The Rising Star of Rusty Nail.

Blume, Lesley M. M. (author).

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Not much happens in Rusty Nail, Minnesota. Oh, it was once the Coot Capitol of the World, but now it’s 1953, and that distinction is long past. Still, 10-year-old Franny Hansen and her raucous best friend, Sandy, manage to have fun, mostly involving harrassing prissy Nancy, the richest girl in town. There is one thing that Franny is serious about, and that’s her piano playing. True, her teacher mostly sleeps through lessons (a cigarette dangling from her lips), but when Franny outplays Nancy in a school assembly, she knows her talent is something to be nutured. Then despair sets in. How can she progress when there’s no one good enough to give her lessons? Enter Olga Malenkov. The locals buzz that a “commie” has come to town, but Franny is thrilled when she hears Olga play and realizes she would make a perfect teacher. Too bad, Olga wants nothing to do with Franny. Blume offers a story that is as rich as it is delicious. Using a narrative style that’s slighty over the top, she sets Franny, by turn hopeful and hopeless, and her passion for the piano against the larger issues of the Red Scare that were so emblematic of the time. The characters, especially those in supporting roles, are as nuanced as they are humorous. Sandy is in equal parts proud of Franny’s talent and threatened by it, and Mr. Hansen, who gave up his own musical dreams, shrugs off his ineffectuality to support his daughter. Read this one aloud and then talk about it.