Rocket Boys (The Coalwood Series #1) by Homer Hickam
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Book Reviews of Rocket Boys (The Coalwood Series #1)
Book Review: Truly inspiring!
Summary: 5 Stars
For those who loved the movie "October Sky", this book gives even more insight to the life of a teenage boy in Coalwood, West Virginia, in a time where the "outside world" was concerned with the Cold War and Dr. von Braun's team with "cashing up to the Russians in rocketry." The residents in Coalwood, however, were more concerned with what was below them rather than above, and with their dominant high school football team. 14-year-old Homer Hickam, Jr. (Sonny)is aware that only football stars (like his older brother Jim)ever get college scholarships, and the glory that he and his ragtag group of friends envy. It is common knowledge that the rest must work in or for the mine in the company-owned town. However, seeing Sputnik fly in 1957 and the attempts of Dr. von Braun's missiles, Sonny is inspired to launch his own rockets. With the support from his Mom, teacher, and friends (little from his father, the manager of the mines), Sonny, Roy Lee, and Sherman form the BCMA- Big Creek Missile Agency. They are later joined by Quentin and Billy, becoming widely known throughout Coalwood as the "Rocket Boys". They suffer through many mishaps during their teenage years, but manage to pull through. Sprinkled with humor, romance, and sadness, this book tells of a boy growing up trying to earn the approval of his father, his town, and ultimately himself. Many parts will make you laugh- Mom's constant warning not to "blow yourself up", Roy Lee's advice to Sonny about his love, Dorothy, and the Rocket Boy's experience getting moonshine for rocket fuel- and ending up drunk! Other parts will make a shiver run down your spine- how Sonny had to face his bitterness after the mine accident, and his arguments with his father. I got the same tingle reading the last chapter that I got from watching the movie- which is also wonderful. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever fought hard to accomplish a dream. It is a truly inspiring memoir that will leave anyone with a feeling of happiness, sadness, and satisfaction all rolled into one. Read "Rocket Boys"- you won't forget it.Book Review: Rocket Boy's
Summary: 5 Stars
Rocket Boy's by Homer Hickam Jr. is a true story about six kids who beat the odds, and follow their dreams. The six boys are Roy Lee, O'Dell, Quentin, Billy, Sherman, and most importantly, Homer Hickam, who all live in the mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia.
For generations, anyone who grew up in Coalwood almost always worked in the Coalwood mine, but the six kids changed all that. When the Russians launched Sputnik, everybody in the U.S. was worried about the space race, and it got Homer and his friends thinking. They decide they want to learn everything they can about rockets, how to build them, and fly them.
This is very informative, the successes and failures of the Rocket Boys, the various nozzle designs used, the different body and fin designs used, the fuel mixtures tried, and the support (and sometimes opposition) of the town are all told within the story. During this story Coalwood goes through its first Union formation, strike and lockout. The strains put on the town from these events are all shown wonderfully in the text. The novel also explains how for the first time in town history, learning and homework are actually valued more than a job and the school football team.
It is also interesting to see how a town can be centered on a mine. This is pretty much unheard of in today's US, and is explained well to those unacquainted with the unique position the Coalwood residents were in. Coalwood was built around the mine, they owned everything, the houses, the land, the cable program, the phones, the roads and so on; if you lived there, someone in your household worked in the mine. If a woman loses her husband and has no other family member who works in the mine, she is allowed to stay two weeks and then has to move out.
I thought this book was excellent. As most of you know, the movie October Sky was based off on this book. After reading the book, I suggest doing so before seeing the movie; the movie was simply the producer's view of the book, and you should make your own before seeing his. I must recommend that everyone reads this Rocket Boy's.
Book Review: A great book with perfectly timed humor and emotion.
Summary: 5 Stars
Children in West Virginia mining towns became coal miners. They did not become rocket scientists. But it did not matter how well-known this was, for Homer "Sonny" Hickam, Jr. there was only one way out. He was the right age and had the right amount of ambition when the United States and Russia became entangled in the Space Race and as far as he was concerned, his fate was sealed.
Hickam's writing carried the comfort of conversation with an old friend. It was remarkable how easily I became nostalgic for neither a time nor a place that I had ever known. The story drips with the passion of a man who if he had to do it all over again, probably wouldn't change a thing. He understood and appreciated the importance of everything that happened to him and helped him on his way.
