Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Twelve-year-old Ben Hardy is the new kid in school. Adjusting to life in the middle of Idaho has not been easy, but Ben manages to make new friends, and the most popular girl at school has asked him to the school dance. However, an incident in the school cafeteria involving a thrown hot dog lands Ben in hot water. He is faced with suspension or performing at basketball games as the school mascot, a dumpy potato. Being the school mascot will mess up his chances with the popular kids, but he reluctantly dons the costume. What follows is a madcap series of incidents involving Ben trying to keep his role as the mascot secret. As the story progresses, Ben learns who his true friends are and that, possibly, popularity is not all it seems to be. The ending is a predictable but satisfying lesson in being true to one’s friends. This book will appeal to fans of the Middle School series by James Patterson.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The new kid in school endures becoming the school mascot.Ben Hardy has never cared for potatoes, and this distaste has become a barrier to adjusting to life in his new Idaho town. His school's mascot is the Spud, and after a series of misfortunes, Ben is enlisted to don the potato costume and cheer on his school's team. Ben balances his duties as a life-sized potato against his desperate desire to hide the fact that he's the dork in the suit. After all, his cute new crush, Jayla, wouldn't be too impressed to discover Ben's secret. The ensuing novel is a fairly boilerplate middle-grade narrative: snarky tween protagonist, the crush that isn't quite what she seems, and a pair of best friends that have more going on than our hero initially believes. The author keeps the novel moving quickly, pushing forward with witty asides and narrative momentum so fast that readers won't really mind that the plot's spine is one they've encountered many times before. Once finished, readers will feel little resonance and move on to the next book in their to-read piles, but in the moment the novel is pleasant enough. Ben, Jayla, and Ben's friend Hunter are white while Ellie, Ben's other good pal, is Latina.On equal footing with a garden-variety potato. (Fiction. 10-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

School Library Journal
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Gr 4–7—Seventh grade student Ben, new to his Idaho school, is punished when he caves to peer pressure and misbehaves: he must don a potato suit and entertain the masses at school basketball games as the school mascot Steve the Spud. Humor ensues when Ben decides to lie to everyone about being in the potato suit. Comical illustrations support the amusement. Despite the frequency of food-throwing incidents, strong moral messages abound: don't lie, don't judge others, and do right by those less popular than yourself. While more astute or mature readers will question the strong subtext that heteronormative romantic pairings are de rigueur for seventh graders, as well as the plot's premise—just why does Ben feel the need to lie, again?—others will simply be swept up in the well-paced unfolding of the light-hearted plot. Almost the entire cast is white, upper middle class, heterosexual, cisgender, and supported by nuclear families comfortable in the suburban setting. VERDICT This title doesn't rock the boat; it's light, predictable, easy to read, vaguely funny, and reminiscent of Lincoln Peirce's "Big Nate" comics and Chris Grabenstein's and James Patterson's "I Funny" series.—Rhona Campbell, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC