Foster loves to cook more than anything – so much better than school, where she barely passed sixth grade because of reading class. She’d really like to read her daddy’s letters, the ones he sent from Army posts overseas before he died, but her brain just can’t do it, no matter how hard she tries. Running away from Hank (who thinks he’s really Elvis), Foster and her mom wind up in Culpepper, West Virginia, far away from that crazy guy who hired Mama as a backup singer for his act. A prison looms over the small town, and the new jobs that its builders promised have never arrived. Soon Foster finds kids her own age in town, like Macon, a documentary film-maker who’s saving up for a movie camera, and Amy, who wants to sing like Foster’s mom. She also meets Miss Charleena, a movie star who’s escaping from Hollywood for a while, and Angry Wayne, owner and cook at the diner where Foster starts selling her amazing cupcakes. If she could just ignore school and the fact that Hank kept the pillowcase with her daddy’s letters, then everything would be fine. All she wants to do is become the first kid chef with a television show – is that really too much to ask? A story with love and loss, convicts and cupcakes, Close To Famous is a delicious way to meet Foster and her friends during a summer she’ll never forget. Ages 10-14 250 pages Recommended by: Katy Manck, Librarian-at-Large (retired academic/corporate/school librarian), Gilmer, Texas, USA
