The book "October Sky" and the movie "October Sky" are different in many ways, but they are written and produced well. The movie adds a few parts that add to the storyline. The book goes into detail about many more events in the story. The film produced by Joe Johnston, differed from the book by taking out characters and by adding events to the storyline.

In the book "October Sky" Sonny goes to the Dugout and stays out late. When he comes home his mom tells him to never go to the mine again. He goes to the tipple and finds out Mr. Bykovski died and his dad is injured. He tries to comfort Mrs. Bykovski, but she is to upset to talk. Mrs. Bykovski moves out of town in two weeks and on the day she leaves she tells Sonny it was Mr. Bykovski's choice to stay in the mine and it wasn't his fault. The book put everything in to more detail and made the story more emotional.