Rocket Boys

The Coalwood Series, Book 1

By: Homer Hickam

Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte

The New York Times best-selling 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.

©1998 Homer Hickam (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"A thoroughly charming memoir... [An] eloquent evocation of a lost time and place." ( The New York Times)

Excellent read

So much of this tale reminds me of my father and his father's experiences in the Silver King mine located in Park City, Utah. My father became an engineer and worked for NASA and the Air Force. He often spoke of the strength and stamina of mine workers but also of the need to dream.

Rocket science at its best

There's nothing like a good story! This book is a shining example of just that - moving, enthralling, delightful. Beautifully written and aptly performed.

amazing

I loved this book. it was an assignment for college and I am so glad it was.

Fantastic book!!

This is a book that everyone should read, then watch the movie October Sky. The book was so engaging and I felt like I was there with the rocket boys.

Amazing Adventure!

this is an amazing story, I literally flew to outer space!!!! I am completely entranced!

Great story.

Any additional comments?

Wonderfully enjoyable story. The author's license was utilized well, enhancing the lives of the boys and their exploits.

Best narrator ever!!!

What a beautiful story of a beautiful time and beautiful values and struggles! As for the narration, that is by far the best narration I have ever heard. He was incredible.

Also, my 12 year old son loved the book just as much as me. Highly recommended.

Good Nostalgic Read about Beginning the Space Age

Rocket Boys lived up to the hype, a good nostalgic, heart-warming story about small town adolescence in the late 1950's. There was much I could identify with, despite being 9 years behind the author. I don't remember the Sputnik vividly, but I do remember standing in our backyard and pointing at Telstar, the American satellite, as it crossed the sky in the early 1960s. The beginning of the space age was a remarkable period in our history that spanned my youth, with the historic landing of man on the moon coming in the summer after my senior year of high school.

So this story is set against that backdrop, and it is a combo story about the Big Creek Missile Agency and its attempt to build rockets that would fly several thousand feet in to the sky, but it also a story about teenage angst in relationship to family, other teens, and the community at large. And as much as I enjoyed the rocket building portion of the story, I found Hickam's teenage musings about the people around him very enjoyable. At times it got a little sappy. At other times, I felt a bit embarrassed that he was being so critically honest about the shortcomings of his parents. But on the whole, they were not bad parents, and clearly fit the maxim that we did not have perfect parents, and none of us have become perfect parents.

One of the things I thought this book did a great job of was giving you the typically skewed caricature that individuals have of others, but then eventually opening the window to see that the person was really much more than the caricature initially perceived. This happened both with the author's peers and with some of the adults in the community with whom the author interacted. I think back to the teachers and administrators and youth group leaders with whom I interacted as a teenager, and realize now how little I really understood of who they were in the limited contacted we had. This is particularly true of teachers, who we evaluated totally on the basis on how we saw them in the school, when many had so much more going on in their lives that would have been relevant.

Finally, in light of the current anti-labor union mood of our country, I find it scary that many seem to want to return to the days like those presented in this book, where workers were at the mercy of the owners, and the outcome was often unpleasant. But that is another issue.

Listen! You will be rewarded over and over again!

I’ve been thinking about listening to this book for years but have resisted because I figured I had already seen the movie, what more could there be?
I was so wrong.
I loved every single second of this book… Even the super ‘science-y’ portions (and I hate science).
It just had everything....excitement, love, adventure, danger, rooting for the underdog, life lessons....
It’s at the top of the list of the best ‘coming of age’ stories, and it leaves you with a yearning for a different, simpler time. The narrator was excellent! There was a moment when Homer and his best friend Roy Lee are in the backyard at night, on the verge of growing up and leaving their little town, and they don’t have the words to express how they feel about one another.
Tom Stechschulte actually gets emotional for a second...it happens one other time further on in the narration as well. You can tell the difference between a performed moment and an actual emotional tremble in a persons voice...this book is that beautiful!
Do not hesitate, you will feel lucky to have heard this one.

Captivating and well written

This book is a joy. It is written beautifully with vivid descriptions and fully developed characters. It adeptly captures a by-gone era and the teen angst that comes with the years spent in high school. The major plot line is perfectly accented by small side stories, providing depth and color to the story. The narrator reads with clarity and emotion that enhances each episode of the text.