October Sky by Homer Hickman

Homer "Sonny" Hickman overcomes the odds

Summary: October Sky by Homer "Sonny" Hickman is a true story about the author. He grew up in Coalwood, Virginia. In Coalwood the residents live by mining the coal. Football scholarships or enlisting in the army are the only ways to escape Coalwood. But Sonny finds that he has bigger dreams in mind then mining coal or playing football; he looks to the sky. He wants to be by the side of Dr. Wernher von Braun, a NASA engineer. Dr. von Braun works on building rockets. Sonny wants to help build them. This book tells how Sonny almost hits the sky and overcomes the odds.