Close to Famous

Foster McFee has an incredible dream. She's enthralled with Food Network's chef Sonny Kroll. She'd like to have her own show on Food Network entitled "Cooking with Foster." Already an accomplished baker, Foster has managed to sell her famous cupcakes and muffins by first offering them for free to potential customers.

There are problems in Foster's life, however. Her mom's boyfriend Huck is a self-serving, Elvis impersonator who has turned abusive. Fleeing Memphis and Huck in the middle of the night with all their possessions stuffed into trash bags, Foster and her mom make it to a small town in West Virginia called Culpepper.

Culpepper has its own cast of characters as each small town does. Perhaps the most intriguing one is a former actress named Miss Charleena Hendley.

Will Foster be able to make friends in Culpepper? Will she find a suitable venue to sell her delicious baked good? Will Hank, the abusiver boyfriend of her mother's, find them? Will Foster be able to realize her dream of having her own Food Network show? Read Joan Bauer's new novel entitled Close to Famous to find out.