Fabulous Foster McFee {Close to Famous by Joan Bauer}

Cupcakes made by husband & me, once upon a birthday...

Let's see - what can I tell you about Foster? Twelve year old Foster McFee bakes cupcakes and muffins so scrumptious, I found myself craving for chocolate chip muffins the morning after I read this book. An aspiring cooking show star, Foster practices for her debut daily, as she bakes up batches of cupcakes for sale, with a flourish and pizzaz, and a frosting of tips about baking and about life. As Foster's mother would say, she's a girl with heart. Deep down inside, though, Foster's heart is aching for her father, who was killed in combat in Iraq. Foster's also got a dark secret she's been trying to hide for ever so long. She can't read. When confronted with this failure head on, Foster runs away. Fast. Despite this, with resilience and a little help from her newfound friends, Foster learns to run away less, face her fears, and persevere to  overcome what was once her greatest fear.

It's hard not to think of this book as being about a child with a disability, in this case, a reading disability, as it had won the 2012 Schneider Family Book Award, given to books which embody "an artistic expression of the disability experience for child or adolescent audiences". Yet, I was never for a moment tempted to think of Foster only in a one-dimensional manner, in terms of her disability. Foster is not merely someone who struggles with reading. I have come to admire her not only for her cupcake baking skills, but also for her emotional maturity in being her mother's pillar of strength. If this book is about how Foster overcomes her fear of failure, its message is as much the fact that she is not alone in her struggle. While the people around her may not struggle with reading, there is something in each of their lives to overcome. The best thing is, just as the people around her all play an important part in cheering Foster on, she, too is just as inspirational to those around her.

Those of us who are educators may be familiar with the idea of "cultural funds of knowledge", often attributed to Luis Moll. According to this theory, all children carry with them a wealth of experiences, strengths, knowledge and skills - regardless of their academic achievement or their socioeconomic status. A child from a family experiencing poverty, perhaps new entrants to the community, not well versed in the "language of power" (an idea from Lisa Delpit) used in school settings, should therefore be regarded not only in the light of the features just mentioned - they should be seen for all the unique strengths and abilities they have in their "cultural toolbox". In Close to Famous, it is clear that Foster's cultural toolbox is very full indeed.

Foster's words close the novel: I'm going to make the world a better place, one cupcake at a time. And you know what? I do believe that Joan Bauer will fulfill Foster's promise on her behalf - but it won't be a cupcake at a time, but a book, a child at a time, who reads Foster's story, and finds in it inspiration to overcome hard circumstances in their lives, just as Foster did.