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    Rocket Boys
    Rocket Boys
    Rocket Boys
    Audiobook13 hours

    Rocket Boys

    Written by Homer Hickham

    Narrated by Tom Stechschulte

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir that inspired the film October Sky, Rocket Boys is a uniquely American memoir—a powerful, luminous story of coming of age at the dawn of the 1960s, of a mother's love and a father's fears, of a group of young men who dreamed of launching rockets into outer space...and who made those dreams come true.

    With the grace of a natural storyteller, NASA engineer Homer Hickam paints a warm, vivid portrait of the harsh West Virginia mining town of his youth, evoking a time of innocence and promise, when anything was possible, even in a company town that swallowed its men alive. A story of romance and loss, of growing up and getting out, Homer Hickam's lush, lyrical memoir is a chronicle of triumph—at once exquisitely written and marvelously entertaining.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateMar 8, 2011
    ISBN9781442343320
    Rocket Boys
    Author

    Homer Hickham

    Homer Hickam is an American author, Vietnam War veteran, and a former NASA engineer who trained the first Japanese astronauts. His memoir Rocket Boys was a New York Times bestseller and the basis for the film October Sky.

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    Reviews for Rocket Boys

    4/5

    602 ratings39 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I loved this book! You should read this. It fills you with happiness and excitement about the true story of Homer Hickam and the Rocket Boys!???
    • 4/5
      This book was fabulous. It is the type of book I will be lending to everyone. It is mostly a true story (though the author admits to taking some license) about Homer Hickam, Jr. and his rocket building club. Hickam grew up in a mining town in which the only job choice was to become a miner. His mother wanted to ensure he got out of the town and encouraged him to build rockets as a means of proving to his father that he was smart enough to go to college.

      This book inspired the movie October Sky which has long been a favourite feel good movie of mine. However I think I like the book for an entirely different reason. The movie is an inspirational story of a boy overcoming the odds in order to become something that was not expected of him. While the book was about that too, it was also about a lifestyle in which children where given much greater freedoms and responsibilities.

      When Hickam and his buddies decided to build a rocket they went to the corner store and bought explosive chemicals in order to make it happen. When they blew up his mother's fence her reaction was to encourage him to build more and to not blow himself up. The rocket launches were incredible dangerous especially to spectators who were repeatedly diving for cars in order to avoid being impaled by rockets. Twice he describes rockets that went out of control and ended up in the town itself, potentially deadly weapons.

      The story that stands out in my mind is of Hickam and his mates riding there sleds many miles to school after a snow day was declared. He ended up getting home on his own, walking through a whiteout and suffering near frostbite before coming across a home in which he was invited. He dried off and then kept on going. On arriving home his mother and father were unperplexed, not slightly bothered that there son could almost have died.

      I wonder whether the Hickam's mother was so passionate about him leaving the town that she thought it better that he die trying than have to go down into the mines.

      I found this book inspirational as a parent. It reminded me that children become adults quicker than we think, and are capable of much more than our current system allows for.
    • 5/5
      I started listening to this in an abridged version and stopped in order to get the unabridged version. Good!
    • 5/5
      Fantastic narration. Top notch writing. Engrossing tale, start to finish. Terrific characterizations. Vivid sense of community, coal life, that era. Even the technical aspects of rocketry are made clear and super interesting. All the more outstanding because it's true! The underdog wins. Bravo all around.
    • 5/5
      If you like rockets, underdogs, or just the American Dream then you’ll love his book.
    • 5/5
      Such a raw and inspiring story! I have never experienced an audiobook where the reader even choked up a little (nothing compared to the years streaming down my cheeks) and I loved that real connection I felt with the author and the gentleman doing the recording. I highly recommend this book & audiobook!
    • 5/5
      I just loved this, despite my bias against nonfiction. The writing was fantastic, the imagery of the rural southern setting was beautiful, and the feel of a small town really came to life. I wanted to read the others Hickam wrote (because I just really liked Sonny and his mother) but I just haven't gotten around to it yet!
    • 5/5
      What a wonderful book! The story and narration kept me enthralled the whole book.
    • 3/5
      Rocket Boys is Homer (Sonny) Hickam Jr.’s memoir of his life growing up in West Virginia, the son of a coal mine superintendent. In 1957, he is inspired by Sputnik to learn how to build rockets. Sonny and his friends are encouraged by their chemistry teacher. At first, they experience spectacular failures, but they persevere and eventually succeed in building increasingly sophisticated miniature rockets. The plot covers his experimentation with different forms of rocket propulsion, competition at science fairs, and relationships with his family members. This book covers his life from childhood through high school.

