Mrs. Riley

Mrs. Riley

The third main character that had a huge impact on the Rocket boys was Mrs. Riley. Throughout the story, Mrs. Riley acquired a sentimental relationship with Homer as she always encouraged him to achieve his dreams. Being Homer’s favorite teacher Mrs. Riley wanted nothing more than for Homer to succeed in his dreams. Mrs. Riley defended Homer when it came time, she encouraged, and pushed, almost like that of a mother.  To further the rockets boy’s knowledge of rocket science they needed to learn trigonometry, which wasn’t a class offered at Big Creek High School. In support of Homer, Mrs. Riley tried to get the principle to offer a trig class to help out Homer and his friends, this is just an example of how much she believed in them to succeed.

One of the most beneficial and most wanted things that the rocket boys needed was a book on rocketry, which Mrs. Riley provided for them. In the story, this was a big event for their continuation of making rockets because it gave them direction. She believed in them and that was what made them believe in themselves. Mrs. Riley was a hard working teacher, she assigned a lot of homework and required a lot of her students. She had a passion for what she taught and in turn, a lot of students enjoyed her class from her exerted passion.

Towards the end of the book, Homer was getting involved with these science fairs and started working his way up through the ranks and winning the local and eventually going onto nationals to which he gave a lot of credit to Mrs. Riley for believing in him. Then something devastating happened that worried all the Rocket Boys and that was Mrs. Riley got diagnosed with Hodgkins disease. Once she was diagnosed, Homers ambition to win the national science fair was boosted because he didn’t want to fail Mrs. Riley. Shortly after they graduated Mrs. Riley’s disease went into remission and she lived for several more years. In the story, Homer was able to portray the sentimental value of her support but was never able to express that to her after he graduated.