Rocket Boys (The Coalwood Series #1) (Paperback)

by Homer Hickam (Author) "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..." (more)
Key Phrases: spaghetti house, county science fair, football suspension, Roy Lee, Miss Riley, Big Creek (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Inspired by Werner von Braun and his Cape Canaveral team, 14-year-old Homer Hickam decided in 1957 to build his own rockets. They were his ticket out of Coalwood, West Virginia, a mining town that everyone knew was dying--everyone except Sonny's father, the mine superintendent and a company man so dedicated that his family rarely saw him. Hickam's smart, iconoclastic mother wanted her son to become something more than a miner and, along with a female science teacher, encouraged the efforts of his grandiosely named Big Creek Missile Agency. He grew up to be a NASA engineer and his memoir of the bumpy ride toward a gold medal at the National Science Fair in 1960--an unprecedented honor for a miner's kid--is rich in humor as well as warm sentiment. Hickam vividly evokes a world of close communal ties in which a storekeeper who sold him saltpeter warned, "Listen, rocket boy. This stuff can blow you to kingdom come." Hickam is candid about the deep disagreements and tensions in his parents' marriage, even as he movingly depicts their quiet loyalty to each other. The portrait of his ultimately successful campaign to win his aloof father's respect is equally affecting. --Wendy Smith --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Great memoirs must balance the universal and the particular. Too much of the former makes it overly familiar; too much of the latter makes readers ask what the story has to do with them. In his debut, Hickam, a retired NASA engineer, walks that line beautifully. On one level, it's the story of a teenage boy who learns about dedication, responsibility, thermodynamics and girls. On the other hand, it's about a dying way of life in a coal town where the days are determined by the rhythms of the mine and the company that controls everything and everybody. Hickam's father is Coalwood, W.Va.'s mine superintendent, whose devotion to the mine is matched only by his wife's loathing for it. When Sputnik inspires "Sonny" with an interest in rockets, she sees it not as a hobby but as a way to escape the mines. After an initial, destructive try involving 12 cherry bombs, Sonny and his cronies set up the Big Creek Missile Agency (BCMA). From Auk I (top altitude, six feet), through Auk XXXI (top altitude, 31,000 feet), the boys experiment with nozzles, fins and, most of all, fuel, graduating from a basic black powder to "rocket candy" (melted potassium chlorate and sugar) to "Zincoshine" (zinc, sulfur, moonshine). But Coalwood is the real star, here. Teachers, clergy, machinists, town gossips, union, management, everyone become co-conspirators in the BCMA's explosive three-year project. Hickam admits to taking poetic license in combining characters and with the sequence of events, and if there is any flaw, it's that the people and the narrative seem a little too perfect. But no matter how jaded readers have become by the onslaught of memoirs, none will want to miss the fantastic voyage of BCMA, Auk and Coalwood. First serial to Life. 10-city author tour. (Sept.) FYI: Rocket Boys is currently in production at Universal, which plans to release it later this year.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Delta (January 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385333218
• ISBN-13: 978-0385333214
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (543 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,170 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly inspiring!, July 2, 2000

By A Customer

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.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great , Great story,, November 20, 2000

By	Beau Thurnauer "Beau" (Coventry, CT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: October Sky (The Coalwood Series #1) (Hardcover)

I get so depressed by some of the books on the market. Heavy themes, hidden meanings, verbose authors. October Sky is a get what you see book. It is simple but not too simple. It is an honest story about an honest guy growing up in West Virginia. His life is like ours. He has friends and enemies, successes and failures, girlfriends and conflicts.

But his life is also a model for our time. Homer Hickam is a very special person and he has told the story of his life in this book. Mr. Hickam grew up modestly in a coal mining town. His love of rocketry, no his passion for rocketry pulls him out of an average community and propels him to success inspite of his family and surroundings.

Few books appeal to adults and young adults alike. This is one. I want my wife to read it as well as my 13 year old son. Hickam is a mentor and I've never even met him. This is such down to earth honest writing it makes you smile.

Read this wonderful story and you will have a hard time approaching your next mystery or drama. It is refeshing. I don't even want to see the movie after reading this book. I want the images I have to last not the ones Hollywood created.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science, history, and coming of age--all in a great book!, September 27, 2003

By	Alan Mills (Chicago, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: October Sky (The Coalwood Series #1) (Hardcover)

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.