      The memoir focuses on the author’s desire to attain a different life than his father – to get into rocket science rather than becoming a miner, as is expected. The dangers of mining are clearly portrayed by injuries and accidents that occur at the mine. His father is a key player in one of the rescues. I could have done without the awkward back-seat scenes with his high school dates. He occasionally follows rabbit trails that do not add to the storyline. I liked it but probably will not read the other books in the series. The book provides a good example of “small town boy makes good through hard work and discipline.”
    • 4/5
      Rocket Boys was on my Save Shelves and I was looking forward to re-reading it...until I got to Sputnik II where the Russians sent their dog up to die.Couldn't go on with this really well-written book....
    • 4/5
      Adult nonfiction/memoir. In six words: boy builds rockets, leaves mining town. Homer's story transports you to a different time (1950s) and place (West Virginia mining town rumored to be on the brink of collapse), where football scholarships are the most likely ticket to better places, and where families let squirrels run around inside their homes as pets (even if they also have dogs and cats--not sure how that works, but they do). With encouragement from his teachers and the whole town, Homer teaches himself calculus and aerodynamics and builds rockets (with 3 friends) in the hopes of winning the national science fair. Not to give away the ending or anything, but this is a feel-good story, so you can expect his endeavors to go well.
    • 5/5
       Really enjoyable and satisfying. I read the book after watching the movie, "October Sky", which was based on it. I thought the movie did a credible job of telling the stories of Homer and his fellow rocket boys, but the book fleshed out a lot of the details and storylines that were left untold.
    • 5/5
      A memoir of growing up in the hardscrabble mining company town of Coalwood, West Virginia where hope for the future was essentially nonexistent. The 1957 launch of Sputnik inspired Homer “Sonny” Hickam and his friends to design and launch homemade rockets; Homer’s continuing interest in rocketry, despite his father’s disapproval, eventually led to rockets that flew miles into the sky as the boys learned to imagine and to dream. This is a coming-of-age tale that, with its nostalgic look back, is part heartbreak, part dreams of the possibilities, and all truth.After the initial publication of this book in 1998, the 1999 re-release became “October Sky” in order to tie in with the movie. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      I'm probably a sucker for this book because I've had a challenging relationship with my father and because I've been passionate about space exploration for much of my life. If you've had one or both of these situations happen to you, this book and the movie upon which it was based (October Sky) will move you. Go forth and read.
    • 5/5
      A chronicle of growing up in the 1950's, when space exploration was in its infancy. Captivating, taking ordinary events of a 1950's childhood in a coal town and creating a compelling tale that led the author to become a rocket scientist. A genuine human story.
    • 4/5
      Book on CD read by Beau BridgesHomer Hickam Jr (a/k/a Sonny) grew up in Coalwood, West Virginia – a “company town” in built and owned by the mining company for whom his father worked. The only thing that mattered in that small town was coal and high school football. And Sonny hadn’t much interest in either. Sonny and his friends, fellow misfits, didn’t seem to have much future to look forward to, until their imaginations were ignited by watching the Soviet satellite Sputnik. They began with simple “kitchen experiments,” learned from their failures, improved their rockets and garnered the admiration and support of the town. In his memoir, Hickam brings the residents of Coalwood to life. He shares stories of growing up, of high school football, a beloved teacher, unlikely allies, young love, and his mother’s determination that her boys would NOT go into that mine. All the “Rocket Boys” went to college, three of them in engineering. The town of Coalwood was eventually abandoned when the mine was closed and allowed to fill with water. Beau Bridges does an excellent job voicing the audio book. He has great pacing and a delivery that is just perfect for this story.
