Rocket Boys (also published as October Sky), by Homer Hickam

NOTE: In  honor of the 50th anniversary of the United States' first men on the moon, my book groups are reading about space.

People

Homer and Elsie Hickam – parents Jim – brother, football star in high school Homer “Sonny” Big Creek Missile Agency (BCMA): Homer Quentin – from Bartley, thought Homer had leadership skills Roy Lee Sherman O’Dell Billy – joined group later School: Dorothy Plank – Homer’s high school crush Buck - football player, tormented Homer Valentine Carmina Emily Sue Miss Riley – chemistry teacher The Great Six – teachers in grades 1 - 6 Coalwood Mine: General Superintendents: Van Dyke, Fuller, Bundini Mr. Isaac Bykovski – welder at mine, made parts for BCMA Leon Ferro – made parts for BCMA Mr. Dubonnut – union leader Jake Mosby – junior engineer Tag Farmer – constable, hired by Van Dyke Basil Oglethorpe – writer for McDowell County Banner Rev. Lanier Geneva Eggers – prostitute, saved as infant by Homer Sr. Dr. Wernher von Braun

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from paperback edition of Rocket Boys.

1. Discuss the importance of failure to the boys’ success.  According to Quentin, “Failure, after all, just added to our body of knowledge” (page 71).
2. Discuss Homer Sr. and Elsie’s parenting of Homer and Jim.  Would Homer’s life have been different without the encouragement of his mother?
3. Discuss Homer’s father.  How did your concept of him change as the story progressed?   On the positive side he started to help the BCMA, had saved Geneva as an infant at a risk to himself and had taught himself calculus from a book for his job.  On the negative side he sent Mr. Bykovski back into the mine after he helped the BCMA which led to him being killed and he would not go see a rocket launch.
4. Discuss Homer’s reaction to the mine accident in chapter 18.   His dad lost an eye, Mr. Bykovski was killed, and his mother told him he was selfish (page 246).   Afterwards Homer thought, “The worst thing I had ever felt in my life had taken control of me.  I felt: nothing” (page 250).
5. Why was Mr. Bykovski willing to risk his job to help Homer and his friends make the rocket?
6. Discuss Rev. Lanier’s sermon in chapter 7.  When he started, he was preaching about sons not respecting their fathers, and Homer thought it was meant to chastise the Rocket Boys.  But then he said, “These boys, and we all know I’m talking about our very own rocket boys, are dreaming great dreams.  They should be helped, not stifled” (page 106).  Homer felt the Great Six had influenced Rev. Lanier.  Why was the company so against the rocket boys’ experiments?
7. Homer Sr. was blamed for the football team’s suspension for one year (page 115).   This was a tragedy for boys such as Buck who had no other hope of attending college.  How did you feel about this?  Was it fair to punish the boys?
8. The boys had to work for everything they needed.  For example, Mr. Van Dyke sold them old phones they were trying to steal and did not tell their parents because it was a “business deal.”  Mr. Bykovski taught them to weld instead of just making what they needed.  How might things have been different if they were just given what they needed?  What did the boys gain from these experiences?
9. Why did Dorothy Plank keep inviting Homer over to study but rebuffed his romantic advances?
10. At a school assembly, Emily Sue observed that everyone liked Homer because he liked himself compared to his brother, Jim, who was “trying to find someone who will like him for who he is, not because he’s a big football star” (page 85).  Do you think this was a correct assessment of the two boys?  Did you think Jim was that insecure with himself?
11. At one point, Homer reflected that “learning something, no matter how complex, wasn’t hard when I had a reason to want to know it” (page 143).   Can you relate this to anytime you had or wanted to learn something?

*****

First Semester Success, 2nd edition, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available as an eBook and hard copy from amazon.com and a hard copy from wordassociation.com.   Click on the upper right link.