October sky is a 1999 american biographical drama film directed by joe johnston and starring jake gyllenhaal, chris cooper, chris owen, and laura dern. Ultimately, the movie is about following your dreams, no matter how unachievable they might feel. Just to whet your curiosity and get you to read the book to find out the real and much more detailed story here are some rocket boys truths. The space race was the ultimate competition between the united states. The book is more detailed, while the movie skips over some parts. Put simply, october sky is a great movie, the kind that restores ones faith in the power of cinema. While sonny spends most of his time infatuated with her, dorothy only wants a friend relationship and goes out with other boys. How the classic memoir rocket boys was written and the hit movie october sky was made homer hickam on.
Throughout the book and movie sonnys father pressures him to become a coal miner and doesnt support his passion towards rockets in both movie and book, miss riley is supportive of the boys and gives them a rocket book that really persuades them into joining the science fair. The movie october sky is a heart moving story about homer hickam who was inspired to build a rocket and never gave up until his dreams became true. Movies lp this category is for questions and answers related to october sky, as asked by users of. Homer hickam was a teenage boy from a mining town in west virginia called coalwood. The acting is perfect, especially laura dern, who is an onscreen gem as miss riley.
I, too, grew up in a rural area on a dirt road in the woods of nh. Thats actually one of my favorite movies of all time. Although hickam hoped producers would keep rocket boys. Aug 16, 2010 i bet your one of those types that complains when your neighbors stereo is too loud, then when you turn yours up you get mad when your told to turn it down, maybe you like to cut someone off on the road, but then when someone else does you road rage and tailgate them until they get out of your way. In both the book and the movie, mom elsie painted a beach scene. Rocket boys interdisciplinary unit steve spangler science. Love is not offended and neither should we be as mild profanity is used thru out this inspiring movie. October sky, by homer hiram, was published in 1999. What are the differences in october sky book and movie. Movie nasas development people, mindsets, and events vocabulary extras book vs. It was 1957, the year sputnik raced across the appalachian sky, and the small town of coalwood, west virginia, was slowly dying.
To learn more about october sky, click on the october sky button located below the heading. October skies by alex scarrow goodreads share book. His town in west virginia, being a coal oriented place creates a lot of conflict. Get the best deals on october sky vhs tapes when you shop the largest online selection at. Due to the effort and determination that sonny had to use in order to pursue his dreams throughout the memoir of october sky, the theme in this book can be used to help any 21st century student in achieving their dreams. I first came across this book after watching the film october sky, that is based on the book. The tale of homer hickham and his dream of creating a rocket seem so simple at first, especially when the film is set in a mining town, where the future is as clear cut as the lumps of coal in the mine. Parents need to know that october sky is a moving drama based on a true story centers on a very difficult, tense fatherson relationship. This may be due to the budget that the creators of the movie were provided with. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boys pursuit of amateur rocketry in a coal mining town.
Author homer hickam talks differences in rocket boys and film october sky updated jan, 2019. October sky, originally published as rocket boys, tells the story. There are many similarities and differences between the book and movie versions of october sky. Rocket boys have you ever read a book and later watched the movie version only to find out that they are completely different. I enjoyed to watch the movie because it had many lessons and touches on some issues such as building the rockets, in life with friends and family problems to solve. When universal made the movie, however, they changed quite a bit. Faced with an uncertain future, homer hickam nurtured a dream. October sky is a great movies which is based on the truth story of homer hickam. October sky is a 1999 american biographical drama film directed by joe johnston and starring.
Did they look the way you thought they were going to in the movie. The conflict of the book consists of the main character, homer hickam, wanting to build rockets. Posted jul 23, 2014 reel vs real, october sky and rocket boys 7. This is one of my favorite scenes from the movie october sky. 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. There are just a few changes between the book and movie.
Effort and pure determination is a key part of the success of the rocket boys throughout homer hickams october sky. If youve ever read a book and then watched the movie based on that book, you probably noticed there are usually quite a few differences between the two. Hickman, a man who i never knew existed prior to this films release. Throughout the book, homer will struggle with his familys rules, many of which stem from the rules and unwritten laws of the mining company itself. I dont honestly know why, but here are the similarities and differences between the book october sky name. This will give you every difference and similarity.
Powered by create your own unique website with customizable templates. All plot contrivances and emotions have been explored before in other films and possibly even better. Like the hero of october sky, i remember the shock that ran through america when the russians launched sputnik on oct. Polar express venn diagram book vs movie students will use graphic organizer to compare and contrast the movie polar express and the book polar ex. 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. He inspired to build rockets when he seen the first. Home october sky research topic vocabluary biblioagraphy citations my roket vs. How the classic memoir rocket boys was written and the hit movie october sky was made homer hickam on amazon.
Book report or research paper in seconds or we will write a brand new paper for you in just a few hours search results. Order of importance in the beginning, it tells of how homer was interested in building a rocket after he heard about sputnik on the radio. This even happens when the book is a true story, as in the case of october sky by homer hickam. Create a venn diagram illustrating the differences and likenesses between the movie and the novel d. October sky 611 movie clip homer proves his innocence 1999. This movie is a perfect example of what attracted us to movies in the first place.
Book vocab citations in 1999, universal made a movie entitled october sky. What things in the movie october sky are fact and what. The red clay readers summer reading series continues this week with an interview with homer hickam, author of rocket boys. In my opinion, the best film he made in his career, though, was a little movie called october sky, which stars a young jake gyllenhaal. In 1999, universal made a movie entitled october sky. In both movie and book, miss riley is supportive of the boys and gives them a rocket book that really. A memoir in 1998 and the premiere of the movie october sky in 1999, homer hickam readers and fans have wondered how and why he wrote the book, and how the movie was made. October sky is the story of how homer hickam sees sputnik fly over his small mining town and begins to dream big. Especially, this movies teaching me that never giving up just following my dream.
