Characters in the book october sky

Homer who is called sonny by everybody he knows is the main character, and the story is told by him, looking back on his time in high school and on his experience building rockets at that time. October skies by alex scarrow meet your next favorite book. This is the true story that inspired the feature film october sky. Sonny wants to build rockets, homer wants his son to work in the mine. The movie is taken from an autobiographical novel by homer h. In october, news of the soviet unions rocket launch of sputnik 1 reaches coalwood. When universal made the movie, however, they changed quite a bit. The book talks about the attributes of coalwood and the people who live there. Yet what makes the film so endearing is the relationship between the characters. What obstacles did the boys in october sky have to face. Coalwood is a very simple mining town as described in the book. Author homer hickam talks differences in rocket boys and film october sky updated jan, 2019. Rocket boys october sky chapter one less terrible this.

This site has almost every book available in ebooks format as a pdf. The story is that of homer hickham jr, or sonny as he is known in the story, and. Although i was a teenager more than a decade later than hickam was, some of the things he wrote about hit close to home. With the soviet unions launching of sputnik 1 on october 4, 1957, the great space race that dominated the 1960s and beyond began. Chapterbychapter october sky summary rocket boys by. Not only did that tiny satellite strike fear into many americans hearts, but it also motivated president kennedy and nasa to reach the moon first, thus paving the way for the heroics of legendary astronauts such. Homers father, john hickam, serves as the primary antagonist of the film. It was 1957, and the small mining town of coalwood, west virginia, was slowly dying. I thought the film was amazing but this is even better. 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.

Hickam is such a good writer, and although the book is based on their rocketary adventures, its all interesting, from his. It was 1957, the year sputnik raced across the appalachian sky, and the small town of coalwood, west virginia, was slowly dying. The book is dedicated to mom and dad and the people of coalwood. Jim hickman is the brother to sonny and the son to. He grew up in the small west virginian coal mining town of coalwood. What are the differences between the book and the movie. You can get some information from october sky 1999. October sky, novel units student packet, grades 912. After that, sonny enlists the help of quentin wilson, roy lee cooke, sherman siers, jimmy odell carroll, and billy rose to help. A few prereading activities are included to gauge a students familiarity with the context of the novel. Usually on sundays, sonny would hitchike a ride up to war to have science studies with her.

Elsie hickman sherman the mother of homer hickman she was loving and caring she wanted more for homer so she did not want him to work in the mine like his father homer hickman sr. Sonny is a dynamic character, changing much throughout the novel. Important people, mindsets, and events in october sky. The true story of homer hickam, a coal miners son who was inspired by the first sputnik. The main character is homer hickam, a boy who becomes passionate about going into. 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. In homer hickams autobiographical october sky, miss freida riley does all of these things and more for homer, aka sonny, and the rest of the rocket boys in the big creek missile agency bcma. 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. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.

It was a suborbital lob shot, and though the spacecraft was empty, the newspapers said it was the opening round of americas program to put men into space. Miss freida riley is that teacher for sonny in homer hickams october sky. The novel unit series is comprised of this student packet, and a soldseparately october sky teachers guide. Many schools from fifth grade to college are studying rocket boysoctober sky in their classrooms, including english, math, and science classes. Filled with awe and a belief that this may be his chance out of coalwood, homer sets out to build rockets of his own and enter the science fair. Unlike homer hickam, the hero of october sky, i didnt go on to become a nasa.

This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of rocket boys by homer hickam. October sky quotes on september 9, 1959, i read that nasa had launched a mockup of a mercury manned capsule aboard a big joe rocket. October skies is another exceptional thriller from alex scarrow, he is book by book establishing himself as one of the best thriller writers around. The young narrator and protagonist of rocket boys, homer hickam, jr. This article will give you a chapter by chapter october sky summary. Chapter one talked about coalwood and how it has come along. Roy lee is certainly sonnys best friend in homer hickams memoir october sky. Take charactours quiz to get recommendations for thousands of characters, movies, tv shows, books, and games that are high matches for your unique. Jim hickman is the brother to sonny and the son to elsie and homer hickman. The book has been republished under the same name as the film. Dubonnet is a man of great integrity, who has the utmost respect for workers rights. Like the hero of october sky, i remember the shock that ran through america when the russians launched sputnik on oct. It takes place in coalwood, west virginia in the nineteen fifties and sixties. Rocket boys characters from litcharts the creators of sparknotes.

