One of my favorite lines in this book was describing Frankie's transformation from "a homely child into a loaded potato" so I thought this was pretty funny to come across on E. Lockhart's blog:"About a year ago, at the NCTE conference 2006, a bunch of YA authors including Coe Booth, Julie Ann Peters, David Levithan, Jordan Sonnenblick, Gail Giles and I don't even know who all else -- we had lunch at a very big table. And on the menu was a loaded potato.
Actually, it was loaded potato SOUP.
What is a loaded potato? we wondered.We were in the south. But we were not southerners.
We learned that a loaded potato is a baked potato with lots of cheese, bacon, sour cream etc. on it, and we began to think of all the other MEANINGS the phrase "loaded potato" might have. And we pledged to all put the word "loaded potato" into our next books.
I don't know if any of them did it -- but I did. And my loaded potato book is The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, which comes out in March. If any of you spot loaded potatoes as this coming season's books hit the stands, email me so I can tell the world!"
