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Summary: Amazing book!
Review: This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. I started reading it at 11 AM, and couldn't put it down until I finished it 9 hours later. I read through meals, lectures, everything (I'm in college). I had seen October Sky, the movie, and liked it a lot. But I thought the book was even better. It's a truly inspiring tale.
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Summary: Rocket Boys, a Book that is as High as the Stars
Review: "Rocket Boys" is the best book I've ever read It gives me a very good look at how people lived in the 50's, for example how they felt about raising children. "Rocket Boys" is a non-fiction book based on the teenage years of Homer Hickham's life. Homer Hickham lives in Coalwood, Viginia and his father is the head of the coal mine. With the recent launch of a satelite, Homer is inspired to build rockets, but his father holds him back to become a coal miner when he finishes High School. With the help of his friends and his teacher, Miss Riley, he may fufill his dream. Will Homer Hickham make it? I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be inspired about someone's life.
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Summary: An Honest review of "Rocket Boys"
Review: This was a sincere book and it spoke the truth about one man's life.
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Summary: what a awsome book!
Review: what an awsome book! no matter what age you are or how old you are you will love this book! i'm 13 years old and this is the BEST book i have ever read! and i've read a lot of books, just ask my mom! this book shows you you can do whatever you want, wherever you are, no matter the sittuation.if you still haven't read this book or have just watched the movie i think you should read this book to see just what is was like to actually see SPUTNIK in October 1957, and what it really means.
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Summary: A STORY OF THE HEART, DETERMINATION...
Review: In this book, the author and main character, Homer "Sonny" Hickam grows from an ordinary boy whose father was a miner and who himself was expected to follow in his footsteps to an exceptionally intelligent and determined boy who ends up winning the state, and then going on to win the national science fair, along with the help of his friends. From the very start, his father is against his idea of building rockets. At the end, however, he comes to the firing of their final rocket. This is the inspiring story of a young boy who overcomes his obvious destiny to nurture a dream of going into space. I would like to congratulate this wonderful man of science who trained our astronauts for the moon. If you like drama, you will love this book.
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Summary: a good book
Review: I've always had trouble finishing a book, I would start the book and then put it down and forget about it and move on. But this book, was a book that you couldn't put down without the feeling that you must go on and finish it. This is a very well put book, with an ispirational feeling you get of you are done with. I like this book so much I wish I could just erase my memory and start it all over agian, and amagine myself their once more with Sonny and our fellow Rocket Boys.This is a great book, and I reccomend it to anyone, who will sit down and read it. I didn't have to read this book for school or anything, but I did it for myself, and I believe you should too.
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Summary: Awesome
Review: Wow, I am 17 and what an inspiration it was to me. Dreams can really come true. I feel like I have known the Rocket Boys all of my life. It was an awesome book that I couldn't put down. My english teacher was so shocked she is now reading the novel. After I started the first chapter I went out and bought my own copy to go along with my personal collection. What a masterpiece. I cant wait for the next to come out. I want to go to Coalwood this summer just to look around and to meet the real "Rocket Boys". I am at a loss of words on how good this book actually is. If you cant decide to read this book, well believe me, it will tear at all your emotions and leave you begging for more when it is over. Wow!
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Summary: Really turned my life around
Review: This book really turned my life around. I thought I hated to read but then it was assigned to our summer reading list and I reluctantly took it on. Wow. I just couldn't put it down. Now I want to read everything I can get my hands on although I still haven't read anything this good. Homer was at our high school last month to make a speech and he said the only thing that was changed from what really happen was that he had disguised some people to protect them. He said he also left some things out that happened like more thing that happened at the mine. I guess they'll be in his new book.
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Summary: Great book, but "nonfiction" is a stretch.
Review: I only have on real complaint with this book. Rocket Boys is ostensibly a work of non-fiction, but the author's note refers to an "author's license" and "certain liberties in the telling of the story." I think this note under-states the extent to which the story has clearly been fictionalized. The too-good-to-be-true coincidences of timing evenutally made me realize that the details of this story are not to be taken literally. Otherwise, however, this is a wonderful book. I feel like the world I grew up in is far, far away from the coal towns of West Virginia, but Rocket Boys really drew me in and helped me understand that life. On the flip side, I felt a great deal of empathy for the thirst for knowledge expressed by the rocket boys. The boys' quest to build rockets that fly higher and higher (or at first, just fly) is fascinating, but perhaps more interesting is Sonny's quest to understand his mother and father. Those two characters come across more strongly than any others in this book (or most others).
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Summary: October Sky - Reworking The American Dream
Review: We could perhaps argue that modern life, wherever it is situated, is seriously flawed. Flawed in the sense that our hopes and dreams are always sacrificed in the name of practicality. Thus our hopes and dreams always remain as they are - Mere hopes and dreams. October Sky is about not sacrificing those hopes and dreams in the name of reality and practicality and to aspire for something more. Hickam's journey, as difficult as it may seem, is a journey that we all make, albeit at our own pace and in our ways. His experience is first and foremost, human and his success is always coupled with failures. We have always been bombarded with the ideal of the American Dream, of its failings and limitations. October Sky reworks that dream and reminds us that all human dreams are inherently good, that in us lies the ability to become more than what we are. Hickam reminds us of this in his autobiography when he prevailed in making his hopes and dreams a reality, and to realise our greatest human potential - To learn and to achieve. As idealistic as the novel might seem, it is realistic in its presentation of the American Dream and the human experience. Hickam's sentimentality is not a flaw as some would perceive, he is merely retelling his story through his own eyes and heart. Finally, October Sky is about living and doing things. It is about learning and achieving, sometimes with the help of others, most of the time, alone. It is about the human capacity to change for the better. There's a bit of Hickam in all of us, and there's a bit of all of us in Hickam. Such is the power of the prose in October Sky, that we are all human, after all.
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