October Sky is the first memoir in a series of four, by American engineer Homer Hickam Jr. originally published in 1998 as Rocket Boys. Later editions were published under the title October Sky as a tie-in to the 1999 film adaptation. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boy's pursuit of amateur rocketry in a coal mining town. The book won the W.D. Weatherford Award in 1998, the year of its release. Today, it is one of the most often picked community/library reads in the United States. It is also studied in many school systems around the world. October Sky was followed by The Coalwood Way (2000), Sky of Stone (2002), and Carrying Albert Home (2015). Rocket Boys was made into a film in 1999, titled October Sky (an anagram of "Rocket Boys"). The book was then re-published as October Sky shortly afterwards. Source: Wikipedia (en)