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Summary: Excellent Coming-of-Age story
Review: I read this book in two days, barely able to put it down to finish grading my final exams. This powerful memoir about a young boy from West Virginia brought back some memories of my own childhood in rural Ohio. This book is much more than a book about the son of a West Virginia miner and his rockets. It's a book that speaks to the power of finding one's passion in life and pursuing it, even in the face of disaster and despair.
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Summary: october sky
Review: The name of my book is October Sky by Homer H. Hickams Jr. I think this was a good book to read because'I can relate that happpened in this store.The thing I like most about is the way the author decribed the setting. He described as the year of sputnik raced across the Appalachin sky.
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Summary: A Great Book
Review: This Book is AWESOME! It is about a couple of coalwood highschoolers that decide to start building rockets. They test different fuels and use different materials. Therre are so many exciting points! Homer's dad works in a mine and one of the rockets flies mine there! Although they have some trouble with girls, this is still my faorite book.
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Summary: A wonderful and literate beauty of a book
Review: October Sky (also known as Rocket Boys) is a wonderful, literate beauty of a book. It is interesting that some reviewers focus on the science fairs but in fact, the book only gets into that in the latter chapters. Some reviewers are children and their comments reflect their misunderstandings of what this book is about. This is not a child's book. It is filled with adult situations, contemplations, and marvelous insights. It is a classic as finely drawn as To Kill a Mockingbird, as clever as Huckleberry Finn, as tragic, in its own way, as Angela's Ashes. It is, in fact, very much a unique book, written in prose so fine that it often immerses the reader so fully in the story that they tend to overlook the wonderful writing. Mr. Hickam is a first-rate author and I've heard him speak, too, and he is always excellent. He is quick to point out that rockets actually interested him only when he was a boy. Now, it's writing that is his passion. His other books have shown a diversity in capabilities. While some memoir writers are forever only that, he has demonstrated an ability that should allow him to transcend the genre. With all that said, though, October Sky with its follow-on The Coalwood Way, are simply, if nothing else, magnificent entertainment. The opening paragraph is a classic all by itself and the final chapter is simply breath-taking. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I read it, then I had to read it again. I've also recently seen the movie loosely based on the book and, although I liked it, it simply cannot measure up to the book. As you can tell, I've become a Homer (Sonny) Hickam "groupie," for which I have no apologies. I look forward to his new book which according to his web site,... , will be titled Sky of Stone.
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Summary: October Sky
Review: October Sky is a great book. It is about young boys that make rockets for there school science fair. The boys first their first rocket it blew up so the got a new kid to join their group that was a science genius they went to a store to get rocket supplies they made a new rocket that flew two feet. After they made more rockets they met Dr. Von Braun he helped them get the rocket into the air eventually the rocket flew miles and miles high. They won their science fair and the National Science fair they were all proud of what they did. I think Homer Hickam Jr. did an excellent job it was based on a true story about kids that did the same thing even he was one of them I learned a great deal from this book.
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Summary: Rockets review
Review: Set in Coalwood, West Virginia the mining town, Homer H. Hickam, Jr.'s memoir Rocket Boys is the story of a young man and his own growth with his rockets. Homer H. Hickam Jr., also the man character as well as the author in this story. He is young in many ways, unknown to his own life, he states in the beginning of the book, "Until I began to build and launch rockets, I didn't know my hometown 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." Somehow these rockets were more then spite for his father they were also an awakening to what he would become and what his town would become. It all started with the launch of a rocket by the Russians that would fly over Coalwood, this then enticed Homer to a craze yet more so exciting idea. He would build a rocket! Not just him he needed more. Homer gathered Roy Lee, Sherman, O'Dell and Quentin, all except for Quentin were Homers good friends. Quentin was more or less the nerd of Homers school, but he was smart and Homer new it so he was welcome to help them build rockets. This forming the Big Creek Missile Agency (BCMA) inspired by Homers idol Dr. von Braun, a great rocket science and his club the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA). They would start with launching pop cans before actual rockets. The first pop can didn't do so well, blowing up Homers mom's rose garden. This bit of news was around town 5 minutes after it happened. The boys were told not to do another, but Homers dad gave in to Homers constant whinning about how he needed to find a place where he could launch his rockets without blowing up the town, he told him to use the big lot behind the mine, but if there was ever a rocket that landed in Coalwood that the BCMA was through. So the BCMA went on practicing on pop cans and trying out different fuel for the rockets. A mixture of sugar and saltpeter was added to a pot and brought to a boil. The mix was named rocket candy. It became the fuel they were looking for, it was a success. There first rocket blew with a blast and a swish through the air. The boys were a big hit. They were put in the news paper and every thing. The next step was to enter the science fare. Thanks to Homers favorite teacher and friend, Miss Riely they got the book they needed to make the next step in there rockets. Homer became the towns poster boy for all there dreams of being known out of Coalwood. He made there dreams come true, coming back with a gold metal from the National Science Fare. His teacher was diagnosed with cancer and soon died after, He became a rocket engineer for NASA, His dad died of cancer as well but not before letting his son know he was proud, and his mother moved to myrtle beach where she painted her life away. My recommendation on the book is that it was filled with things that relate to my life, growing up and the things he goes through. The title gives the feeling its all about rockets but its not there is a lot more to it. So I recommend this book to anyone who wants a good read and a personal memoir.
