Read these titles over Spring Break:
 Runaway: Stories. Munro, Alice.
In Alice Munro's superb new collection, we find stories about women of all ages and circumstances, their lives made palpable by the subtlety and empathy of this incomparable writer. In the title story, a housekeeper tries to leave her emotionally abusive husband, entangling her employer in the process. Three interconnected stories follow a schoolteacher as she falls for an older man, returns as a young mother to visit her ailing parents on their farm and much later tries to "rescue" her daughter from a religious cult. It is Alice Munro's special gift to make these stories as vivid and real as our own.
 Al Capone Does My Shirts. Choldenko, Gennifer.
A Newbery Honor Book. Set in 1935, Moose Flanagan has just moved to Alcatraz Island, where his father has been hired as an electrician and guard. At first Moose is spooked at being in such close proximity to the nation's most notorious criminals, and he doesn't know what to make of the all-powerful warden's bossy daughter, Piper. At school, Piper hatches a scheme to make money from classmates and forces Moose to help her. Moose has reasons for staying on Piper's good side: his older sister, Natalie, has what would now be called autism, and Moose worries that her behavior will land the family in trouble with the warden.
 Kira-Kira. Kadohata, Cynthia.
Winner of the 2005 Newbery Medal. Katie's first word is "kira-kira," the Japanese word for "glittering," and she uses it to describe everything she likes. It was taught to her by her older sister, Lynn, whom Katie worships. Both girls have trouble adjusting when their parents move the family from Iowa to a small town in rural Georgia, where they are among only 31 Japanese-Americans. Then Lynn becomes deathly ill, and Katie is often left to care for her, a difficult and emotionally devastating job. When her sister dies of lymphoma, Katie searches for ways to live up to her legacy and to fulfill the dreams she never had a chance to attain.
 The Girl Who Married a Lion and Other Tales from Africa. Smith, Alexander McCall.
A girl discovers that her young husband might actually be a lion in disguise, but not before they have two sons who might actually be cubs. When a child made of wax follows his curiosity into the heat of daylight and melts, his siblings shape him into a bird with feathers made of leaves that enable him to fly into the light. These tales, told by the author of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, are sure to delight both fans of folklore and Mma Precious Ramotswe.
 Me and Orson Welles. Kaplow, Robert.
Through a twist of fate, Seventeen-year old Richard happens to be standing outside the Mercury, watching workers hoist the marquee, when Orson Welles appears and asks him to play the role of Lucius in Julius Caesar , a part just opened by the firing of the previous actor. Richard jumps at the opportunity and is soon caught up in the egomaniacal frenzy that surrounds Welles wherever he goes. But after Richard has a fling with production assistant, he clashes with Welles, and Richard's dreams of the stage are dashed.
 My Sister's Keeper. Picoult, Jodi.
Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life that she previously accepted. Anna now refuses to donate a kidney and strives for her own personal freedom. She hires lawyer Campbell Alexander to represent her, even as her own mother, a former civil defense attorney, fights her in court.
 The Blue Girl. De Lint, Charles.
Trying to leave behind her troubles at her previous high school, seventeen-year-old Imogene vows that she will fit in and be good at her new high school. She seeks out and becomes friends with another outsider, a straight-A student named Maxine. Their friendship blossoms, but despite Imogene's new life, trouble still seems to find her. If dealing with high school bullies was not bad enough, Imogene also has to cope with her imaginary childhood friend, Pelly, who comes to life and the high school's resident ghost, a former student named Adrian, and his mischief-making fairy sidekicks.
 Night Fall. De Mille, Nelson.
On a Long Island beach at dusk, Bob Mitchell and Janet Whitney conduct their illicit love affair in front of a video camera. Suddenly a terrible explosion lights up the sky. Five years later, the crash of Flight 800 has been attributed to a mechanical malfunction. But John Corey and Kate Mayfield, both members of the Elite Anti-terrorist Task Force, suspect a cover-up at the highest levels and set out to find the one piece of evidence that will prove the truth about what really happened to Flight 800.
 The Ruling Class. Pascal, Francine.
In the posh suburban Dallas high school of Highland Park, the beautiful and perfect Jeanette Sue is queen. The Ruling Class, her clique of spectacularly cruel girls, runs the school. And no one questions them, that is until the arrival of the totally undesirable, absolutely unfashionable, and poor Twyla Gay Stark. After narrowly escaping one of the Ruling Class' dangerous tricks, Twyla vows to seek revenge and becomes the leader of a ragtag group of outcasts bent on overthrowing the social order.
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