Free Radical
Luke McHenry is fifteen when his mother literally drops a bomb in his lap: She tells him that, in 1970, she was part of a group of anti-Vietnam protesters who threw a pipe bomb into the ROTC building at Berkeley, which unintentionally killed a student. She has been hiding from the FBI ever since, living under an assumed name, but she now plans to turn herself in to the authorities. Luke`s journey from disbelief, to anger, to fear that his baseball season with the All Star`s traveling team is jeopardized--and anxiety about his mother--parallels the journey his mother takes from Alaska to California, where she has an emotional reunion with her family, asks for forgiveness from the relatives of the boy she killed, and faces prison. Including a subplot of Luke`s search for the father he never knew, this gritty story is filled with wisdom, exciting sports scenes, a close-up view of the justice system, and an on-the-mark depiction of the charged relationship between a questioning teenager and his guilt-ridden but loving mother.

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