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This epic tale of a small- town boy, who no one thought would ever make it, is a truly interesting story about a boy who built rockets in his basement with his friends in order to prove to the town of Coalwood and especially to his father, that anyone could make it, and all they have to do is set their mind to it. Homer Hickman, a coal miner's son, is determined to break away from his assumed destiny by his father's bleak and dangerous subterranean footsteps. Homer discovers and becomes friends with, what everybody else believes to be, the class nerd in order to gain knowledge about physics. He then recruits a couple more friends to help him build and launch crude rockets. This eventually gathers the curiosity of his whole town and his unsupportive father who, naturally, sees Homer'