NEWBERRY — Kami Kinard’s debut novel The Boy Project: Notes and Observations of Kara McAllister is a good-hearted look at the trials and tribulations of eighth-grader Kara McAllister who has one huge problem.
McAllister is the only person in her grade to have never had a boyfriend.
Thirteen and wildly creative, McAllister just had her best idea yet. Masked under the pretense of a social experiment for the school science fair, McAllister plans to take careful notes on all of the boys in her grade (and a few elsewhere) in order to answer a seemingly simple question: How can she get a boyfriend?
But, as luck would have it, McAllister’s project turns out to be much more complicated than she anticipated. Soon there are secrets, lies, and an embarrassing incident in the boy’s bathroom.
Plus, McAllister has to deal with mean girls, her slightly spacey B.F.F., and some surprising uses for duct tape. Still, if McAllister’s research leads her to the right boy, everything may just be worth it.
Full of charts and graphs, heart and humor, this hilarious debut will resonate with tweens everywhere.
Kinard enjoys writing about the boyfriend quest more than she enjoyed experiencing it.
Kinard grew up in Camden but has lots of local connections.
Her parents are Kay Davis and Ernest Kinard Jr., both of Newberry.
“My father is a circuit court judge now and works across the state, ” said Kinard, of her father, who often serves as a judge in Newberry. “I was born and grew up in Camden, but spent a lot of time in Newberry where both sets of my grandparents lived. My mother’s parents, Lottie and Aubrey Davis owned and operated Davis Oil Company. My father’s parents, Blanche and J.E. Kinard Sr. ran a farm in Pomaria. I have aunts and uncles who still live in Newberry County, Gayle Davis Lindley, and Dale and B.L. Brown, as well as a lot of extended family.”
A teaching artist on the S.C. Arts Commission’s Roster of Approved Artists, she writes from Beaufort where she lives with her husband and two children.
Kinard will be signing her book at Books on Main at 3 p.m. Friday.
You can visit her online at: www.kamikinard.com.
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