Homer Hickam - Rocket Boys

“COMPELLING… Rocketry gives Hickam’s story of his teenage years in the 1950’s and early 60’s a unique twist…. Fulfillment of a boy’s dreams is what makes Rocket soar.”

“A GREAT READ… Rocket Boys is one man’s engaging account of growing up and leaving home, but… it is much more than that…. One closes the book with an immense feeling of satisfaction.”

“[A] NOSTALGIC AND ENTERTAINING MEMOIR.”

“Rocket Boys … rewards every mother and teacher who ever told children they could be anything they wanted if they worked hard enough…. The memory of a special time remains for Hickam and everyone who ever dreamed of soaring to the stars.”

“THOROUGHLY CAPTIVATING.”

“A REFRESHINGLY HOPEFUL BOOK about personal triumph and achieving one’s dreams, a book that can be recommended to all…. Hickam has written a wonderful story about when kids had to make their own fun with what was at hand. It’s an adult book about remembering childhood.”

“Rocket Boys , while a true story, reads like a well-written novel. It deals with a wide range of issues, including the bittersweet experience of coming of age. It also provides an intimate look at a dying town where people still allowed kids to dream and helped them make those dreams become reality.”

“A WONDERFUL READ… Rocket Boys is [a] message of hope and accomplishment.”

“As our emotions are stirred and our nostalgia awakened, this wonderful and inspirational story really treats us to an enduring depiction about family, hope and love.

“UPLIFTING.”

“It’s a big story, and Hickam tells it expertly… a second-to-none tale of hope and self-realization.”

“ENTHRALLING… Hickam recalls stories… with vivid de tail and historic accuracy. Rocket Boys is much more than the story of six boys who wanted to build a better rocket. It’s the story of a young man looking for more from his life than what his dying community will be able to provide.”

“Great memoirs must balance the universal and the particular. Too much of the former makes it overly familiar; too much of the latter makes readers ask what the story has to do with them. In his debut, Hickam walks that line beautifully. No matter how jaded readers have become by the onslaught of memoirs, none will want to miss the fantastic voyage of BCMA, Auk and Coalwood.”

“ABSORBING.”

“So skillful and moving is the prose that he would surely have won his way free of Appalachia using a gift for words if an affinity for science had not opened the door first. Hickam portrays people who were important to his life… [and] draws these and other figures with a deft hand that many authors never achieve. The book also offers something unusual these days: enthusiasm and hope that almost seem to come from a different civilization than our own.”

“Hickam writes with the wisdom of an adult embracing boyhood perceptions… it’s a small story about big dreams and blasting into new frontiers.”

“DIFFICULT TO PUT DOWN… a poignant reminder of an extinct town. Hickam has a marvelous grasp of language, especially in his descriptions. Far from it being overly scientific, everyone should identify with something in these memoirs.”

Published by Dell Publishing a division of Random House, Inc.

1540 Broadway

New York, New York 10036

It’s All in the Game by Charles Gates Dawes and Carl Sigman. Lyrics reprinted courtesy of Major Songs (ASCAP) c/o The Songwriters Guild of America © 1951, and Warner Bros. Publications, Inc. Rights for the British Reversionary Territories controlled by Memory Lane Music Limited, London. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Love Is a Many Splendored Thing by Paul Francis Webster and Sammy Fain. © 1955 Twentieth Century Music Corporation. © Renewed and Assigned to EMI Miller Catalog, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission of Warner Bros. Publications, Inc.

The author has sought to trace ownership and, when necessary, obtain permission for quotations included in this book. Occasionally he has been unable to determine or locate the author of a quote. In such instances, if an author of a quotation wishes to contact the author of this book, he or she should contact him through the publisher.

Copyright © 1998 by Homer H. Hickam, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address: Delacorte Press, New York, New York.

Delta ®is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

eISBN: 978-0-440-33387-6

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