This is the true story that inspired the feature film october sky. Rocket boys also published under the title october sky. The main conflict is when homers father has the idea that homer will. This post may contain affiliate links which means we receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase. October sky is an anagram of rocket boys, the title of the 1998 novel upon which the film is based. Homer hickam, october sky, originally published as rocket boys lesson plans for both book and movie homer hickam biography and related links. Homer describes his hometown of coalwood, west virginia. It was 1957, and the small mining town of coalwood, west virginia, was slowly dying. But he did not get to play his senior year because of something that had happened the year before involving his dad, and a well meaning but misguided group know as the football fathers. As the boys began to light up the tarry skies with their flaming projectiles and dreams of glory, coalwood, and the hickams, would never be the same. At the same time, there are a great many universal themes such as dreams, growing up and struggles with family.
The movie october sky is a heart moving story about homer hickam who was inspired to build a rocket and never gave up until his dreams became true. From rocket boys to october sky gives lots of behindthescenes stories both onset and off. October sky, originally published as rocket boys, tells the story of how the author decided to build rockets as a high school student in coalwood, west virginia. October sky orignally published as rocket boys 9780440235507 by homer hickam. Rocket boys and this mass market paperback titled october sky are the same book. Weatherford award in 1998, the year of its release. October sky 1999 pg 1h 48min biography, drama, family 19 february 1999 usa the true story of homer hickam, a coal miners son who was inspired by the first sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his fathers wishes. The true story, originally published as rocket boys, that inspired the universal pictures film.
The leader of the coalwood miners union, john dubonnet quarrels with homer sr. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. It is also used in a period radio broadcast describing sputnik 1 as it crossed the october sky. Book vocab citations in 1999, universal made a movie entitled october sky. Why was the movie called october sky instead of the books title, rocket boys. The future star came into the gig after picking up early roles in city slickers 1991, josh and s. Now shes on a quest with kaleb to find out just who she really is or what she is. October sky is an ok book its about a small mining town called coal wood. Homer is a 17 year old student who wants to build a rocket with his friend to participate in a country science fair because he saw the sputnik on tv. As an amazon associate, i earn from qualifying purchases. When universal made the movie, however, they changed quite a bit. With the help and sometimes hindrance of the people of coalwood, the rocket boys learn not only how to turn mine scraps into rockets that soar miles into. Chapter one talked about coalwood and how it has come along. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
With the help and sometimes hindrance of the people of coalwood, the rocket boys learn not only how to turn mine scraps into rockets that soar. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boys pursuit of amateur rocketry in a. Originally titled the rocket boys when hickam wrote it in 1998, the book can also be found under the title october sky which was released in conjunction with the movie tiein in 1999. Theme of october sky bibliography theme found in other literature the theme of october sky is to follow your dreams. October sky is the first memoir in a series of four, by homer hickam jr. October sky 1999 john hickam chris cooper is a west virginia coal miner who loves his job and expects his sons, jim scott miles and homer jake gyllenhaal, to follow in his footsteps. Although hickam hoped producers would keep rocket boys. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. You can customize the printable with the options shown below, or you can just click the build printable button to create it now. One her guardian kaleb is madly in love with her but they cant be together because hes a werewolf. Other books include the nonfiction work torpedo junction, which was a military history bookofthemonth club selection, and the novel back to the moon. He inspired to build rockets when he seen the first.
This was the movie version of the book rocket boys, written by homer hickam. The character of john dubonnet in rocket boys from. I need to read this for my school and i cant go to the library and i cant find a website. In the town of coalwood people are expected to live or do certain things. It was 1957, the year sputnik raced across the appalachian sky, and the small town of coalwood, west virginia, was slowly dying. They were his ticket out of coalwood, west virginia, a mining town that everyone knew was dyingeveryone except sonnys father, the mine superintendent and a. October sky is a 1999 american biographical drama film directed by joe johnston and starring jake gyllenhaal, chris cooper, chris owen, and laura dern. He fell in with a group of misfits who learned not only how to turn scraps of metal into sophisticated rockets but how to sustain their hope in a. Originally titled the rocket boys, the book was renamed in 1999. Free october sky worksheets and literature unit for. October sky novel from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia october sky originally published as rocket boys is the first memoir in a series of three, by homer hickam, jr. Two she dosent know who she is anymore the life she thought was real was torn to shreds around her.
