For those trying to select a gift for a teenager, the choice can be fraught with uncertainties. Trends among teens change quickly, and what was the must-have possession last year is now hopelessly out-of-date. But books are a timeless gift, and if chosen carefully, they will be cherished for many years to come. That’s where we come in. From vampires to sports to historical adventure, we’ve selected the best books for every teen on your list.

Creatures of the night
If you know someone who’s caught the Twilight fever, you’re in luck: nothing is hotter in teen fiction right now than vampires, werewolves, zombies and other strange and spooky creatures. Assuming your giftee already owns all four books in Stephenie Meyer’s hit series, another set of teen paranormals could be just what you’re looking for. In The Van Alen Legacy, fourth in the Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz, our heroine is a wealthy Manhattan teen at an elite private school—who just happens to be the latest in a long line of vampires. Schuyler Van Alen has money, privilege and power, yet all the glamour of her life may not be enough to protect her from a rival group of vampires, the Silver Bloods.

Worlds of wonder
There’s no shortage of well-written and engaging fantasy and science fiction books for teens; in recent months, BookPage has reviewed such excellent titles as Suzanne Collins’ edge-of-your-seat Catching Fire (sequel to The Hunger Games, this reviewer’s pick for the best book of 2008), Scott Westerfeld’s steampunk adventure Leviathan and Kristin Cashore’s gripping Fire (prequel to Graceling). Another series not to be missed is the Chaos Walking books by Patrick Ness. Last year’s The Knife of Never Letting Go introduced Ness’ truly imaginative setting, a world in which something called the “Noise germ” has killed all the women and caused the thoughts of both men and dogs to be broadcast aloud ceaselessly—and where 12-year-old Todd Hewitt may have discovered a very dangerous secret. Now, in the recently released The Ask and the Answer, Todd must face a new set of challenges and decide where his loyalties lie.

Danger on the high seas
If your teen likes swashbuckling adventure, narrow escapes and sea monsters, these two books will be a surefire hit. In Roland Smith’s Tentacles, the sequel to Cryptid Hunters, Marty and Grace O’Hara go along for the ride when their uncle rents a freighter and sets off for New Zealand in search of a giant squid. But will a mysterious saboteur end their journey before they can find the creature? The fascinating science of cryptids (animals thought to exist only in myth) and Smith’s fast-paced story will capture the imagination of any action-loving reader.

Seventh in the Bloody Jack series, L.A. Meyer’s Rapture of the Deep continues the story of Jacky Faber, a young woman who was once a homeless orphan on the streets of late-18th-century London, but has since been a sailor, a pirate and a spy, among other occupations. Now Jacky is about to marry her true love, Jaimy—but her plans are foiled when the two are kidnapped by the British Navy and packed off to Florida to search for sunken treasure. Jacky’s many adventures may strain credulity, but readers will be too engrossed in the story to mind.

The best-laid plans
Of course, there are plenty of teens who don’t care for vampires and want to read a story set in the real world. In Peter Lerangis’ wtf, six teens make plans for a wild night, but it soon gets much wilder than any of them expected. On the back roads of Westchester County and in the pulse-pounding clubs of Manhattan, they follow one another through a complex and twisting plot. From the shocking beginning to an ending that still manages to surprise, this is one book readers won’t be able to put down.

Cat Locke, heroine of Robin Brande’s Fat Cat, makes herself the subject of an experiment that will be sure to win top honors at the science fair, and show up her rival (and former best friend) Matt McKinney in the process. Her project—she resolves to  live like Homo erectus, giving up everything from driving to hair products to artificial sweeteners—is brilliant, but will Cat manage to pull it off? And how will her friends and family, not to mention Matt, respond to the new Cat she is becoming? Sharp writing and fully realized characters propel the story and make the resolution both sweet and
satisfying.