    • 4/5
      Read for the Dewey Decimal challenge on LT. Great book that I listened to on library audio, since I was driving. I loved the way Beau Bridges pronounced Coalwood and the mine with a drawl out drawl. The book focuses on the author's teen years in the late 1950's in a West Virginia mining town, where his father is the superintendent, and his mother just wants to get her sons out of going to work in the mine. When the Russian's launch Sputnik, rocketry captures Sonny & his friends' fancy. With his mother's admonition, as they set off learning the principles of fuel and ignition - "Now don't blow yourselves up!" Of course, the first thing they do is blow up her Rose Garden fence in a launch, and then are chased away to better suited launch pads - the slake of abandoned coal mines nearby.
    • 4/5
      Homer "Sonny" Hickam grew up in a coal mining company town in West Virginia. He was 14 in 1957 when the Soviets launched their first Sputnik satellite. Like many people, he was deeply affected by that event, but unlike most, he immediately become convinced that building rockets was what he wanted to do with his life. He would eventually realize this dream in a career with NASA, but his path to that career started with a small group of boys and series of homemade rockets, which they built with very little knowledge but a lot of willingness to experiment.I was interested in this book mostly because I was interested in rockets -- well, that, and I remembered liking the movie version -- but there's a lot more to this memoir than rockets. It's also a coming of age story, a memoir about family life with a workaholic father, and a glimpse into a way of life that was already vanishing even then. It's told extremely well, in a novelistic style, with a little touch of nerdiness and a lot of folksy charm. You really don't have to be interested in rockets at all to enjoy it. Although, seriously, how can you not be interested in rockets?
    • 5/5
      An inspiring story of what a group of teenagers can accomplish when they reach for the sky, but also a bittersweet story of a dying way of life and of the distance between family members. Hickam tells his story brilliantly, making everyone who inhabits it come alive in just a few sentences. As the whole town rallies around the "rocket boys", people's true characters are revealed. The book is full of unforgettable vignettes, such as when Homer is rescued from a blizzard by a woman with a connection to him he never would have imagined. Reading this book was a pure pleasure, and I plan to read Hickam's other books about Coalwood, West Virginia as soon as I can.
    • 5/5
      What an amazing story. This is autobiographical and done by an excellent writer. Homer Hadley Hickam, Jr. (nicknamed Sonny) was 15 when the Russians launched Sputnik and it inspired him to his lifes work, working with NASA. This story covers only three years, from the age of 15 and Sputnik to 18 and graduation from High School. Those three years follow Homer and his small group of friends who decide they need to build a rocket. Sonny is the de facto leader, Quinten is the "brains" and the other boys the cheering section, gophers and general support staff. Their first "rocket" sits on the ground and fizzles at them but not to be discouraged they keep working until they achieve flight. After that its a matter of making things better and better.

