Local author Rick Cramer has a new novel out that tells the story of growing up in Ardmore in the 1960s.

“I was born and raised right here in Ardmore,” Cramer said. “Went to school at Will Rogers, played football for Ardmore High School, and graduated in 1972.”

The novel, “The Rat Tracks,” tells the story of when he and his friends from school claimed a couple vacant blocks in Northwest Ardmore as their own.

“It’s a story about me, when I grew up, and some of my adventures,” Cramer said. “Some of them are true; some of them are made up. I think it’s interesting and I like it, and I think a lot of other people will too.

“The Rat Tracks themselves are if you go down Monroe near Northwest Boulevard. Now it’s some apartments there, but it used to be abandoned. And we just took those two blocks as ours.”

Cramer said there used to be a fight every other week or so between the boys from Will Rogers and the boys from Franklin and Charles Evans who wanted to claim that land as their own.

Some of the stories in the book include a hill perfect for bike jumping and motorcycle jumping, a pond filled with the remnants of a homemade fort, a treehouse, and elaborate war games.

While Cramer and his friends played in the area from the ages of third through sixth grade, he said the book will focus on their last year.

“Once we got into junior high, met new friends and started noticing girls, we all kind of went our separate ways,” Cramer said.

“The Rat Tracks” is available for purchase from amazon.com, and it is actually the first book in a planned trilogy.

“I’m going to break it up into this book being about elementary school, the second book about junior high, and the last book will be about high school,” Cramer said.