October sky book characters

With jake gyllenhaal, chris cooper, laura dern, chris owen. Author homer hickam talks differences in rocket boys and film october sky updated jan, 2019. These convenient lessons and quizzes can benefit anyone who needs to refresh their. Interesting that october sky the name of the movie is an anagram of rocket boys the name of the book the original name anyway. You can get some information from october sky 1999. Rocket boys take the letters of rocket boys and move them around to spell october sky. During the course of the book, homer, inspired by read full character analysis the father of homer hickam jr. These characters from october sky are ordered by their significance to the film, so main characters are featured at the top while minor characters and cameos are further down on the list. The russians launched it into the sky, and it passed through coalwood. It is also available in abridged audio book, electronic book, large print, and is a readers digest condensed book. Posted jul 23, 2014 reel vs real, october sky and rocket boys 7. Otherwise, despite its based on a true story opening credit, this earnest, nostalgic film has a way of seeming too good to be true.

Explore our collection of motivational and famous quotes by authors you know and love. 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. During the course of the book, homer, inspired by read full character analysis homer hickam sr. October sky is a 1999 american biographical drama film directed by joe johnston and starring jake gyllenhaal, chris cooper, chris owen, and laura dern. They wouldnt care if you lived in a governors mansion. Although i was a teenager more than a decade later than hickam was, some of the things he wrote about hit close to home. For the film producers felt having two characters named homer would confuse.

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. She inspires sonny to enter the science fair and gives him a book on how to build better rockets. Today, it is one of the most often picked community. The young narrator and protagonist of rocket boys, homer hickam, jr. 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. After seeing some clips from october sky and reading the plot, i figured id check out the book. Rocket boys october sky chapter one less terrible this time. Rocket boys characters from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. I thought the film was amazing but this is even better. 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. What obstacles did the boys in october sky have to face to. Jim hickam is sonnys older brother who plays for the schools football team. 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. May 08, 2018 29 videos play all the best october sky audiobook micah reads rocket boys october sky chapter 11 with special guest, water sprayer guy duration.

Important people, mindsets, and events in october sky coal. The last chapter of october sky has sonny back in town and the strike largely finished. October skies by alex scarrow meet your next favorite book. The coal mining was where coalwood the name, was created from. The book is dedicated to mom and dad and the people of coalwood. In the book october sky, the boys had many obstacles to overcome. Jim hickman is the brother to sonny and the son to elsie and homer hickman. It received so much acclaim and interest, he was asked to write a book detailing the whole story.

Discover and share quotes from october sky characters. What else do we know about this character in homer hickams october sky. It was all you could hear about on the radio, of course sonnys dad wasnt much into it because of the fact he resented the russians and communists. Access this study guide chapter at any time to study characters and quotes from the book october sky. Coalwood was described with mountains surrounding the town with many coal deposits inside of them. October skies is another exceptional thriller from alex scarrow, he is book by book establishing himself as one of the best thriller writers around. I first came across this book after watching the film october sky, that is based on the book. Coalwood is a very simple mining town as described in the book. It is also available in abridged audio book, electronic book, large print, and is. Hes often responsible for obtaining materials for the bcmas rocket. Homer hickam, the man whose life became the basis of the film october sky, takes us through some of his inspiring accomplishments. But it also comes to the end of his high school career. Valentine carmina is an older girl who likes sonny.

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. 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. October sky is a simple, but heartfelt tale about homer h. Rocket boys characters from litcharts the creators of. Hickam admits to taking poetic license in combining characters and with the sequence of. Homer grew up in a small town, but dreams to live a life better. The response to the article was overwhelming and hickam was offered both a book and movie deal, leading to the full length memoir, rocket boys of which the subsequent title october sky is an angrarm, and was followed by the coalwood way 2000 and sky of stone 2002. This was the movie version of the book rocket boys, written by homer hickam. Weatherford award in 1998, the year of its release. It was 1957, and the small mining town of coalwood, west virginia, was slowly dying.

This made sonny jealous, so he decided to do something to impress his parents and be better than his brother. Like giving them a book on rocketry, and showing them new. The boys lived in a town dominated by the coal mining industry, a career that loomed over them like a dark shadow. For a large section of the book, sonny ignores her, because she started a relationship with his brother jim. Another important person in october sky was freida riley, sonnys science teacher. When universal made the movie, however, they changed quite a bit. 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. It was a fun story about growing up but all of the characters in the book. The character of john dubonnet in rocket boys from litcharts. It was originally published under the title rocket boys in 1998. 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.

This article will give you a chapter by chapter october sky summary. Miss riley is such an influence on sonny that he gives her the gold medal. He is the son of the mines superintendent, and has very different plans for his future then his father does. The leader of the coalwood miners union, john dubonnet quarrels with homer sr.

An evaluation of the novel october sky by homer hickam, using the pit stop principles from first trimester reading. 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. Hickman, a man who i never knew existed prior to this films release. The book talks about the attributes of coalwood and the people who live there. Unlike homer hickam, the hero of october sky, i didnt go on to become a nasa. One of the rocket boys he is disabled with a shorter left leg he works as the superintendent in the. Hickam is such a good writer, and although the book is based on their rocketary adventures, its all interesting, from his. Like giving them a book on rocketry, and showing them new materials for rocket fuel to name a few. I, too, grew up in a rural area on a dirt road in the woods of nh. 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. Roy lee is certainly sonnys best friend in homer hickams memoir october sky. Jimmy odell carroll is small and excitable, the most emotional member of the group. 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. Many schools from fifth grade to college are studying rocket boysoctober sky in their classrooms, including english, math, and science classes.

This is the true story that inspired the feature film october sky. Chapterbychapter october sky summary rocket boys by. I dont honestly know why, but here are the similarities and differences between the book october sky name changed from rocket boys and. 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.

The reason he has a car was from a company settlement that went on before the book. October sky is a charming tale and the boys success is inspiring. The main character is homer hickam, a boy who becomes passionate about going into space after he hears about the. October sky, by homer hiram, was published in 1999. Faced with an uncertain future, homer hickam nurtured a dream. Rocket boys by homer hickham jr, is the story of homer when he was a young man just getting his start in rocket building. The book has been republished under the same name as the film. The movie is taken from an autobiographical novel by homer h. October sky characters cast list of characters from october sky.

October sky 1999 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. List of october sky characters, including pictures when available. Jim hickman is the brother to sonny and the son to. Miss freida riley is the dedicated high school chemistry teacher who goes above and beyond in her classes in october sky. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boys pursuit of amateur rocketry in a coal mining town.