October sky by joe johnston jake gyllenhaal, chris cooper. Chapterbychapter october sky summary rocket boys by. October sky questions and answers discover the community of teachers, mentors and students just like you that can answer any question you might have on october sky. I, too, grew up in a rural area on a dirt road in the woods of nh. Vocabulary from the whole book october sky previously known as rocket boys by homer sonny hickam.
Tag ends the fight quickly and tells the players to help clean up. There are spoilers for both the book and film versions of. Many schools from fifth grade to college are studying rocket boysoctober sky in their classrooms, including english, math, and science classes. If ever an opportunity was missed in a period piece movie to show a stern father giving his reckless teenaged son a welldeserved spanking, that moment was in the film, october sky. Hickam is such a good writer, and although the book is based on their rocketary adventures, its all interesting, from his antics in school, to his strained family relationship. 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. When universal made the movie, however, they changed quite a bit. If your son loved the alkaseltzer rocket activity and if youre looking for an inspirational movie for your family, youll want to get october sky.
Later, homer is inspired to look at a rocket science book miss riley gave him, and. I first came across this book after watching the film october sky, that is based on the book. Some of the football players attack the bcmas blockhouse and start a fight. 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. Although i was a teenager more than a decade later than hickam was, some of the things he wrote about hit close to home.
By the end, hes won the national science fair with his friends. Today, it is one of the most often picked community. October sky soundtrack 19 ill be gone forever by iforgot87871. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boys pursuit of amateur rocketry in a coal mining town. He inspired to build rockets when he seen the first. Gone with the wind is probably one of my favorite books of all time, but certainly not for the ending. Coalwood is a very simple mining town as described in the book.
As you know, homer hickams book rocket boys was made into a major motion picture. All of them had gone to college and wound up doing something that was. 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. One of the most powerful elements present in the ending of the memoir is how it showed the post rocket boys life of each. The last chapter of october sky has sonny back in town and the strike largely finished. The boys use trig to figure out how far in the sky the rocket goes. Joe johnston, the director of rocketeer and jumanji, has a knack for filming oldfashioned adventure stories. But hickam is also the author of several other books, crossing many genres and. Its a recent book, published after 1923, so it is under protection. I thought the film was amazing but this is even better.
In october 1957, news of the soviet unions launch of sputnik 1 reaches the. It is also used in a period radio broadcast describing sputnik 1 as it crossed the october sky. Homer hickam said that universal studios marketing people got involved and they just had to change the title because, according to their research, women over thirty would never see a movie titled rocket boys. October sky this unit includes backgroundresource links, vocabulary, information about memoirs and socratic. Homer hickam, october sky, originally published as rocket boys lesson plans for both book and movie homer hickam biography and related links. As the townspeople gather outside the night of the broadcast, they see the satellite orbit across the sky. It was selected by the new york times as one of its great books of 1998 and was an alternate book of themonth selection for both the literary guild and doubleday book clubs. Instead of going back to sleep and slaughtering his brains finest impulses, he leaps out of bed, thinks on paper and makes the word flesh. An unemployed writer sees his life fall apart around him when his wife goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary. Everyone in town and a lot of other towns come to see the rockets.
It was 1957, and the small mining town of coalwood, west virginia, was slowly dying. Dubonnet is a man of great integrity, who has the utmost respect for workers rights. By learning to build rockets, he explains, he discovered his own truths. 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. Homer hickam you probably know the name from october sky, the movie based on his memoir, rocket boys. October sky 611 movie clip homer proves his innocence 1999. A stand by me for space and science enthusiasts, the film features an excellent young cast, with jacob gyllenhaal, chris owen, and chad lindberg sharing the screen with veterans laura dern and chris cooper, the.
The book is dedicated to mom and dad and the people of coalwood. Joe johnstons sentimental film, based on nasa engineer homer hickams autobiographical the rocket boys, is a largely breezy, uplifting picture. Later, homer is inspired to read a book on rocket science from miss. Sep 21, 2012 gone with the wind is probably one of my favorite books of all time, but certainly not for the ending. 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. This is the true story that inspired the feature film october sky. In october, news of the soviet unions rocket launch of sputnik 1 reaches coalwood. Though his book october sky ends in june 1960 with the final launch of his big creek missile agency bcmas rockets, hickam lets us know what.