Valentine carmina is an older girl who likes sonny. In striving to enrich the lives of all readers, teachingbooks supports the first amendment and celebrates the right to read. This conflict is in the best of terms, person vs society. The movie also does not have all the same people, for example, sherman. 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. October sk y is a 1999 america n biographical drama fi lm directed by joe johnston and starring jake gyllenhaal, chris cooper, chris owen, and laura dern. See more ideas about compare and contrast, books vs movies and the lorax book. Although i was a teenager more than a decade later than hickam was, some of the things he wrote about hit close to home. A memoir, the popular 1998 book made into the 1999 film october sky. Rocket boys interdisciplinary unit by kris anderson. Why was the movie called october sky instead of the books title, rocket boys. Its a film that tells the story of a teenager in a small coal mining town in.
October sky vhs movie new factory sealed special edition. Its remarkable to read about a town where a single company has such a dominant rolethe economy of mining towns like coalwood depended totally on their mine, and therefore on the company. October sky is a simple, but heartfelt tale about homer h. October sky rocket boys critique strategies by homer h. Before you open your book with a movie style prologue. Oct 02, 20 its undeniable that a book original usually blasts its movie version out of the water. The movie is taken from an autobiographical novel by homer h. The book has been republished under the same name as the film. October skies is another exceptional thriller from alex scarrow, he is book by book establishing himself as one of the best thriller writers around. For a large section of the book, sonny ignores her, because she started a relationship with his brother jim. November marks the release of several movies based on young adult novels, which makes it the perfect time for this kind of study. In the book rocket boys, the main character is always called sonny. Aug 31, 2008 the difference between october sky movie and book.
Ive been a little busy since i wrote rocket boys with a lot. Universal the rights to one book to adapt into one film, october sky. Rocket boys author homer hickam on writing memoirs. Author homer hickam talks differences in rocket boys and film october sky. I defended this as educational, claiming that we were going to compare and contrast the book and movie. Interesting that october sky the name of the movie is an anagram of rocket boys the name of the book the original name anyway. The producers and directors of the movie may also find some people and. One connection from october sky to the cold war is sputnik. I thought the film was amazing but this is even better. Hamilton movie with linmanuel miranda and original broadway cast hits theaters october 2021 for shrunk the films original director joe johnston will return to the helm, with josh gad also set to star.
October sky is set in 1957, when the soviet union launched sputnik, the first manmade orbiting satellite. 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. In this part of the book jim, sonny, and mom were listening to the radio, that was. Weatherford award in 1998, the year of its release. If you liked rocket boys the novel or october sky the movie, then you will enjoy this quick read about how they came to be. His mother gave him the nickname but the great six his coalwood school teachers had their own ideas on how it should be spelled.
It was 1957, and the small mining town of coalwood, west virginia, was slowly dying. The idea that the united states was spending a lot of money and time and dedicating it to building rockets. His physical characteristics, personal goals, motivation, and his family. Why the book rocket boys is better than the movie october sky. Later, homer is inspired to read a book on rocket science from miss riley, learning to calculate the trajectory of a rocket. To the right of that button, there is a page that briefly describes nasas development.
October sky movie and book comparison term papers available at, the largest free term paper community. 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. October sky quizzes there are 50 questions on this topic. It was originally published under the title rocket boys in 1998.
The true story, originally published as rocket boys, that inspired the universal pictures film. The movie relates his struggles against his town, his family, and the stereotypes of his time. Author sues universal over musical theater adaptation of october. What is the central conflict in october sky answers. Chapterbychapter summaries of october sky rocket boys. In both the book and the movie, sonny does not make the high school football team.
A memoir in 1998 and the premiere of the movie october sky in 1999, many of my readers and fans have wondered 1 how and why i wrote the book, and 2 how the movie was made. Below, six reasons books almost always take the cake. Movie here is a few examples of similarities and differences found between the book and movie. In homer hickams book, october sky and the film adaptation by joe johnstun, the main character sonny hickam is portrayed differently. This was the movie version of the book rocket boys, written by homer hickam. But despite its familiarity and resistance to all formulas hollywood, this movie is winning and likeable at every turn. In one scene, a drunken stepfather beats up one of the main characters friends. The new musical october sky is now running at the old globe until oct. October sky is a charming tale and the boys success is inspiring. It was important to include this in both editions because she. Homer grew up in a small town, but dreams to live a life better. October sky is a memoir by homer hickam, and it details his love for rocketry as a young man during the space race.
The true story, originally published asrocket boys, that inspired the universal pictures film. 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. It didnt surprise me when i found out the same producer was at the helm of fields of dreams as october sky, because that was the last movie that produced tears in me as i watched. Filmmakers, consider this your cheat sheet for bringing book based movies more up to snuff. Next, there is a page that shows some similarities and differences between the book and the movie. Throughout the book and movie sonnys father pressures him to become a coal miner and doesnt support his passion towards rockets. 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.
Overall, the movie and the book were similar in that they followed the same plot format. The movie will center around gads character who, as the son of moranis character. October sky is a film that will steal your heart, fill your mind with vivid imagery, and lift your spirit. Rocket boysoctober sky by homer hickam if you are a 14yearold boy living in a west virginia mining town in the 1950s, your horizon is defined by the age worn appalachian peaks enclosing your valley. Hi, i need to find the differences between the october sky movie and the book.