The leader of the coalwood miners union, john dubonnet quarrels with homer sr. The boys lived in a town dominated by the coal mining industry, a career that loomed over them like a dark shadow. The true story, originally published as rocket boys, that inspired the universal pictures film. In the book october sky, the boys had many obstacles to overcome. They wouldnt care if you lived in a governors mansion. They were in a science discetion of a worm in the beginning of the story. Learn october sky characters with free interactive flashcards. With the help of his friends, roy lee cooke william lee scott and sherman odell chad lindberg, and support from their science teacher, miss riley laura. During the course of the book, homer, inspired by read full character analysis the father of homer hickam jr. Jake gyllenhaal as homer hickam chris cooper as john.

Hes often responsible for obtaining materials for the bcmas rocket. I dont honestly know why, but here are the similarities and differences between the book october sky name changed from rocket boys and. One of the rocket boys he is disabled with a shorter left leg he works as the superintendent in the. Capturing time and place with impeccable detail and superbly developed characters including laura dern as an inspiring schoolteacher, october sky is a family film for the ages, encouraging the highest potential of the human spirit while giving viewers a clear view of a bygone era when the final frontier beckoned to the explorer in all of us. As the townspeople gather outside the night of the broadcast, they see the satellite orbit across the sky. He is the son of the mines superintendent, and has very different plans for his future then his father does. In the book rocket boys, the main character is always called sonny. Interesting that october sky the name of the movie is an anagram of rocket boys the name of the book the original name anyway. When sonny brings up his need for a book about rocket design, she finds a way to. Sonny, after seeing the russian satellite sputnik, decides to join the american team of rocket engineers called the missile agency when he graduates from school. An evaluation of the novel october sky by homer hickam, using the pit stop principles from first trimester reading.

October sky is a charming tale and the boys success is inspiring. Like giving them a book on rocketry, and showing them new materials for rocket fuel to name a few. Jimmy odell carroll is small and excitable, the most emotional member of the group. There is no free and legal copy of october sky online. For the film producers felt having two characters named homer would confuse. Homer hickam, the man whose life became the basis of the film october sky, takes us through some of his inspiring accomplishments. She inspires sonny to enter the science fair and gives him a book on how to build better rockets. Faced with an uncertain future, homer hickam nurtured a dream. An epilogue, using real footage, reveals the true outcomes of the main characters lives.

John dubonnet character analysis in rocket boys litcharts. Choose from 500 different sets of october sky characters flashcards on quizlet. Posted jul 23, 2014 reel vs real, october sky and rocket boys 7. Quentin wilson is the most intelligent member of the rocket boys and the person who does figures out most of the math in the group. All you have to do is type in the title in the search bar. The main character is homer hickam, a boy who becomes passionate about going into space after he hears about the soviet sputnik satellitethe first one in space. He wants his sons to continue in the coal mining tradition, and he has a difficult time. 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. October sky 1999 laura dern and jake gyllenhaal in october sky 1999 chris. From escaping the mines of coalwood, west virginia by learning rocketry to becoming a nasa engineer, he speaks about a career which eventually added the title of bestselling author to the mix. The reason he has a car was from a company settlement that went on before the book. In the book october sky, the bcma is the social club formed by sonny and his friends to experiment with making rockets and trying to figure out what causes them to fly. October sky 1999 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. A memoir, later released under the title october sky in concert.

What else do we know about this character in homer hickams october sky. Rocket boys by homer hickham jr, is the story of homer when he was a young man just getting his start in rocket building. This was the movie version of the book rocket boys, written by homer hickam. It is also available in abridged audio book, electronic book, large print, and is. Characters october sky sonny is the main character in this story.