On and off the court
Sports play a major part in the lives of many teens, and this pair of sports-themed novels will surely find many fans among not just basketball and football stars, but anyone who enjoys a heartwarming story. In Front and Center, third in the Dairy Queen trilogy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, D.J. Schwenk has spent the past five months as the center of attention, first when she went out for the boys’ football team, and then when her brother was seriously injured. Now that Win is home from the hospital and basketball season has started, D.J. is happy to be in the background again. But between a budding romance, college recruiters and the expectations of her basketball coach, she won’t be able to stay out of the spotlight for long. Murdock’s sense of humor and pitch-perfect ear for dialogue make D.J.’s story as compelling as any Big Ten showdown.

Thirteen-year-old Nate Brodie, hero of Mike Lupica’s Million-Dollar Throw, has the best throwing arm his football coach has ever seen. When he wins the chance to throw a pass through a target on live television—even better, at a Patriots game, Nate’s favorite team—for a million-dollar prize, it could be exactly what his family needs to get them through some tough financial times. But Nate worries that he’ll let his family down if he fails to make the pass. And if that’s not enough, his best friend Abby is going blind, and he doesn’t know how to help her. Nate is a wholly likeable character, and the support he receives from his parents and friends helps him to make the right choices when it really counts.

Nearly half of those surveyed by The Young Adult Library Services Association said that although they enjoy reading, they don't have time. Teens need more time to read! The International Reading Association says teens need "specific opportunities to schedule reading into their days." If teens you know need help scheduling reading, now's the time: October 15-21 is Teen Read Week. This year's theme Take Time to Read provides the perfect opportunity to discuss books, and there are shelves of new books to recommend.

Know a teen interested in the latest scientific news? They'll be sure to make time to read two books due this month. Margaret Peterson Haddix's Turnabout is the story of teenagers, Melly and Anny Beth, who have lived over 150 years each. Once residents of a nursing home, they agreed to be part of an experiment on "unaging." The plan was for senior citizens to age backwards, eventually remaining 25-30 years old indefinitely, but the procedure didn't go as planned. Melly and Anny Beth find problems in getting younger, especially during the teenage years when they are trying to live independently. Searching for a family to adopt them before they become too young to care for themselves at all, they discover someone is searching for them. Turnabout is sure to spark discussions about aging and the problems facing each generation.

Blueprint, by Charlotte Kerner, is another discussion-sparker. Referring to herself as a blueprint rather than a clone, Siri is the offspring of Iris, a concert pianist seeking immortality after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. With the help of Mortimer Fisher, head of a reproduction clinic, Iris becomes one of the first self-generating single parents or as Siri says a "mother-twin." Now 22, Siri copes with her mother-twin's death by writing a bitter memoir, confessing that the "most effective horror goes on internally." Know a teen intrigued by adventures in worlds beyond our own?

Plan time to read The Wind Singer by William Nicholson, an adventure set in Aramanth whose slogan is "Strive harder, reach higher, make tomorrow better than today." It's a city where testing begins at age two and results in individual ratings. The rating itself means nothing; it's improving that determines how families live. Kestrel's rebellion against this system causes her family's shunning and her assignment to "Special Teaching." Kestrel, her brother Bowman, and the lowest rated classmate, Mumpo, set off to find the key to the wind singer, a device that may provide a source of happiness.

Teens will find a different world in Eva Ibbotson's Island of the Aunts. Inhabited by unusual animals, the island is tended by three very unusual, aging women. Needing help with their hard work, each kidnaps a child. Two initially frightened children, Minette and Fabio, eventually enjoy their chores and new friends the aunts, the mermaids, the selkie Herbert, the egg-bound boobrie. Then something incredible happens: they hear the Great Hum; and the third child, Lambert, finds his mobile phone and summons his father.

Based on an epidemic in Philadelphia over 200 years ago, Fever 1793 exposes teens to the hardships of living in a time that may seem like another world. From awkward low ceilings to the difficulty of fastening stays, from a cat devouring its prey on a new quilt to dogs barking and pigs running city streets, Laurie Halse Anderson takes teens into the life of Matilda, the daughter of a coffeehouse owner, during a time when a mysterious disease killed over 10 percent of the city's population in less than three months.

