BY KAREN BOSSICK

They call themselves the Page Turning Potatoes, but they’re hardly couch potatoes when it comes to book reading.

The Page Turning Potatoes recently won the Idaho Battle of the Books at Victory Middle School in Meridian. The team, made up of Reagan Flannigan, Catherine Herrera, Aoife O’Reilly, Charlotte Brickley, and Hayden Barbre, beat out 31 middle school and junior high teams to claim the championship.

They’re coached by Sara Shafer.

Joining them in the quest were The Fruity Kanyes, who beat them in the Wood River Middle School finale. Fortunately, both teams were able to attend the regionals.

Idaho Battle of the Books, also known as IBOB, is a statewide voluntary reading motivation and comprehension program open to Idaho students in grades 4 through 9.

It’s meant to expose students to quality literature representing a variety of literary styles and viewpoints. It not only recognizes students who enjoy reading but strives to broaden reading interests, increasing reading comprehension, promote academic excellence and promote cooperative learning and teamwork.

Students in grades 4 through 6 and 6 through 9 are assigned lists of books. They then discuss the books and compete in teams of four to answer questions about the books based on a quiz show format. Some questions start with “In which book….” Others involve content questions.

This year’s books included Scott Westerfeld’s “Leviathan,” Patricia Wrede’s “Dealing with Dragons,” Sally J. Pla’s “The Someday Birds,” Victoria Jamieson’s “When Stars are Scattered,” Firoozeh Dumas’s “It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel,” and Dan Gemeinhart’s “The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise.”

This is the third year the Middle School library has sponsored IBOB, according to Samantha Mora, the Middle School librarian. This year Wood River Middle School had nine student teams and a faculty team competing in weekly battles.