Customer Reviews

Rocket Boys

5 star:		(365)
4 star:		(79)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm not sure which was more interesting--the story of the rocket building or the story of growing up in a small West Virginia coal mining town. I was captivated by both.
To those that say this book doesn't appeal to women--nonsense! I'm a woman and am recommending it to my daughter and all my friends.
And finally, to the reviewer that said the movie is better--I loved the movie, but guess what, the book was even better.

This book really drew me in - although it is nearly 400 pages long, I finished it within two days! Highly recommended - especially if you have an interest in space/rocketry. However, it is hard to imagine many people who wouldn't enjoy this book. Better than the movie. I'm also amazed that a "rocket scientist" can write so well.

One day my class teacher told us we would all be picking a book, reading it, and writing a critique for it. Then she told us we would be placing it on the internet. I wasn't too thrilled about any of this. This book turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would be. Rocket Boys, by Homer H. Hickam was written beautifly, tellling the story of a few young boys trying to reach a common goal. Homer "Sonny" Hickam Jr. starts out as a freshman in highschool trying to find a way with the ladies, especially Dorthy, and battling the jocks, one being his brother, for popularity. Sonny takes a sudden intrust in Sputnik. This is what gets him started on his incredibly passoinate love for rockets. His father is a miner and is always gone, as where his mother is incredibly supporting to whatever he does as long as he "doesn't blow himself up." Miss Rilly was another very supporting person in Sonny's life. She is the one that provides the "fuel" for Sonny's dream when she gives him a book on rocketry and encourages him to enter the science fair. I loved how the story is so vivid and colorful, how you can see the excitement, anger, fear, and love that the character expresses. This story also shows you that you have to keep trying to get what you want, and that not everything comes easily, but if you work hard for it, it can be very rewarding. Sonny learns this when he decides to enter the county science fair. It ends up being incredibly rewarding, and surprising to him. He ends up in the national science fair and returns home with a medal. Sonny eventually ends up working for NASA and accomplishing his dream. I loved this book because it was what really happened to him and it shows. He made a lot of really great frinds along the way, whether in the mine workshop or just some "different" people at school. I give this book five stars and would read it again anyday!

October Sky is a great book it really inspired me to realize if you really want something it can happen and not to let people bring you down from something you want and think you can do. This book is really instering but it also taught me about VA and things there and life then. Sonny thinks that football is his only ticket out of Coalwood until Sputnik races across the sky and his life changes forever. The Rocket Boys start out knowing almost nothing about rockets and how they work let alone how to build them but with each rocket they learn more and more as each goes higher up into the sky. Sonny has a normal teenage life trouble with his brother Jim and girl trouble until rockets help him to forget about all of that and what is really important.

I'm a college freshman. My major is Aerospace Engineering, partly because of this book. The first time I read it, I finished the book and started over again. I have read this book at least five times, and I never get bored of it. Now, it is the book I read to unwind after TRYING to do my Aero Engineering work. The fact that his goals and heros were the same as mine are now relaxes me because Homer Hickam made it to NASA, which gives me hope that maybe I will make it to the Cape also.

The book October Sky, an autobiography by Homer Hickam Jr., has a very
noble theme: one of perseverance and triumph in determination. I found that
the book became all the more real as I watched the character grow and
progress. Letting no obstacles get in his way, such as his lack of true
education in the field of rocket research and his father's disapproval, he
eventually triumphs in his goals. The ending was truly very humbling.
To put it simply, October Sky is an all-around good story. I found it to
not only be an enjoyable read, but to be a heroic lesson relating to our own
human nature as well. Much enjoyment as well as wisdom is to be had from
this book.
The author truly succeeded in making all of his failures and triumphs come
to life in this novel. Due to the fact that much of this book was set when
he was an adolescent, we can assume that the narrative is mostly reliable.
However, this book also comes to life when the author's own input is added
as well. His character I found to be easy to relate to, with strengths and
weaknesses that needed to be overcome, and, because he never gave up through
all of his hardships, this novel can be regarded as truly inspiring.
I would most assuredly rate this book the highest possible on a scale of one
to five stars. It is an absolutely magnificent read, and I recommend it to
everyone who is willing to give it a shot. It can be slow at times, but I
found it to be entertaining enough, with as high admirable standard as with
any other book I have ever read. It is truly worthy to be considered with as
high literary merit and integrity that I have yet encountered. Everyone I
know who has read this book has also agreed fully with me on this opinion.

