Because I do, and so I had to laugh when I noticed that the rave review in the New York Times’ for E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (one of my favorite novels of the year) included the following paragraph:
Frankie has style. Panache. In the summer since her freshman year, she has grown into her "angular face, filled out her figure and transformed from a homely child into a loaded potato — all while sitting quietly in a suburban hammock, reading the short stories of Dorothy Parker and drinking lemonade." Even to her family, "she was Bunny Rabbit. Innocent. In need of protection. Inconsequential."
The "loaded potato" being a term a bunch of YA types had decided to use in their novels at the 2006 NCTE conference. Cecil‘s perhaps the loaded potato standard bearer, with uses in both The PLAIN Janes and Janes in Love, and as the originator of a similar challenge that served as an inspiration for this one (see next link for details). Now she’s asking those who participated to come clean. Look out for flying (loaded) potatoes.