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Summary: Hickam's "October Sky" uplifts, instructs and inspires
Review: Perhpas you have not yet viewed the heralded film "October Sky" but have heard that it is one of the most stirring and moving films about idealistic visions, hard work, and unsparing commitment to principles and friends. As marvelous as the film is, the memoir, "October Sky" soars above it. Homer Hickam, Jr. has created a modern American masterpiece in the memoir genre. Borrowing a complimentary phrase from the cerebral rocket-boy friend Quentin, it is a "prodigous" work. Part coming-of-age, part exploration of a bygone community and way of life, part treatise of the frustrations, joys, and beauties of the scientific method, "October Sky" not only will instuct you as to what it means to be an American; it will provide gentle, poignant and perceptive insight as to what it means to be human.The author provides the best capsule summary of the memoir with his concluding words. He attempts to pain a verbal picture of the impact of "rockets that once leapt into the air, propelled not by physics but by the vibrant love of an honorable people, and the instruction of a dear teacher, and the dreams of boys." This immensely readable work treats, with extraordinary dignity, the social, intellectual, and moral dimensions of Coalwood, West Virginia during the intense period of time when the United States first confronted the Soviet Union in what became known as the "space race." Admidst the exquisite characters sketches drawn by Hickam of his family, youthful colleagues, and teachers, we see a town deeply conflicted with itself. These subterranean faults, expressed methaphorically by the coal mine which Homer's driven and distant father supervises, appear within the Hickam household, between the United Mine Workers Union and the archaic benevolent paternalism of Homer Hickam, Sr., between prejudicial townspeople, whose derisive epithet "rocket boys" evolves into a hymn of respect and prase, and the residents (African-American, Jewish, hillbillies, miners, and teachers) who identify with the aspirations or Homer and his idealistic young friends. This is an account of the meaning of friendship, of how young men define themselves, of how heartache over lost romance is assuaged by an ironically assertive "tough" young woman. It is a memoir which utterly reveals the strong but tormented marriage of Homer's parents; we watch, with complete respect, Homer's mother emerge as one a most principled and couageous woman. Indeed, it is Homer's mother who emerges as a genuine hero throughout the rocket boys bumpy, humorous but resolute path to success. It is my hope that this volume will find its way into every American household, that fathers and mothers will read it aloud to their sons and daughters, and that educators will embrace the numerous opportunities to teach (literature, math, science, history, ethics) through this book.
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Summary: wow
Review: as a 14-year old, i found the book truly inspiring. although everyone may not be all about building rockets, i am sure that everyone is about acheiving in some type of activity. this book is one that shows the will and confidence of a young man. read this book, you will not forget it!
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Summary: Wow!
Review: This is a highly inspirational book for anyone pursuing any endeavor. It gives the reader hope and a feeling of joy. A must read for anyone who has ever had a dream.
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Summary: A book worth a thousand movies
Review: My favorite things about this book: · The author is very honest about his shortcomings, doubts, failures... How many times in the book is he ready to throw everything away? · He writes truthfully not just about the rocket project, but about his feelings for his dad, his brother, his friends, the girl of his dreams, his teacher... · The excellent portrayal of life in a mining town in WV in the late 50's. The community is slowly disintegrating due to the failing economics of coal, yet they find cohesion by rooting for the rocket project in unison. This is why the entire town would attend rockets launches and cheer and clap. · The wonderful side characters, like the machinist who helps the guys by building special pieces, the dad, torn between his own stubbornness and the love for his son... BEWARE! The movie is a triumphant Hollywood view of a successful, starry-eyed, brave and determined young man with a cuasi-perfect life. If we listen to the book, though, Homer was bullied, scared, intimidated, ready to quit, and had to overcome lots of opposition to achieve his dream. You might want to rent the movie to check out the last 3 minutes or so, because there is actual footage of many of the characters in the book, plus rocket launches! Other than that, the movie is a terrible adaptation of the book and doesn't do it any justice.
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