Ragtime Kid, The

Brun Campbell, a 15-year-old piano fool, gets to play Scott Joplins Maple Leaf Rag one 1898 afternoon in Oklahoma City. Its destiny calling. Though he tries for ragtime lessons, hes told no--Ragtime is colored music So Brun runs away from the family home in El Reno, Oklahoma, to Sedalia, Missouri, to persuade Joplin to take him on as a pupil. What Brun doesnt expect is to trip over the body of a young woman--he thinks at first shes a log and thoughtlessly picks up a couple of items before he rushes away.When Edward Fitzgerald, who befriended Brun his first night in town, is arrested for the womans murder, Brun is certain hes innocent. But if the boy shows anyone the things he pocketed at the scene, things he now knows belonged to Scott Joplin, hell point the finger at the composer--and himself.