"Now that his dad's cookie store is a success, Ellis is basically a local celebrity. He's primed to take a star turn playing his harmonica on national television...until his big break turns into the most embarrassing moment of his life."--

One day, as fate would have it, Zeke Pippin moseys outside, finds a harmonica in the street, and is soon regaling his family with the prelude to La Traviata. But when his mother, father, sister, and brother promptly fall asleep, Zeke wonders how he can "go on living with such nincompoops" -- and runs away from home. After several other would-be music lovers pass out when he starts to play, Zeke concludes that his harmonica has magical powers, and...

Torn from his home and parents in Poland during World War II, a young Jewish boy starving in a concentration camp finds hope in playing Schubert on his harmonica, even when the commandant orders him to play.