Like the hero of october sky, i remember the shock that ran through america when the russians launched sputnik on oct. I myself am from a coal town in eastern kentucky, so i can relate to so much of this books account of a young boy growing up in. Homer hickam was a teenage boy from a mining town in west virginia called coalwood. October sky this unit includes backgroundresource links, vocabulary, information about memoirs and socratic seminars, and assignments. Homer hickam stated that universal studios marketing people got involved and they just had to change the title because. The true story, originally published asrocket boys, that inspired the universal pictures film. He brought the reallife story of homer to the big screen, playing the young man living in coalwood. It is also available in abridged audio book, electronic book, large print, and is. Coalwood pages 116 in the beginning of this book you have an average boy living in a coal mining town. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading from rocket boys to october sky kindle single. The theme of following your dreams can be found in the alchemist by paulo coelho. Each family lived on a small plot of land owned by the company. This was discovered by director joe johnston using an anagram program on his computer.
From rocket boys to october sky kindle single kindle edition by hickam, homer. Faced with an uncertain future, sonny hickam aka homer hickam, jr. Story diagram rising action the rising action is when sputnik is launched by the russians, homer hickam was then inspired to launch his own rocket into outer space. Sonnys idea of building rockets starts as simply a dream, but then he brings in the other boys and even approaches quentin, the school outcast. The book talks about the attributes of coalwood and the people who live there. In striving to enrich the lives of all readers, teachingbooks supports the first amendment and celebrates the right to read. Rocket boysoctober sky is an excellent way to think about and discuss the many steps it takes to achieve a goal. I failed to connect with any of the main characters i felt that the book shifted viewpoint too frequently for me to identify with anyone. The title of the paperback released at the same time was changed to the movie title, which is an anagram of rocket boys take the letters of rocket boys and move them around to spell october sky. My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer, the boy told the alchemist one. Chapterbychapter summaries of october sky rocket boys. Comprehension by chapter, vocabulary challenges, creative reading response activities and projects, tests, and much more. Before the first frame of film was exposed, i was involved with the writing of the screenplay. This article will give you a chapter by chapter october sky summary.
I dont honestly know why, but here are the similarities and differences between the book october sky name. At the same time, he enthusiastically supports homer s experiments with rockets, and even gives him some useful advice about how to prepare rocket fuel and design rocket casings. The paperback of the october sky by homer hickam at barnes. One of the best books i have ever read, tells of the angst of teenage boys growing up in a mining town in america, the fifties. Looking back after a distinguished nasa career that fulfilled his boyhood ambition, hickam shares the story of his youth, taking readers into the life of the little mining town and the boys who came to embody both its tensions and its dreams. Faced with an uncertain future, homer hickam nurtured a dream. As it is a true story it is inspiring as they persist in realising their dreams and i would recommend this book and others in the series. It takes place in coalwood, west virginia in the nineteen fifties and sixties. Early in his career, jake gyllenhaal led october sky as homer hickam. Interestingly, october sky is an anagram of rocket boys, the same letters just moved around. Coalwood is a very simple mining town as described in the book.
In 1957, the year homer began building rockets, there were only 2,000 people living there. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boys pursuit of amateur rocketry in a coal mining town. Blood red sky by october sky read free book online. Speedy delivery and more modern title and cover,was first printed as october sky. Not sure about the reading level but you can find a wealth of information on the characters, setting etc, from. There is no free and legal copy of october sky online. Jim hickman is the brother to sonny and the son to elsie and homer hickman. Homer hickam online comprehension questions, vocabulary words, and an essay test, for teaching october sky. Although i was a teenager more than a decade later than hickam was, some of the things he wrote about hit close to home. Free october sky study unit worksheets for teachers to print. Interesting that october sky the name of the movie is an anagram of rocket boys the name of the book the original name anyway. This felt like a madefortv movie script made for a low budget cable network. Author sues universal over musical theater adaptation of october. Ive lost count of the engineers whove told us they wouldnt have been engineers had they not seen the movie or read the book.