Close to Famous by Joan Bauer

I told you about seeing Joan Bauer at a luncheon and being so impressed with her and her talk and her writing, so I reread Close to Famous.  Surprisingly, I couldn’t improve on my original review, posted on LibraryThing, so here it is.

“I’m going to make the world a better place, one cupcake at a time,” is Foster McFee’s motto. Her goal is to have her own children’s cooking show on The Food Network, just like her idol Sonny Kroll. But first she’s got to overcome a few obstacles.

She and her mother, Rayka, flee Memphis because of Rayka’s abusive boyfriend, Huck, the Elvis impersonator. As a result, Foster has a fear of all Elvis’. In their haste, Foster left her Las Vegas pillowcase behind, the one with all of her mementoes of her father who died in the Iraq war. So, she’s got to learn that it’s what’s inside that counts, the memories, the feelings. There are a few other obstacles she must overcome, but I’ll leave you to discover those by yourself.

Rayka and Foster settle in Culpepper, West Virginia, a small town populated with big hearted people, among them Kitty and Lester who give them a place to stay, Perseverance Wilson who is trying to save a church from being sold and Miss Charleena, a movie star who moved back home to avoid the paparazzi.

Joan Bauer is a marvelous author. On her webpage she states, “I need to find hope in the world. I need to laugh. That’s why I write.” Her books are full of hope and full of laughter and just downright fun to read. Foster is a spunky twelve-year-old with big ambitions. Macon, her very short twelve-year-old friend wants to be a documentary film maker. Her mother wants to be a singer. Everyone in Culpepper seems to be working towards a goal. They all have hardships to overcome. But they also have spunk.

Bauer’s writing is descriptive, sometimes flowery, sometimes down to earth. Her plot is fun and moves quickly. But it’s her characters that take the cake (no pun intended). They are interesting, funny, quirky, and endearing. You’ll take to them immediately and want to know what happens to them.

So, if you’re looking for a fun to read, hopeful, funny book, Close to Famous is definitely for you. Then start at the beginning and read some of her earlier books, Hope Was Here, Rules of the Road, and Peeled. The only thing that could make Close to Famous more delicious would be to have some of the recipes in the back of the book, especially the Triple Chocolate Cupcakes.