The author wished the movie to be called rocket boys, like the book its based on, but the studio believed that title would not sell well. Movies lp this category is for questions and answers related to october sky, as asked by users of. See the complete profile on linkedin and discover quentins connections and jobs at similar companies. Where roy lee thinks that a failure is just thata failurequentin recognizes that the rockets that burn up on the launchpad teach him as much about rocket science as the rockets that shoot into the sky. Home this day in history summaries main characters. If you really liked it that much, i recommend reading rocket boys. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boys pursuit of amateur rocketry in a coal mining town. He was also featured in the sequel memoir the coalwood way. What happened to the vanguard rocket launched by dr.
Join facebook to connect with quentin wilson and others you may know. 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. Get an answer for what obstacles did the boys in october sky have to face to achieve their goal. Quentin for much of the novel is the brains of the rocket operation, while homer is the builder and supplier of materials for the rockets. The title of the paperback released at the same time was changed to the movie title, which is an anagram of rocket boys take the letters of rocket boys and move them around to spell october sky. A team of editors takes feedback from our visitors to keep trivia as up to date and as accurate as possible. What happened to quentin, roy lee, odell, and homer in the future. The book talks about the attributes of coalwood and the people who live there. This made sonny jealous, so he decided to do something to impress his parents and be better than his brother. For a large section of the book, sonny ignores her, because she started a relationship with his brother. Quentin wilson of october sky from a beginners guide to american high power rocketry. October sky is the story of homer hickam jake gyllenhaal, quentin wilson chris owen. A memoir was published by delacorte press in september 1998.
This was the movie version of the book rocket boys, written by homer hickam. At the same time, there are a great many universal themes such as dreams, growing up and struggles with family. Homer, billy rose, quentin wilson, jimmy odell carroll. Rose, quentin wilson, jimmy odell carroll, roy lee cooke and sherman siers. Although i was a teenager more than a decade later than hickam was, some of the things he wrote about hit close to home. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Interesting that october sky the name of the movie is an anagram of rocket boys the name of the book the original name anyway. Weatherford award in 1998, the year of its release. Coalwood is a very simple mining town as described in the book. This year, there was a rocket boy missing after the death of quentin wilson in. Quentin wilson of october sky from a beginners guide to. Quentin wilson is the most intelligent member of the rocket boys and the person who does figures out most of the math in the group.
The festival featuring homer hickam and the rocket boys is at the end. Books quentin willson has transferred his knowledge and experience in the motor industry into print as the author of the bbc publications, top gear the good car guide in both 1993 and 1994. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Celebrate the life of quentin wilson, leave a kind word or memory and. When universal made the movie, however, they changed quite a bit.
Quentin wilson is the bcmas smart, thorough scientist. Your choices when you grow up are to go down into the coal pits like your daddy, your uncle and the daddies. May your spirit soar onward in the october sky and beyond. October sky1 is, like apollo, a movie i need to watch more often, and i am again embarrassed to admit that this is only the second time ive seen it. The bcma was a group of boys in coalwood, west virginia, in the late 1950s who decide to try their hand at building rockets in homer hickams autobiographical october sky. By using homemade theodolites and applying some trigonometry and newtonian physics, we were able to roughly calculate its altitude. The response to the article was overwhelming and hickam was offered both a book and movie deal, leading to the full length memoir, rocket boys of which the subsequent title october sky is an angrarm, and was followed by the coalwood way 2000 and sky of stone 2002. Auk xxxi, the last rocket of the big creek missile agency, rose nearly four miles. What else do we know about this character in homer hickams october sky. Important people, mindsets, and events in october sky.
View quentin wilsons profile on linkedin, the worlds largest professional community. Rocket boys also known as october sky is the first memoir in a series of three, by homer hickam, jr. Sherman siers has a physically weakened left leg as a result of polio. Chapter one talked about coalwood and how it has come along. Quentin taylor wilson november 21, 1942 august 30, 2019 was an american engineer and one of the original rocket boys featured in the book october sky. Quentin also wants to build a rocket, and he has to work with homer in order to do it. Quentin wilson of october sky from a beginners guide to american high power rocketry brian fitzgerald. The book has been translated into eight languages and is the most read book in the u. And while no single quote can completely capture any of these ideas, there are many october sky book quotes. Boys book that had been turned into the blockbuster hit october sky. October sky novel from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia october sky originally published as rocket boys is the first memoir in a series of three, by homer hickam, jr. Then you have the smart ones like quentin wilson in homer hickams memoir october sky. Quentin is sought out by homer, who asks him for help with building rockets.
