“Rocket Boys”

My grandson, Jeff (13), is reading this book as part of his language arts class. Since I taught eighth grade, he has asked me, several times, if I had read this book. After telling him “no,” several times, I decided to read the book…

“Well, don’t blow yourself up.” (40) 

Coal mining. West Virginia. Company town. Sputnik. The space race was “on.” Ambitious, curious, fearless. The Big Creek Missile Agency. What they lacked in knowledge they made up for with drive and perseverance. They never quit. 

Hickman’s story was about so much more than teenage boys embracing the space race by learning how to build rockets. Family dysfunction. Being a company man. A disappointed father. A mother that finds a way out of the coal town, for herself and her boys. What it means to be part of a community. Hickman also shows a glimpse of Americana that existed in our not too distant past. Unconditional love. Learning to live and appreciate one's environment...with out blowing it up.

I don’t know if this had the happily-ever-after ending I was hoping for, but in reading the epilogue, the ending played out according to life’s plan. Now it’s time to text my grandson and have a chat...