      The best part of this story is not the building of the rockets but the family and community relations that go on around the rocket building. Sonny has strained relations with his father and his older brother and a strong relationship with his mother. It is during this three year period that he realizes that his parents are locked in a battle about what will happen with him, will he stay in West Virginia, following his father into the coal mines, or will he break free and go to college to become an engineer? His father is mine supervisor which adds to the tensions in town because Dad is a "company" man while most of the town is Union. Much of the conflict of the story is between townspeople and the Hickam family's perceived protection of the company - at the expense of the mine workers and their families.

      I highly recommend this book and can't wait to get the next three parts of Sonny's story, all written with his deft hand, I hope.

      One other note, this book was made into a movie, so if you've ever seen October Sky (an anangram of Rocket Boys), you already know part of the story.
    • 5/5
      "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled." - PlutarchThat could act as a summary to the book. At fourteen-years-old Homer Hickam was an average student with no real ambition in a dying town--and then in 1957 Sputnick swept over the October skies of West Virginia. It inspired him and his friends to start a rocket club, and in learning how to put those rockets in the air he learned physics, chemistry--and even taught himself calculus. But this is about more than rocket science--it's a love letter to his hometown: Coalwood. A company town--a coal mining town that sucked the life out of its inhabitants. But without the folk of that town, there's no way the "rocket boys" would have launched those rockets--and their dreams. Hickam dedicated the book not just to his parents but the town of Coalwood--and by the end I certainly understood why. I'm a space nut...er... enthusiast. So I admit this story might have a special resonance for me. On the other hand, a book rarely moves me to tears--and this one did. It's a memoir that reads like a novel--a page-turning, uplifting novel. There was a film based on this book. I've seen it and it's a good film. But this was a great book.
    • 5/5
      "To get out of here, you've got to show your dad you're smarter than he thinks. I believe you can build a rocket. He doesn't. I want you to show him I'm right and he's wrong. Is that too much to ask?" I am a big fan of the movie, October Sky and looked forward to reading the book the movie is based on. As much as I was looking forward to reading Rocket Boys I wasn’t expecting it to be the great read that it turned out to be. I was a captive audience from the first paragraph. Written with a refreshing honesty, Homer Hickam Jr. writes his memoirs of his Rocket Boy days in the tiny coal mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia (population 2,000) with an amazing amount of charm and wit that made this one of those rare books that is hard to put down. Rocket Boys is the the true story of a few native sons who decide, against all odds, to do the impossible: excel in the world of science by teaching themselves how to build rockets.Space captures the imagination of young Homer who witnesses the Russian satellite Sputnik from his back yard one starry October night in 1957. Homer suddenly starts envisioning himself as someone who helps build the U.S. rockets that will successfully go into space. His hero becomes German rocket scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun who comes to America to help in the U.S. space program. Homer’s ultimate goal is to work on Dr. Braun’s team at the newly formed NASA. Sophomore Homer wants to start building rockets but he has no idea how. He finds a way, though, by recruiting one of the smartest kids he knows at Big Creek High School and enlisting his friends in his endeavor. Thus the Rocket Boys and the Big Creek Missile Agency (BCMA) is born. The boys spend weekends together learning everything they need to know to get their rockets to fly and gathering the necessary funds it will take to keep their rockets built, fueled, and ready to launch. With the support of their families, each other, the townspeople and a pretty young science teacher who has unwavering faith in them, the Rocket Boys, slowly but surely, enjoy success and fame in their little town. The Rocket Boys’ rockets become quite literally the launching pad out of the dead-end town of Coalwood and into a better future. Complete with sibling rivalry, unrequited love, a son desperately looking for his father’s approval, and a small group of boys who dare to dream bigger than their background dictates they should, Rocket Boys is a quintessential American coming of age story. A great story wonderfully written and told. In a word: "Prodigious!"
    • 5/5
      I recently requested "October Sky" from Netflix, having read that it was set in the late fifties Sputnik era. The movie delivered much more than that, though in a familiar story arc. The epilog revealed it was a true story, written by the protagonist, who was played by a young Jake Gyllenhaal. It warranted ordering the Nook version of the book. While the movie was faithful to the book, the book shines in its detail and depth. You get the West Virginia company town of Coalwood, its people places and history. You get humor, small town boredom, unfiltered teen angst, family conflict, and life and death incident. You also learn about principles of rocket propulsion.Mr. Hickam tells it in a pleasing, unvarnished style. An engrossing and moving story.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book and the two that followed in the "Coalwood Series". I was transported to the small coal mining town and connected to the teenagers working to achieve their dreams. FANTASTIC READ! I recommend this book to anyone...even those who normally don't read non-fiction.
    • 3/5
      Before hundreds of television channels and twenty four hour radio, when calculators were slide rules and no one knew what rockets really were, Homer Hickam, Jr. was growing up in a coal mining town dreaming of ways to leave. Then Sputnik was launched and everything changed.October Sky (aka Rocket Boys) is the story of Homer and his friends teaching themselves, and their town, about rockets and finding a way to create a life away from the dieing coal mine in their part of Kentucky.It’s a fascinating look at a place so rural, the high school is a couple of hour bus drive away and at a time (1957) when almost no one had heard of rockets and NASA didn’t exist. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
