The Coalwood Way: A Memoir (Random House Large Print) - Softcover

The sequel to the acclaimed Rocket Boys continues the story of Coalwood, West Virginia, as the author and his fellow Rocket Boys face their senior year at Big Creek High, while the forces of change bring Coalwood to a difficult crossroads and strain and depression threaten to tear apart the Hickam home. 12,500 first printing. (Biography)

959, and Homer "Sonny" Hickam and his fellow Rocket Boys are in their senior year at Big Creek High, launching handbuilt rockets that soar thousands of feet into the West Virginia sky. But in a season traditionally marked by celebrations of the spirit, Coalwood finds itself at a painful crossroads.

The strains can be felt within the Hickam home, where a beleaguered HomerSr. is resorting to a daring but risky plan to keep the mine alive, and his wife Elsie is feeling increasingly isolated from both her family and the townspeople. And Sonny, despite a blossoming relationship with a local girl whose dreams are as big as his, finds his own mood repeatedly darkened by an unexplainable sadness.

Eager to rally the town's spirits and make her son's final holiday season at home a memorable one, Elsie enlists Sonny and the Rocket Boys' aid in making the Coalwood Christmas Pageant the best ever. But trouble at the mine and the arrival of a beautiful young outsider threaten to