One thing that I found particularly fascinating was how closely this book resembled the old proverb that It takes a whole village to raise a child. And I mean no disrespect to Mr. Hickam when I point out how amazing his circumstance was in that he could not have done it alone. The stars seemingly aligned perfectly so that one boy from West Virginia could capture the hearts of so many people that he would be able to get such invaluable assistance. There was probably no way anyone else could have done what he did. And that is to his credit. (The way his path was guided by fate, or something like it, reminded me of how Ruth Reichl became a food critic in Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table.)
I loved this book for Hickam's ability to transport me from my favorite reading chair to a West Virginia high school in the late 50s. I found myself hanging on every word wondering what would happen next. There is something special about an intelligently written story about a successful man who takes no credit for himself, but rather gives it to each person who helped him make his dreams come true. Rocket Boys may now find itself among the short list of my favorite books.
Book Review: The hero is the father
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read this book many times, and with each successive reading I begin to feel more and more admiration and empathy for "Sonny"'s father. At first reading, I thought, "Yes, it's just like everybody said, Sonny's dad is too wrapped up in the mine and in Sonny's older brother to notice he had a second son." Then I read it the second time, and the third, and the fourth. By the fifth time, I had completely revised my opinion of Homer Hickam Sr. I came to see him not as a father who didn't think Sonny would come to anything, but rather as a father who saw his great potential and feared that potential was being wasted, at least at first. But then, it becomes more and more obvious as the book goes on that as Sonny's rockets improve, so does his father's opinion about his dream. I don't think it was ever a case of him not loving Sonny enough or not thinking him intelligent enough. Many, many times throughout the book, Homer Sr. comes to bat for Sonny, and not always when he's been more or less sweetly strong-armed into it by Elsie Hickam.
To me, the most powerful scene in the whole book was the paragraph or two that covered the killing of Sonny's cat Daisy Mae. Sonny sick with grief but manfully trying to cover it; the friends who quietly came to his side and didn't belittle him for his sorrow over a lost pet; the mother sitting on the porch with the shoebox in her lap; and then the line about his father coming to look at Sonny for a moment, then getting in his car and driving away. I didn't see that as a man who was embarrassed at his son's reaction; I saw a man that was so furious he had to get away and cool down before he did something he would really regret to whoever had caused this pain to his son.
I could see Homer Senior's love and pride for Sonny throughout the whole book, not just at the very end when he came for a launch and got to fire the last rocket. He was there, every step of the way...certainly not as enthusiastically as he was over Jim's football prowess, but there nonetheless.
Book Review: Rocket Boys - Book Review
Summary: 5 Stars
Rocket boys is based on a true story. This book is by Homer Hick ham. The book is basically about a group of friends with the dream of a life time. They very much want to achieve there goal. This book is about perseverance,corage,and imagination. I recommend this book strongly to almost any one between 9th grade and up. It was a book that you could not put down Once you started reading , it draws your attention. It is about a man named Homer Hick ham (Author and also the main character). Him and his buddies who they call "the rocket boys" get very interested in rockets. One big thing that inspired the world and not only them was the Russians launch of the space station called Sputnik. After this ,Sonny (homer) decides to make a rocket. He had a lot of troubles building this. A lot of people thought he was up to no good . In the book one big thing is that he needed to get his dads approval . He got help by a lot of friends like his friend Quinton he gave them materials to help them make the rockets. Also there teacher Miss Riley was very eager to help him in there dream. Homer even had his own spot for setting off rockets and eventually people started to come to see these rockets set off, many people were becoming interested. They came and cheered them on everyday. In this book one quote you could say that could fit is "If you don't succeed try and try again". Like when he first started launching his rocket. It just went up and sizzled down to the ground. After a while it did amazing. In fact one of there farthest rocket launch was like fifteen thousand feet. They won tons of things with there rockets. Like the school science fair. After he got invited to the "nationals". But then he found he was missing . But of coarse the people of the little town of coal wood in west Virginia found what he needed for the display. So they won first place in the nationals. This book was very inspiring to me. There was also a lot of good information in it. The book was about overcoming challenges and own personal goals.