonny's story is an inspiring one for people of all ages. He and his friends manage to defeat many obstacles on their quest to do great things. Though he is faced with a discouraging father, the rejection of the love of his life, the death of a close family friend, and many other hardships, Sonny does manage to get out of Coalwood and fulfill his dreams of working at Cape Canaveral, the same place as his esteemed idol Dr. Werner von Braun.
Book Review: Book Review for Rocket Boys
Summary: 5 Stars
Rocket Boys is an inspirational memoir about a young man who decides to challenge the traditions in the quaint, mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia during the dawn of the 1960's.
The future for Coalwood's young men appears to be planned out for them, they are to become miners. As 14 year old Sonny Hickam watches the Russian satellite Sputnik soar across the sky above his house, he is inspired to do otherwise. It is at this point in Sonny's life that he decides he wants more from his life than what his dying town could provide for him. Sonny could not envision himself working in the mine alongside his father ten years down the road, rather, Sonny wanted to become a rocket scientist.
Sonny learns to face the great challenges of resentment and disbelief from the town and from his own father whom he had always loved and admired. For his whole life, Sonny watched his father lead the men of the mine and he always looked up to him as a hero. Homer however, is a man too cold to deserve such admiration from his son. Homer denies Sonny's motivations to become a rocket scientist and his resentment towards Sonny exposes his own doubts and fears. Sonny however, a young, open-minded individual, refuses to allow his own father to discourage him from his dream. His dream to one day launch a rocket, win the science fair for his school, and eventually work for the NASA alongside the remarkable Dr. von Braun.
Ambitious to fulfill such dreams, Sonny, along with his good friends; Sherman, O'Dell, Roy Lee, Quentin, and Billy, form the Big Creek Missile Agency (BCMA). Together, these 6 young men build extraordinary "Auk" rockets and launch them into the sky. The people of Coalwood soon perceive them as the "Rocket Boys." These willful young men continuously work together, each applying their own skills to help solve the difficult problems of rocketry, and together, they learn the value of teamwork.
The Rocket Boys however would have never been able to make their rockets fly if it were not for the love and guidance that they so kindly received from their 11th grade chemistry teacher, Miss Riley. Miss Riley teaches Sonny the need for the human mind to have a set course for itself and has Sonny value his own happiness as well. Miss Riley gives these young men the faith and the courage that they can do and become anything they dreamed possible.
Rocket Boys is a highly recommended novel. It is a powerful inspiration to children to evolve their own minds and set life long goals. Many lessons can be learned from this novel and it largely demonstrates the fact that our dreams really can become reality.
Book Review: Rocket Boys Rocks
Summary: 5 Stars
Rocket Boy's by Homer Hickam Jr. is a heartwarming tale of six boys who follow their dreams and go far and have fun along the way. There are six boys, Roy Lee, Homer Hickam, O'Dell, Quentin, Billy, and Sherman, growing up in Coalwood, West Virginia. Coalwood is a mining town, the whole town and its occupants revolve around the mine. Everyone growing up in Coalwood has almost no hope of becoming anything but a miner. However, these six boys get caught up in the changing times where their dreams can come true. After the launching of Sputnik by the Soviets America was eager to catch up in the space race. The boys, fascinated by rockets, create their own missile agency, the BCMA (Big Creek Missile Agency). Their objective, to learn everything they can about rockets, build them, and fly them. Not only is this a beautifully written and heartwarming memoir, but it is informative as well. Interspersed among the story are the successes and failures of the Rocket Boys, the different nozzles they use, the different fuel, the different designs, and the lengths the town goes to to support them. At one point there is a threat of their "agency" being destroyed, however this doesn't happen as the townspeople come to their rescue. This is also a wonderful book if you want to see what life was like in a small back country town in the 1950's - 1960's. During this book the town experiences the forming of its first union and its first strike. The school curriculum also changes becoming more challenging due to the pressure from the Soviet advances. For the first time more emphasis is placed on learning and homework, than football and jobs. It is also interesting to see a town rely so heavily on one thing, the mine. This does not occur so much in our day and age. The town of Coalwood was built around the mine and everyone who lives there works at the mine. If a woman loses her husband and no other relation of hers works at the mine, she is allowed to stay two weeks and then she must find another home. I thought this book was an excellent memoir. The movie October Sky was based off of this book. Having now read the book and seen the movie, they are a must read and see for everyone. The book is a tad better than the movie as it delves more into relationships and town life, however the movie is great. I recommend that everyone read this excellent book.Book Review: A true classic and a great read
Summary: 5 Stars
Simply a wonderful, heartwarming book and a page-turner, too. Homer "Sonny" Hickam tells the story of his youth in a small coal mining town. The wonderful characters he introduces us to throughout this marvelous tale are completely unforgettable. His father is the real hero in the tale, a tough, stern man with remarkable insight. I especially liked it when Homer, Senior, suddenly gives his unsubtle son a little special insight on the Cold War. "There are Americans I'm a lot more afraid of than the Russians," Dad said. "Like those who think it's okay to use the government to force you to do what's against natural law." When Sonny asks him what that is, he makes this prescient observation: "Some will tell you that greedy and compassionate men are in competition but I'm here to tell you they're not. They run in different but parallel packs, but both will destroy this country before they're done." Homer, Senior, also rails against entropy, a law of thermodynamics, to his puzzled son. "No matter how perfect the thing, the moment its created it begins to be destroyed." When Sonny asks, in effect, what's wrong with that, his dad replies, "Because even though I know it to be true, I don't want it to be true. I hate that it's true. I just can't imagine what God was thinking." Sonny's mom later tells him not to worry, that his dad was talking about his coal mine. But it later dawns on Sonny that his father is talking about the entire town of Coalwood and maybe America itself. Rocket Boys is often considered a young adult book, mainly because of the movie based on it, but in fact it is filled with wisdom that most of us can use and apply to today's various disasters. There are also characters often overlooked, the funny but sad Jake Mosby, the alcoholic jet ace, who befriends the Rocket Boys, Basil Oglethorpe, the gay reporter, and a host of others. After giving it some thought, I realized Rocket Boys is not really about rockets, although Hickam spends some time writing about the boys of the Big Creek Missile Agency and their gradual winning over of the tough coal miners to their side, but is really more about life as it was in a little, inconsequential place that holds so much wisdom for us today. In fact, I think that's its real strength and literary value. Read it that way and I think you'll get much more out of it.