7.24 Family - More Book Recs Please

Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Every day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined topic chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the twenty-fourth day of the month is "Family."

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My twin niece and nephew are turning fourteen this weekend. (You GUYS. Remember when they were so sick in the NICU? Now they're teenagers!) I'm sliding twenty-five dollars cold hard cash into some greeting cards and getting them each a book and calling it a happy birthday. I asked a couple of people who have teenagers what were appropriate birthday gifts and they all said the best thing you can do for a teenager is let them spend the money how they want to. Money seems like a lame gift, but whatever. It's what they want, I guess.

So I'm asking for yet more book recommendations from you. I will need to order the book by the end of the day today, so what fabulous books do you recommend for a fourteen-year-old boy and a fourteen-year-old girl? Also, these are well-read kids, so don't go recommending JK Rowling and Cassandra Clare because they've already been there and done that.

My nephew: Still has not hit puberty and is quite self-conscious about it. Active in the Boy Scouts and his church youth group. Very responsible, as he frequently helps his disabled twin sister and his younger sister. Has recommended to me books about dragons, elf people, and surviving in the wilderness, Gary Paulsen-style. 

My niece: Physically disabled, but precocious and a great reader. Likes Pokemon and keeping extensive spreadsheets about her cards.  Will participate in sports, but generally is not particularly competitive. Really liked The Mortal Instruments series and has given me books about disabled animals finding friends (SO. Sad.) to read. Has not been impressed with any mystery novels I've suggested (Mixed Up Files and Nancy Drew). 

I have a couple of thoughts.  I'm tempted by Ender's Game for the boy, although I dislike the idea of monetarily supporting Orson Scott card. I feel like it's just classic enough that perhaps he hasn't read it and the ending is so shocking. Or maybe Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller in the same sort of videogame epic-type book? In a different style altogether, maybe Darius the Great is Not Okay to introduce some diversity into his midwestern white boy life? Or is that too preachy?

I'm leaning hard towards A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for my niece. I think fourteen is a perfectly appropriate age for it. But maybe I should wait until she's a little bit older? Or maybe It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood which has a character with a skin issue that might resonate with my physically disabled niece? Or is that too on the nose? (There are a couple of books that deal with her specific disability including The Running Dream and The Beauty is in the Walking that I have taken off the list entirely because I don't want my niece to think her disability is all I know about her.) Maybe I should just give her a good old fashioned fantasy novel, like one by Megan Whalen Turner? 

Give me your thoughts! What do you think you would buy them? I need to make this decision ASAP, so your voice matters! (Also, they will certainly be given gift receipts, so if they don't like their books, they'll be able to return them.)