Fire in the Hole! - Tapa dura

With his mother dead, his father imprisoned, and rent due, 14-year-old Mick must take responsibility for his family. But does this mean giving up his dream of college and becoming a newspaperman? Is he betraying his unionist father by taking a job in the mines as a non-union worker? Set in Idaho during the 1899 Coeur d'Alene mine disputes, when radicals blew up the ore-concentrating mill and Federal troops responded with mass arrests, Farrell's debut follows Mick as he works the mine, engineers a rescue of his father, and finds his own path in life. Fictional newspaper articles by Mick's mentor Mr. Delaney and a good author's note contribute historical and legal context for this story of family, dreams, and an important segment of American history. (Fiction. 10-14) (Kirkus Reviews)

Having always wanted a better life than that of a union miner, Mick looks to the town newspaperman as a mentor for his future, but after the radicals blow up the mining company’s mill and martial law is imposed, Mick must take a stand with the rest of the unionists to put an end to the abuses by those in power.