This inspirational memoir tells the true story of Homer (Sonny) Hickam's high school years in Coalwood, West Virginia . With meticulous details, likable characters, and a constantly intriguing plot, Hickam narrates the challenging journey of rocket-builiding that he shares with his friends, the Rocket Boys. The group forms a rocket-building club, the BMCA, and teaches themselves to make and launch rockets. This is amazing because in the 1950's, the only rocket ever successfully launched was Sputnik. Homer experiences many coming-of-age challenges throughout the novel. He narrates that his father and brother view him as an outcast. Also, he faces rejection from a girl that he loves. Another challenge involves the obstacles that the mining company places on his rocket group. They are discouraged from building rockets by the company.

The boys in the club include: Sherman, O'Dell, Sonny, Quentin, and Roy Lee. They all share the same dream of becoming famous for their rockets and being able to leave Coalwood and go to college. Several people help them meet this goal, including: Miss Riley, a chemistry teacher, Mrs. Hickam, and several of the engineers at the Coalwood mining company. With the help of family and friends, the boys enter and win the county science fair. They also win the state and national fairs. This is an inspirational feat from five boys from a tiny mining town in West Virginia. The boys all go to college, and three of them, Sonny included, become engineers.

In conclusion, if you want an inspirational, interesting, and true novel to lift your spirits, October Sky is a good book to read.

In conclusion

This is one of the best books of the last and the new century and many, many reviewers see fit to praise it. But, folks, the author's name is Hickam, not Hickman!!! If you like him, let's get his name straight. In fact, in The Coalwood Way and Sky of Stone, Hickam makes much out of the fact that his dad hated that his name was forever misspelled. I suspect Homer Hickam the author feels exactly the same way.

If all Hickman had done was give us a portrait of life and growing up in an Appalacian coal mining town in the 50's, this would be a great book. But Hickman uses this setting as the foundation of a much larger story...the race to space, the revolution in America caused by Sputnick, and the opening of small towns accross America to the wider world with the advent of mass communications.

Of course, at base, this is a typical coming of age teen story. During the course of the book, we watch as Hickman grows from a self centered kid into a teen with an accute awareness of the complexity, moral choices, and dangers of the world beyond the borders of his hometown--and of the dangers lurking right at home.

But Homer Hickman is no ordinary teen. He dreams of space. He knows he is destined to build rockets--though he knows absolutely nothing of rocketry, and is failing algebra. Nonetheless, he perseveres. Using his own natrual smarts, his ability to talk his parents, other adults, and many of his friends into anything, and using his "political" connections shrewdly (his father is the mine manager), he overcomes all hurdles--technological and personal--to build a rocket that works.

He doesn't stop there. Once he gets a rocket to fly, he wants to get one into orbit. It is this quest (reminiscent of so many other quest books form Don Quixote to Moby Dick) that forms the center piece of the narrative, and is the engine for opening his mind to the realities of the world beyond his coal mining town.

Needless to say, since he wrote the book, he obviously escaped. The journey is inspiring. The writing inspired. The book is a must read for adults and teens alike.

This book grabbed me very quickly. Almost with a "Stand By Me" quality, we find ourselves drawn into the life of the author as a young man. His rich descriptions of his friends, parents, and boyhood town, make you feel as if you are living the story too. Even though I was born a generation after Hickam, his recall meshes with that of my own father's in a bygone era. The book leaves you longing for a simpler past all the while making you thankful you live in the present. I would have had a lot more reverence for those Estes model rocket engines if I had known this story as a boy. Rarely have I enjoyed a book more for its sensitive, descriptive, and quality character development. Read the book first before watching the movie. B.C.