Local author doing exclusive tour for new series featuring Idaho Falls
Published at | Updated at
IDAHO FALLS — A Ucon author is gearing up for a mini-tour around the Gem State to launch her new series of books.
“I’ve done lots of events on the East Coast and West Coast, just because I’ve lived on those various coasts, but this is going to be the first time I’m bringing a Random House book into Idaho for some events,” Kristen Tracy said.
Tracy, a children’s through young adult author, is excited to launch, “Project Unpopular.” The book — aimed for middle-aged kids — takes place at Rocky Mountain Middle School. Tracy said it’s about two sixth grade girls trying to topple the hierarchy of popularity at their middle school.
“The hallways of Rocky Mountain Middle School are the hallways of my memory, (although) I was not an advocate for nerds in middle school, I did not try to change anybody,” Tracy said. “In fact, I was probably closer to being a nerd. The social scene, even in sixth grade, was daunting. I wasn’t fashion forward and certainly never felt popular.”
Tracy said this series isn’t a direct reflection of her growing up experience, but local themes are reflected in her partially fictional depiction of Idaho Falls. She felt the mall was the ideal place to introduce her series especially seeing how a scene takes place there.
“The book actually has a scene that takes place at the Grand Teton Mall. A lot of my potential readers are probably Idaho middle schoolers and so I thought it made sense to go out and launch the book at the Barnes and Nobles at the Mall,” Tracy said.
She said many of her characters in other series also end up at the Grand Teton Mall. “Death of a Kleptomaniac” and “Lost It,” are two of Tracy’s books which take place in Idaho.
Tracy expressed excitement to mingle with Idaho readers and said they can look forward to lots of laughs in her series.
“My books are really funny, that’s one of the things that everybody comments on.They always say that they’re laugh out loud. It’s a really comedic trip to the middle school. My characters don’t always do the right thing, but they try really, really hard to be good,” she said.
Tracy will be in Boise at Rediscovered books at 7 p.m. June 16, in Idaho Falls at Barnes and Noble at 1 p.m. on June 18, and at Twin Falls at Barnes and Noble at 11 a.m. June 19.