12-year-old Frankie Baum lives with her parents, grandmother, and two older sisters in a small apartment in a small town in Maryland. In the late 1930's, her father, an American of German descent, decides to open a restaurant. The devious president of the Chamber of Commerce begins spreading rumors that Mr. Baum in in league with the Germans, and possibly Hitler himself, just as the new restaurant is about to open.
Frankie gets involved in trying to defend her father, assist the young black man, Seaweed, who works in the kitchen but is an aspiring musician, get herself out of working in the kitchen, solve a few family mysteries, and a number of other often funny entanglements. Stout's writing style is reminiscent of T.R. Pearson's in "A Short History of a Small Place" and I often found myself laughing at the way a story was told as much as the story itself.
At the end of the book, all the loose ends are neatly tied up, with no dangling threads. Great story telling. A story about prejudice (both American prejudice against those of German descent and the white prejudice against blacks) which somehow keeps that focus without ever getting too depressing. ( )

Narrated by Tara Sands. Somehow I just couldn't stay on track with the sound of this reader's voice and with the many humorous tangents in the story it was a bit of a trial to keep up. The author's note about the relatives who inspired the novel was illuminating. Frankie's dad opens a restaurant in their Maryland small town on the eve of war in Europe. He has big plans for a restaurant of renown but his German heritage troubles a mayoral candidate bent on ridding the town of evil in the name of patriotism. High-spirited Frankie has her trials and tribulations as the third and youngest child but it's that spirit that is her strength when it counts. Lib notes: The funeral chapter may be disturbing to children sensitive about death. ( )