    • 4/5
      I read this as part of the Pikes Peak Library District's 2009 All Pikes Peak Reads program, having already seen the movie based on it, October Sky. The first paragraph of the book really caught my interest: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 in a kind of bloodless combat over how my brother and I would live our lives. I didn't know that if a girl broke your heart, another girl, virtuous at least in spirit, could mend it on the same night. And I didn't know that the enthalpy decrease in a converging passage could be transformed into jet kinetic energy if a divergent path was added. The other boys discovered their own truths when we built our rockets, but those were mine.Homer (Sonny) became fascinated by rockets when he first learned of the launching of the first Sputnik by the Russians in 1957. He and his friends formed the BCMA, Big Creek Missile Agency and set off to discover how to build rockets in attempts that would now likely put them in court for theft at best and their parents in court for child endangerment. Things were really different in the 50's, and Homer's mother admonished him mainly to not blow himself up.It is more than a story about building rockets. It is about life in a coal mining town, Coalwood, where everything is owned by the company. There was little hope for the boys in Coalwood, little chance that they could do anything other than following their fathers into the coalmines, little chance that they would go to college. The outlook was even bleaker for the girls who would most likely be stay-at-home wives trapped in a company town and married to coal miners, hoping they wouldn't lose their husbands in a mining accident and their homes two weeks later when widows had to leave the company housing.It is also a story about relationships, Homer Sr.'s love of and dedication to the mine, of his stoicism and the rift between his younger son and himself, of his hope for his older boy's potential football career. Of the strained relationship between Homer's parents, between Homer and his brother, of friendships, and of a very special teacher who never let Homer give up his dream. The book is a touching and inspiring memoir of what a boy with dreams can accomplish, against all odds.
    • 4/5
      An absolutely beautiful memoir, about school, about youth, about the 50's, about unions, about the south, about America, about life. I can't imagine that this book doesn't offer at least something to even the most discerning reader. It has romance, drama, science, teenage angst, and is replete with things going "boom!"In all seriousness though, this book didn't just touch my soul, it kidnapped it. I have always loved the movie and was even inspired to go to engineering school because of it (I decided I hated math and switched majors later). I didn't expect to like the book as much as the movie, but was pleasantly surprised to find I loved it far more. I hate to be cliche, but I'll confess, I DID laugh, I DID cry, and I don't regret a second of it.The book delves more deeply into the life of coalminers in the mid-20th century and offers a lot of insight into what life was like for people in the era of my parents' youth. It also has a great deal more in it that the movie lacked. Without giving anything away, I'd just like to say if you so much as liked the movie, you absolutely must read this book.
    • 5/5
      I loved the movie, October Sky, and always meant to read the book. I'm so glad I did! It's a wonderful memoir about some boys growing up in a coal-mining town in the mountains of West Virginia in the 1950s right around the time Sputnik launched. They get rocket fever and with the help of half the town, launch their rockets as high as six miles into the sky! They teach themselves trigonometry and convince the high school to offer calculus so they can fly their rockets higher.
    • 4/5
      Dear Sonny,I hope this letter is going to be sent to the correct address because Sonny, I have been looking for a way to write you when you left Coalwood. I don't know if I should call you Sonny or Homer, it has been so long! I hear your name some times on the radio and when ever the television is tuned to the news and I hear something about space or rockets or anything like that, I think of you Sonny. It seems just like yesterday we were studying our math in my house. Now I bet your always building rockets for the government. You must be pretty busy.I'm still in good ol' West Virginia. My family and I moved from Coalwood because my father got fired from the mine because they couldn't pay him. But it is alright. It is nice to see other parts of the state. Remeber when I asked you if you if you had ever left West Virginia before? Well, I still haven't. I guess I just love my home state too much! But I would still like to explore the country. I promised myself I would visit a different state, maybe Florida. They have got nice beaches down there. How about you Sonny, how have you been? Have you traveled the world on your rockets yet?So, you and all the other Rocket Boys must be all engineers like you. How are the rest of the gang? I'm sorry I have so many questions, but you are so interesting Sonny. Please write soon!Your friend,Dorothy PlunkDear Dorothy,I can't believe you found my address, I have been moving around a bit, trying to find a good home. No, I have not traveled all around the world yet, but it is on my list of priorities. I have visited a few states though, for the rockets. Remember the science I went to in Indianapolis? That is the kind of things I have been involved with lately. Let me tell you about the Rocket Boys, me, Quentin, Billy, and Sherman became engineers. Roy Lee became a banker and O'Dell went into insurance and farming. But, I don't know if you heard, poor Sherman died of a heart attack.* It was not really expected, so it was a real shock. He always seemed so healthy and athletic, who knows how it happened. May he rest in peace.Sounds like your doing well Dorothy. Are you married yet? It's okay if you don't want to tell me, I don't want to be poking through your business, unless you want to tell me. I was glad to hear from you,Homer Hickam Jr. (Sonny)
    • 4/5
      This is one of my favourite read-alouds in Boys & Books. Homer's story combines both humour and tragedy to create an inspirational story. While overseas recently, I visited the Science Museum in London which has quite a bit on Homer's hero - Werner Von Braun (the German scientist who invented the V2 rocket). Having read "Rocket Boys" (or October Sky) made the rocket exhibits so much more interesting.