Close to Famous

Close to Famous (2011), a young adult novel by American author Joan Bauer, tells the story of twelve-year-old aspiring TV chef Foster McAfee, a recent sixth-grade graduate who flees Memphis with her mother to start a new life in the tiny town of Culpepper, West Virginia. There, Foster must come to terms with unresolved issues from her past as both she and her mother learn that you cannot hide from life forever.

The novel opens with Foster and her mother, Rayka, speeding down the highway away from Memphis. They are on the run from Rayka's abusive boyfriend, Huck, an Elvis impersonator who just struck Rayka in the eye. Eventually, Rayka tires of driving, and the thick fog that has accumulated all around them becomes impenetrable. She pulls the car over to the side of the road, unable to go on.

A kindly passerby, Kitty, stops to inform the mother and daughter that in the thickness of the fog, they've parked the car just an inch from a cliff. Unable to start the vehicle, Kitty and her husband, Lester, tow the McAfee's car, giving Foster and Rayka a ride to their house. Kitty and Lester invite their guests to stay as long as they'd like in the Airstream trailer—nicknamed The Silver Bullet—that sits in their backyard. Grateful for this kindness, Foster and Rayka move their meager belongings into the trailer and try to devise a plan for this next chapter of their lives.



Not only is Foster dealing with the upheaval of this sudden move, she is still grieving the death of her father. He died while serving in the Army during a tour of Iraq. His plane was shot down, and now all Foster has left of her beloved daddy is a pillowcase with some of his possessions: letters he sent Foster, his dog-tags, a commendation he received, cuff links he wore to his wedding to Rayka, a keychain, and a little Irish flag. As Foster unloads her things from the car into the Airstream, she is devastated to see that she has left the pillowcase behind in Memphis.

One day, while shopping at the local grocery store, Foster meets Macon Dillard. Like her, he has big dreams: He wants to be a documentary filmmaker; specifically, he wants to make a documentary about the prison soon to open in Culpepper. In the meantime, he works for Miss Charleena Hendley, a once-famous Hollywood actor. Macon offers to introduce Foster to Miss Charleena. At their first meeting, the two resoundingly do not hit it off; Miss Charleena tells Foster she isn't at all impressed with her.

Meanwhile, Foster meets some of the other folks who make up the strange little berg of Culpepper. There's Percy and her son, Garland, who is Foster's age; they run an organization called The Helping Hands House and are actively involved in stopping a major chain of taco restaurants from purchasing the church that Percy's late husband built. There's Angry Wayne, proprietor of Angry Wayne's Bar & Grill, who agrees to start selling the delicious cupcakes Foster bakes. There's Val and her children, Pearly and Babcock, who all live at Helping Hands after fleeing Val's abusive husband, Duke. Lester and Kitty become surrogate grandparents to Foster, taking her fishing and providing her a sense of home and calm.



Rayka gets a job at Fish Hardware, while Macon hires Foster to be his assistant in his fledgling filmmaking endeavors. Unfortunately, he fires her when she doesn't do one of the only tasks he assigns her: take notes.

Shortly thereafter, Macon calls out sick from his job with Miss Charleena, so the movie star asks Foster if she will fill in for him. Foster agrees, despite their rocky first meeting; Miss Charleena gives her a list of odd jobs to do around the house. However, after noticing Foster's trouble with accomplishing the things on the list, Miss Charleena learns a startling secret Foster has worked all her life to keep hidden. Foster McAfee cannot read.

Undeterred, Miss Charleens proposes to teach Foster how to read. In return, she asks that Foster teach her how to bake. The two form an unexpected bond that becomes a source of comfort in Foster's turbulent life. Macon, too, helps Foster learn to read. At one point, he takes her to the bookmobile and has her try to read a book on Elvis, which serves a dual purpose; in addition to helping her reading skills, it also helps her overcome her fear of Elvis Presley, which started with Huck.



Then, Rayka goes back to Memphis temporarily, in the name of finishing some business. When she returns to Culpepper, she has a bruise on her arm, explaining that she had fallen, though Foster suspects that Huck hurt her again. To Foster's relief and delight, however, Rayka has brought back the pillowcase with Daddy's possessions in it.

Things then come to a head in Culpepper. Foster's reading ability progresses to a point where Miss Charleena throws her a graduation party. Duke arrives at Helping Hands and tries to force his family to come with him at knifepoint, but Foster keeps Duke distracted with talk of cupcakes until Angry Wayne arrives and makes a citizen's arrest. The taco chain abandons the sale of the church. And Huck shows up in Culpepper with the hope of wooing Rayka and Foster back to Memphis, but Rayka presses charges against him after the bruise he gave her the last time they saw one another.

When Foster learns her favorite TV chef, Sonny Kroll, is in an accident, she has Macon film her cooking and sends it to the star along with a handwritten letter. Sonny responds, much to Foster's delight. With the encouragement of Sonny and the support of her newfound hometown, Foster commits herself to keep on persevering and saving the world—one cupcake at a time.