His new movie, october sky, displays the same talent, but johnston adds to this ability a knack for oldfashioned family drama as well. The dissatisfying resolution of gone with the wind the. Rocket boys, perhaps best known as the book that inspired the movie october sky, is a heartwarming comingofage memoir about a group of boys who dreamt of the future in a town that had very little future to dream about. The character of john dubonnet in rocket boys from. October sky the title on the mass market movie tiein version of the bestselling the rocket boys is the first memoir in a series of four, by homer hickam jr. The leader of the coalwood miners union, john dubonnet quarrels with homer sr. The true story, originally published as rocket boys, that inspired the universal pictures film. October sky is an anagram of rocket boys, the title of the 1998 memoir upon which the film is based. After the success of his book rocket boys, hickam has gone on to have a strong career as a writer. Released by sony classical in 1999 sk 61696 containing music from october sky 1999. Faced with an uncertain future, homer hickam nurtured a dream. In the movie, there are only 4 rocket boys including everyone but sherman.
Homer hickam, the man whose life became the basis of the film october sky, takes us through some of his inspiring accomplishments. In the book, there are 5 rocket boys including sonny, quentin, roy lee, odell, and sherman. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in rocket boys, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Interesting that october sky the name of the movie is an anagram of rocket boys the name of the book the original name anyway. October sky soundtrack 03 the rocket book by iforgot87871. Unless the author puts it online somewhere for free, or your local library has an e book version available for download, you are probably out of luck.
I never saw the movie was overseas when it came out found it one day in a video store cried like a baby. If anyone is interested in true stories or science or rocketry or just something where there is a happy ending youll enjoy this movie. It was selected by the new york times as one of its great books of 1998 and was an alternate bookofthemonth selection for both the literary guild and doubleday book clubs. Thanks to their teacher miss riley laura dern, homer hickam jake gyllenhaal and his high school friends peer up into the clear sky over their tiny west virginia coal mining town to see its tiny spark drift across the stars. It was 1957, the year sputnik raced across the appalachian sky, and the small town of coalwood, west virginia, was slowly dying. By viewing the movie october sky, students can observe the life of a coal miner and several social impacts of living in a coal.
In this short opening section, hickam sketches out the arc of his book. The book talks about the attributes of coalwood and the people who live there. If you really liked it that much, i recommend reading rocket boys. I just finished reading this wonderful memoir of six boys growing up in a deadend coalmining town in west virginia. Unless the author puts it online somewhere for free, or your local library has an ebook version available for download, you are probably out of luck. Jul 14, 2009 its a recent book, published after 1923, so it is under protection.
In order to celebrate sonny and the other rocket boys, they decide to launch off the last of their rockets. In october sky, what happened to each of the rocket boys. 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. In striving to enrich the lives of all readers, teachingbooks supports the first amendment and celebrates the right to read. Homer hickam talks about building rockets and the october sky festival 3 of 3 duration. Weatherford award in 1998, the year of its release. The only modern aspect to this movie seems to be the amount and kind of foul language. Jimmy odell carroll is small and excitable, the most emotional member of the group. There are spoilers for both the book and film versions of gone girl ahead. Homer hickam online comprehension questions, vocabulary words, and an essay test, for teaching october sky. The character of john dubonnet in rocket boys from litcharts. 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.
I dont honestly know why, but here are the similarities and differences between the book october sky name changed from rocket boys and october sky, the movie. 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. The movie started out with the name rocket boys or the rocket boys. Set in the late 1950s and based on a true story, october sky describes the coal mining town of coalwood, west virginia. Though his book october sky ends in june 1960 with the final launch of his big creek missile agency bcmas rockets, hickam lets us know what happens to the important people in his life in the. Chapter one talked about coalwood and how it has come along. Like you, i get lost in the reality of the book, and in the way margaret mitchell so perfectly sucks you into a world that is long gone for good reason of course.
Though his book october sky ends in june 1960 with the final launch of his big creek missile agency bcmas rockets, hickam lets us know what happens to the. But it also comes to the end of his high school career. Homer hickam was a teenage boy from a mining town in west virginia called coalwood. It was also nominated by the national book critics circle as best biography of 1998. Set in 1957, heres my take on what should have happened once jake gyllenhaals character was lectured in public after an experiment gone wrong then angrily sent. 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. Rocket boys has been translated into eight languages and has received many awards. October sky is a 1999 american biographical drama film directed by joe johnston and starring jake gyllenhaal, chris cooper, chris owen, and laura dern. I probably wont have the time to really read the ending, and its bugging me. The proper title of the book, however, is and always shall be rocket boys. A stand by me for space and science enthusiasts, the film features an excellent young cast, with jacob gyllenhaal, chris owen, and chad lindberg sharing the screen with veterans laura dern and chris cooper, the latter playing homers. He read the large book when he was 9 and then i bought the video for him which he has watched over and over.
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