Rocket Boys

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Summary: This book is bigger then the Sky!!
Review: About three weeks ago we had to choose a book for our Modern Novel Class. At first I thought I would just choose any book over 275 pages, and then I started to read it and actually like what I was reading.
This book is about a boy who is trying to become a scientist (I don't think he realizes this at first). He wants to be able to build rockets for NASA and help America join the space race. He ends up forming a group called BCMA which consists of a few friends who are all interested in the same thing.
Homer(the main charcter)lives in a little place called Coalwood in West Virgina. It's a coal and football town, and not to much else matters. So when the towms people first start to read, hear, and see Homer and his pals all making rockets and shoting them off they think hes crazy and that he's a "sister". His father wants him to work in the coal, but he's forced to realize that his son isn't going to be a football star hes going to be a scientist.HIs mom and his teacher Miss. Reily seem to really have the only hope for the boys in the town. They mostly believe in Homer.
I think this book was an excellent choice and I really enjoyed reading it.

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Summary: A book of life, not science
Review: This book is a glorious look at life in the little town of Coalwood, West Virginia. I teach it in my English class for its wondrous evocation of a life gone by, a marvelous look at a people struggling against time and nature and the forces of the outside. Those who think this is a book about science should take another look. Although Homer (called Sonny in the book) certainly writes of his rockets and touches on some of the aspects of building them, there's actually very, very little in this book about science per se. Don't make the mistake to think this book is only for readers interested in science! This book falls squarely in the regime of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill A Mockingbird. To call this a science book is like calling "Huckleberry" a book on rivers, or "Mockingbird" a book about lawyers. Read it, love it forever. I implore all to recognize this book for the masterpiece that it is in American literature.

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Summary: Best Science Kid Novel Ever
Review: As a science kid myself, coming from a lower middle class background, who built his own rockets, explosives and other incendiary devices, and discovered many of the same things that these boys discovered, I identified with the main character very strongly. The writing is superb. Instead of "rocket candy" I called the mixture "gunsugar"!

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Summary: Wonderful Book!
Review: This book is wonderful:humorous,sad, and educational all at the same time. It is very well written, and I would higly recommend it to other readers. It encorporates scientific facts into the book without being scinetific asa whole, or non-fiction. I very highly recommend this book!

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Summary: Much better than the movie!!! Well worth reading.
Review: If you have watched the movie already, it's even better to read this novel by Mr.Hickam. The book is much better in explaining the situations and struggle in the life of Homer Hickam as a teenage boy. I can't tell you what this book is about because I'll spoil the whole story. Read it and you will be in awe. Let me tell you this though.....This book will inspire you just as I was inspired.

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Summary: October Sky is not a children's book
Review: As a teacher of this book in my high school English class, I think I should point out that October Sky (aka Rocket Boys) is not a children's book by any stretch of the imagination. Its themes include father-son relationships, teenage sexuality, and the manner in which dreams can be made into reality through tough, hard choices. Most 12-year old children are not equipped to really understand this book without adult advice. It is an excellent book for a parent to share with his child but the parent should read it first and be prepared to talk about some of the more difficult aspects of it. This book is very, very different than the feel-good Hollywood movie that was made from it. It is a magnificent text that should be respected as part of the genre that gave us To Kill A Mockingbird and, dare I say it, Huckleberry Finn.

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Summary: October sky bmw
Review: They explained some, but little info. The author added too,much lovie-dovie stuff. Over all it was a great and awesome book.

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Summary: This is a great book!
Review: This is a great book. It taught me the importance of sticking with something I start. In the beginning when Homer found out that Wernher VonBraun sent a rocket into space, it made him realize that he wanted to build rockets too. His first attempt ended up a disaster(he blew up his mom's fence.) Yet, his mom encouraged him. He kept to building rockets for about a year and a half, and then some bad things happen to him. His mom wouldn't let him quit though. When he got interested again, he and his friends figured out how high they could make their rockets fly. He then enters a science fair with the rockets. Read the book to find out how he does. But Homer Hickam and this book taught me to stick with everything I start.

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Summary: Rocket Boys Dream
Review: The true story of Homer Hickam and his dream lie in the words of a book called October Sky. This book is about a boy who has a dream of someday launching rockets in to space. In the small town of Coalwood, West Virginia Homer Hickam spots a Russian rocket in the sky and can not get over the thaught of space. So he decides to form a rocket lauching club called the rocket boys. After twenty-four launchings of the Auk series of rockets, the rocket boys decied to go to the national science fair. They came back with a gold medal. Homer Hickams rockets went from blowing up his moms fence, to six miles, to a gold medal at the National Science Fair. It was a bumpy road, but the Rocket boys managed to have a dream come true.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: October Sky was a wonderful memoir of Homer Hickam's teenage life and how he came to be a rocket scientist. The book tells all the details of his teenage life, even the dances he goes to. The charming story of a boy growing up in a coal town of West Virginia brought me to think differently. Homer, having lived in a small town, was not given the opportunities that others might have been given. However, when the satellite Sputnik passed through the sky of his town, Homer begins thinking about rocket science. He begins slowly, exploding his mother's fence, but by the end of the book, has his rockets figured out. While reading this book, I felt as if I had gotten to know the characters. The description written by the author is so real it's as if I myself had been there watching the rocket launches. I recommend this book to anyone!