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SCHOOL SPIRIT

Critics have compared author Curtis Sittenfeld to Salinger and Plath. But her novel Prep, about boarding school, pegs her as a name to watch in her own right.

NATURAL TREATS

Ac,ai berries from Brazil have twice the antioxidants of blueberries and taste like blackberries crossed with chocolate.

FRESH SOUNDS

London-based Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. (Maya Arulpragasam) draws on reggae and bhangra in a new globe-trekking CD, Arular, that's a world beater.