This is a great companion novel to "Rocket Boys", the novel that inspired the movie "October Sky". I love reading about life in Coalwood, WVa and learning about a small town at that time. Where "Rocket Boys" was more focused on the Rocket Boys and their journey building rockets, this novel is about the same time frame and focuses more on family and relationships within the town. I'm now reading the next book, "Sky of Stone" that takes place when Sonny comes home to Coalwood after his first year of college. I love this book!

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In many ways, Hickam's second memoir about life in Coalwood is better than the one that inspired the film "October Sky". Naturally, rocket building is a big part of Hickam's life but he spends less time on rockets here than he did in "Rocket Boys" and more time on the town and it's residents. Hickam manages to grab the reader and throw him/her into the middle of a late 1950's coal-mining town. If you've never been to Coalwood, WV your missing out on a piece of Americana.

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Homer Hickman is the author of October Sky.
This book, set around Christmas 1959, is a study of the town of Coalwood and how a fast-moving world affects a small community resistant to change and the introspective teenage boy in its midst.

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Return to the town that inspired the beloved #1 Bestseller Skt of Stone.

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