What is the great six in the book october sky by homer. I only know you from the book rocket boys and the movie october. Quentin helped figure the equations in the rocket book. He isnt like by anybody he goes to school with, because he is a bit socially awkward, and doesnt fin it with what is considered a normal west virginian society. He chose adobe to make house models in the fifth grade. Jim hickman is the brother to sonny and the son to elsie and homer hickman. From escaping the mines of coalwood, west virginia by learning rocketry to becoming a nasa engineer, he speaks about a career which eventually added the title of bestselling author to the mix. Homers best friend since childhood, people person, mode of. Roy lee cooke, quentin wilson, homer sonny hickam and elsie hickam. Quentin wilson obituary amarillo, tx dignity memorial. It is also available in abridged audio book, electronic book, large print, and is. The tests are successful and the book ends with the mine being shut down.
There are jokesters and people who only have dating on their mind. The rocket flew perfectly, its smoke tracing a thin white line on the bright blue sky. Why was the movie called october sky instead of the books title, rocket boys. October sky is a 1999 film based on the memoir rocket boys by homer hickam, jr. By the seventh grade he made fullsize adobe bricks in his albuquerque back yard.
Even 14 years after the books release, both the novel and the film starring a young jake gyllenhaal have a fan base that is. Homer, billy rose, quentin wilson, jimmy odell carroll, roy lee cooke and sherman siers. Quentin wilson publisher quentin wilson publishing. Another important person in october sky was freida riley, sonnys science teacher.
In october sky, ike bykovski, a character who was a composite of real miners hickam knew, died in a mine accident after helping homer with his rockets. Like giving them a book on rocketry, and showing them new materials for rocket fuel to name a few. Quentin taylor wilson november 21, 1942 august 30, 2019 was an american engineer and one of the original rocket boys featured in the book and film october sky, where he was portrayed by chris owen. October sky quizzes there are 50 questions on this topic. Screenplay by lewis colick based on the book by homer hickam, jr. The compromise title october sky works on two levels.
Get an answer for who was dorothy plunk and what happend to her. Rocket boys project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Quentin wilson is the director emeritus of northern new mexico colleges adobe construction program. Quentin wilson is another of the founding members of the bcma. In this, i was joined by quentin quentin wilson, a hometown friend who. I actually used to have lunch regularly with quentin wilson, along with a bunch of other retired and semiretired guys in my area. Wilson, for living a life, forging a friendship, and displaying a zeal for learning that inspired a story that has transformed so many. She inspires sonny to enter the science fair and gives him a book on how to build better rockets. It received so much acclaim and interest, he was asked to write a book detailing the. Book vocab citations in 1999, universal made a movie entitled october sky.
In 1999, a movie based on the book, called october sky, premiered nationwide. 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. He also wrote the ultimate classic car book and classic american cars, both published by dorling kindersley. After the success of his book rocket boys, hickam has gone on to. Homer hickam, the man whose life became the basis of the film october sky, takes us through some of his inspiring accomplishments. Quentin became a chemical engineer, roy lee became a retired banker and automobile dealer, odell became a rancher and insurance owner, and homer became a nasa engineer. Homer hickam thought women over 30 wouldnt go see a movie called rocket boys, so they changed it to something more palatable. After that, sonny enlists the help of quentin wilson, roy lee cooke, sherman siers, jimmy odell carroll, and billy rose to help build rockets while forming the. Quentin was one of the six rocket boys i described in my memoir rocket boys that was adapted into the movie october sky. Quentin wilson, roy lee cooke, and odell carroll became amateur. By the way, the title october sky is an anagram for rocket boys. When miss riley gives sonny a book to learn calculus, quentin is right there to help him understand. Later, homer is inspired to look at a rocket science book miss riley gave him, and learns how to calculate the trajectory of a rocket.
In this lesson, we will learn a bit more about some of quentins most notable characteristics by examining some of. Who does homer talk to start collecting information about rockets. Jimmy odell carroll is small and excitable, the most emotional member of the group. Quentins slow, methodical pace of working will be an important ingredient in homers success with rocketry later in the memoir. From a beginners guide to american high power rocketry 2004 goldmaster.