A great book with perfectly timed humor and emotion.

books:


	• Rocket Boys: A Memoir Homer Hickam Simon & Schuster Audio, 2006 average customer review:based on 533 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Rockets in West Virginia

... "On June 4, 1960, the Big Creek Missile Agency, fresh from its medal winning performance at the National Science Fair, is sponsoring a day of rocket launches at its Cape Coalwood range. Everyone reading these words is invited..." This quote can be found on page 356-357 of a book called Rocket Boys; this statement showed me that the success of the main characters was a result of personal hard work and teamwork.

"Rocket Boys" by Homer H. Hickam, Jr. is a nonfiction account of a group of friends from Coalwood, West Virginia in the early 1960's who have a fetish for making rockets. Homer and his friends have a dream to shoot a rocket up into the clouds. This story gives the reader a message that dreams really can come true.

Rocket Boys is one of the strongest books I have ever read. The author accomplished his goals to tell people that team work is one of the most important things to know in your life. This book is recommended for people that like space and rockets and who want a hopeful book to read. Reading Rocket Boys really gets you thinking about team work and how far you can get with it.

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Amazing True Story

Homer Hickam grew up in a rural isolated mountain town but went on to win the National Science Fair.

This book is his story and how he was successful.

I bought 24 copies of this book to inspire my advanced 6th grade Reading class. They loved the book. In our discussions they mentioned never giving up. Homer and his friends kept trying until they had success.

Thank you for sharing your life with us, Mr. Hickam.

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Great Story

I was a little disappointed by the ending and the fact that Homer Hickam gave John Kennedy the idea to go to the Moon but other than that I couldn't help but root for the band of misfits.

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A great book with perfectly timed humor and emotion.

Children in West Virginia mining towns became coal miners. They did not become rocket scientists. But it did not matter how well-known this was, for Homer "Sonny" Hickam, Jr. there was only one way out. He was the right age and had the right amount of ambition when the United States and Russia became entangled in the Space Race and as far as he was concerned, his fate was sealed.

Hickam's writing carried the comfort of conversation with an old friend. It was remarkable how easily I became nostalgic for neither a time nor a place that I had ever known. The story drips with the passion of a man who if he had to do it all over again, probably wouldn't change a thing. He understood and appreciated the importance of everything that happened to him and helped him on his way.

One thing that I found particularly fascinating was how closely this book resembled the old proverb that It takes a whole village to raise a child. And I mean no disrespect to Mr. Hickam when I point out how amazing his circumstance was in that he could not have done it alone. The stars seemingly aligned perfectly so that one boy from West Virginia could capture the hearts of so many people that he would be able to get such invaluable assistance. There was probably no way anyone else could have done what he did. And that is to his credit. (The way his path was guided by fate, or something like it, reminded me of how Ruth Reichl became a food critic in Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table.)

I loved this book for Hickam's ability to transport me from my favorite reading chair to a West Virginia high school in the late 50s. I found myself hanging on every word wondering what would happen next. There is something special about an intelligently written story about a successful man who takes no credit for himself, but rather gives it to each person who helped him make his dreams come true. Rocket Boys may now find itself among the short list of my favorite books.

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Countdown to Adventure!

I bought this book and the audio tapes and my son and I listened and read this amazing book together. Our plan was to read for 30 minutes a night...however it was sooooooo good we listened and read for 5 hours!

We are now going to rent the movie that was made from the film! All systems go....we enjoyed the adventure!

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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. Nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Homer Hickam's lush, lyrical memoir is a marvelously entertaining chronicle of triumph.

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