Curtis Pith is a masterful chef. He can take top ingredients and make amazing dishes. Or he can take the last few things in the pantry and whip up a tasty dinner. He has a wealth of cooking information in his head, from recipes he uses every week to dishes from the other side of the world. That’s not so unusual for a chef. But it is unusual for an 11-year-old.

Usually he cooks dinner for himself and his little sister Paige while their mother works evenings. And he makes sure never to miss an episode of Super Chef. Each season of the competition cooking raises the stakes just a little. Chef Lucas Taylor, the original Super Chef, runs the weekly contests with his two sous chefs, and Curtis stays glued to the television to learn as much as he can from the master.

And then the Super Chef makes an announcement. He is retiring from the show. But he wants to see the future of the business. He wants to find the next Super Chef, and for that he is looking for a kid. The show will be accepting video submissions for kids, and the top five will be chosen to be on the show, The Last Super Chef. As soon as Curtis finds out about this competition, he knows he has to be in it. He has to win it. First, there is the cash prize of $250,000, which would change their lives. He could buy his mother a house, and she wouldn’t have to worry so much about her job.

But there’s something else, something Curtis has never told anyone. Chef Taylor is his father.

When he’d been in second grade, he had asked his mother who his father is. She burst into tears trying to tell him. She was finally able to tell Curtis that he was a chef, a super chef, and then she pointed towards the television, where Lucas Taylor had been, on his show Super Chef.

So the second reason Curtis wants to be, no, needs to be on The Last Super Chef, is to finally meet his father in person.

Every night for a week, a new winner is announced on the news. Curtis watches each night as one contestant after another is named, and it’s not until the last night that they come knocking on his door. His video of him making a single perfect cheese soufflé was enough to get him on the show.

Suddenly, he’s off to New York City to meet the other four contestants and compete to be the Last Super Chef. As the challenges whiz by and he makes friends with the other kids, he has to fight against his anxiety as well as his growing resentment at Chef Taylor being so distant all those years. Clearly, he had the means to help the family, to come visit and see how Paige and Curtis were doing as they grew up. So what kept him so far away?

Will Curtis be able to put his feelings aside and win the competition, or will he let his feelings distract him too much? Will he be the Last Super Chef? Or will be find something even more valuable than that title?

Author Chris Negron has taken a little but of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and mixed in some Master Chef Junior to create The Last Super Chef. This story of family, food, friendship, and a madcap cooking competition is just as fun and charming as you would hope. If you’ve got kids who are fans of cooking shows and competitions, then they will chow down on this novel. It keeps the flavor of the reality show with a lot of off-screen moments, and the characters are the kids you could find in any neighborhood school.

I absolutely loved The Last Super Chef. It’s a fun play on the reality competition shows but also has a real depth of feeling and family in the story. It’s smart and funny, interesting and charming, and genuinely heart-warming. This one is an instant classic!

Egalleys for The Last Super Chef were provided by HarperCollins Children’s Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.