Close to Famous [Hardcover]

Joan Bauer (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 3, 2011 | Age Range: 10 and up | Lexile Measure: 540L (What's this?)

Foster McFee dreams of having her own cooking show like her idol, celebrity chef Sonny Kroll. Macon Dillard's goal is to be a documentary filmmaker. Foster's mother Rayka longs to be a headliner instead of a back-up singer. And Miss Charleena plans a triumphant return to Hollywood. Everyone has a dream, but nobody is even close to famous in the little town of Culpepper. Until some unexpected events shake the town and its inhabitants-and put their big ambitions to the test. Full of humor, unforgettable characters, surprises, and lots and lots of heart, this is Joan Bauer at her most engaging.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Twelve-year-old Foster McFee and her mother leave Memphis in the middle of the night, fleeing the mother’s abusive boyfriend. Foster has a severe learning disability, a pillowcase full of mementos of her dead father, and a real gift for baking. When she and her singer mother relocate to a tiny, rural West Virginia town, they discover a friendly and welcoming population of delightfully quirky characters. Foster finally learns to read from a reclusive, retired movie star; markets her baked goods at Angry Wayne’s Bar and Grill; helps tiny but determined Macon with his documentary; and encourages her mother to become a headliner rather than a backup singer, all the while perfecting her baking technique for the time when she gets her own cooking show like her TV idol, Sonny Kroll. Bauer gently and effortlessly incorporates race (Foster’s mother is black; her father was white), religion, social justice, and class issues into a guaranteed feel-good story that dodges sentimentality with humor. Readers who want contemporary fiction with a happy ending will find it here. Grades 5-8. --Debbie Carton

Product Details

• Age Range: 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile; First Edition edition (February 3, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670012823
• ISBN-13: 978-0670012824
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"I had moved from journalism to screenwriting when one of the biggest challenges of my life occurred. I was in a serious auto accident which injured my neck and back severely and required neurosurgery. It was a long road back to wholeness, but during that time I wrote Squashed, my first young adult novel. The humor in that story kept me going. Over the years, I have come to understand how deeply I need to laugh. It's like oxygen to me. My best times as a writer are when I'm working on a book and laughing while I'm writing. Then I know I've got something." Joan's first novel, Squashed, won the Delacorte Prize for a First Young Adult Novel. Five novels for young adult readers have followed: Thwonk, Sticks, Rules of the Road (LA Times Book Prize and Golden Kite), Backwater and Hope was Here (Newbery Honor Medal). Joan lives in Darien, CT with her husband and daughter.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Cooking with Foster February 12, 2011

By K. Coombs VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

You know how some authors are so reliably good that you simply buy their next book on auto-pilot, sight unseen? Joan Bauer is on that list for me. In my experience, this author's books are always feel-good reads, without falling into the trap of being overly sentimental.

When the story begins, Foster McFee and her mother are on the run from Mom's abusive boyfriend, an Elvis impersonator. They find shelter in a small town where someone kind gives them a tow, someone else gives Mrs. McFee a job, and the tow truck people then offer them a place to stay.

As for Foster, she is incredibly talented as a self-taught young cook, especially when it comes to baking. Unfortunately, she is incredibly un-talented at reading. In short, she can't read, though she covers it up like a champion.

Now, as Foster spends the summer making connections with people like a young would-be documentary filmmaker and the actress who's hiding out from the pain of her all-too-public dumping by a big-time Hollywood flame, she finds that her secrets are coming out. Another worry is the location of a certain pillowcase that contains the few items she has remaining after her soldier father's death in Iraq.

Will this young cupcake maker be able to get in touch with her hero, TV chef Sonny Kroll? Will Miss Charleena ever come out of her house again? Will Foster's mom be recognized as having a star's voice, not a backup singer's? Will Macon ever make a documentary about the new prison down the road? Will Foster learn to read?

Quite probably!

The learning-to-read subplot resonated with me because I have a dear friend who didn't learn to read till she was 18, faking it in all 11 of the schools her drug addict mother dumped her in for 10 years running. I am happy to report that my friend went on to get her GED and graduate from high school at the age of 32.

Struggling reader Foster is such a great character. Take a look at the way she learned to cook in the first place--by falling hard for the art (initially with a friend) and working her butt off till she got it right, relying on listening and memory because she couldn't read recipes. Now Foster begins to apply this same kind of effort to the far more daunting task of learning to read. Her determination and hard work are just a couple of the many nice things about Foster. I especially like it when she does episodes of her so-far-imaginary cooking show, performing in the kitchen with both sweetness and humor.

Thank you, Joan Bauer, for giving us a girl to care about, as well as people to care about her.

Note for Worried Parents: This is listed on Amazon as a book for teens, but I thought it was perfectly appropriate for fourth through sixth graders, as well.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Persevering...one cupcake at a time March 2, 2011

By J. Prather TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Close to Famous is a nice feel good story that will hold special appeal for any 5th and 6th grader with a fondness for baking, and for any young girl who ever felt the sting of being unfairly judged. Foster is a baking whiz - what she lacks in reading ability she more than makes up for in kitchen creativity. She's still grieving over the death of her father and struggling to cope with a severe learning disability, when she and her mother are forced to flee their home to escape her mother's abusive boyfriend.

It's in Culpepper, West Virginia that Foster finds the confidence to believe in herself, to stop running away, and to face her learning disability head on. She finds people who are genuine, and wins them over with her forthright manner and her incredible cupcakes. This story is a quick read, and although it often errs on the side of over-sentimentality and predictability, any reader will be quick to find themselves cheering for Foster and her cupcakes. It's a story full of homespun humour and common sense philosophy that will firmly plant a smile on your face as you picture these characters that the author so ably spins to life.

It's always nice to read a story about a child who can overcome being labeled ("dumbest girl in Memphis") and succeed in learning the valuable lesson that we all have something important to offer the world. Lots of great lessons to be learned here both for kids who might face a learning disability of their own and also for all the kids who know someone that does. Recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children March 3, 2011

By Yana V. Rodgers

Format:Hardcover

As a twelve-year old who could not read, Foster McFee faced quite some ridicule from other students, and even her teachers did little to hide their dissatisfaction and actually explore the nature of Foster's learning disability. So leaving Memphis and this painful stigmatism behind offered Foster some relief, even though she and her mom were fleeing from her mom's abusive boyfriend.

Their hurried escape led them to Culpepper, West Virginia, a small town with two claims to fame: a new state penitentiary that was supposed to bring new jobs to locals but did not, and an aging movie star who had gained as much notoriety for her husband's scandalous affair as for her own film achievements. These Culpepper features, together with a unique bunch of kind-hearted town folk, served as important ingredients in a sequence of events that taught Foster and her mom that they could afford to think big about their dream jobs in life.

Cleverly wrapped into this engaging story line are some important themes in economics related to public sector job creation, investments in human capital, and entrepreneurial talent. The latter shines through clearly when Foster sells her homemade cupcakes at the local diner and her reputation as an amazing baker quickly takes off. Making this substantive content so easy to digest is Joan Bauer's ability to touch a range of emotions in every chapter. This novel is definitely recommended reading.