Carve teens some time for two books based on diaries of real teenagers facing the worst prejudice and persecution. Forgotten Fire follows Vahan, son of rich, well-respected Armenians living in Turkey in 1915, as his home shatters and he struggles to survive in a world set on his destruction. One Eye Laughing, The Other Weeping, the newest addition to the Dear America series, depicts the life of Julie Weiss, an upper-class Jewish girl in the Vienna of the 1930s, as her family's concerns shift from an eloquent dinner party to finding a way to stay alive.

Teens always find time to read about "outsiders." In Ghost Boy, Iain Lawrence's albino teen Harold Kline joins the circus freak show, and meets others more unusual than he. Though doll-sized Princess Minikin and Samuel, called Fossil Man, accept Harold as their own son, Harold soon learns he's as capable of cruel prejudice as those who gawk at them. Richard Peck's A Year Down Yonder continues the story of Mary Alice. She begins her 15th year living with Grandma, feeling like the only outsider in a hick town a long way from Chicago. She dreads life among those who won't accept her and views Grandma with suspicion. By year's end, she dreads leaving the town and all its quirky inhabitants, feeling she "was one of them now." Another continuing character is Jack Gantos' Joey Pigza Loses Control. Joey has gained control over his behavior thanks to a medication patch. Joey's mom is sending him and his Chihuahua Pablo to stay with his dad. There are two obstacles to an enjoyable visit: Joey's impulsive dad convinces Joey to stop using his medication and Joey's chain-smoking grandmother seems to resent him altogether, especially when the meds wear off.

Have I convinced you to celebrate Teen Read Week? Well, it's about "time"!

Jamie Whitfield has all the time in the world to read and write, now that she has retired from teaching teenagers.

Once kids hit the age of 13, they seem to be stuck between different worlds. They're still children, but they wish they were adults. They want to be trusted, but often act impulsively. Their reading, appropriately enough, is just as unpredictable as they are. One minute, they pick books from the bestseller lists, and the next, they nostalgically curl up with Dr. Seuss. Because teens are such a tough audience, we've rounded up some new books that are sure to keep them entertained during those long June afternoons.

KEEPER OF THE NIGHT
In her new book Keeper of the Night, writer Kimberly Willis Holt takes on a sensitive subject a mother's depression and suicide. Holt addressed the topic of mentally challenged parents in My Louisiana Sky and the treatment of the morbidly obese in When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. Both books have a loyal following and are on summer reading lists across the country. Set in the Guam of her military brat childhood, Holt's newest novel has a shroud of mystery hanging about it, as the child narrator struggles in the months following her mother's suicide.

Holt's plain, direct prose belies the deep pain the narrator feels as she tries to understand her mother's life and death. The book opens with the breathtaking sentence, "My mother died praying on her knees." Slowly, almost like the stories that surface during therapy sessions, Isabel's sadness and confusion emerge. The death is terrible enough, but the aftermath threatens to engulf every member of Isabel's family. Tata, her father, sleeps curled on the floor next to his bed. Little sister Olivia's bedwetting and nightmares disrupt her sleep. Older brother Frank uses the long nights to carve words in the wall next to his bed and eventually into his own skin.

Isabel's story is both heartbreaking and inspirational, as we watch her sink further into sadness. But, at the breaking point, she and her family are saved by their ability to tell their stories, forgive themselves and begin again.

THE DREAM BEARER
Walter Dean Myers returns this summer with another powerful story of young men growing up in Harlem. In The Dream Bearer, David Curry meets mysterious Moses Littlejohn, an African-American man with white hair, a stubbly beard and baggy clothes, who professes to be a 303-year-old dream carrier. Moses is looking for someone to pass his dreams to, and, as it turns out, David could use a few.

Caught between his violent, unpredictable father, his dedicated mother and Tyrone, his older brother, who is beginning to succumb to the temptations of gang and drug life, David is a gentle boy who listens to the older man's dreams, which soon become a part of him, adding to his understanding of himself, his family and the larger world of Harlem. Myers' latest is a tale that will linger with readers.

A NORTHERN LIGHT
Jennifer Donnelly's first book for young adults, A Northern Light, is a story as big and bold as the North Woods of New York State where it is set. In the tradition of Gene Stratton Porter, Donnelly delivers a novel filled with the particulars of life at the turn of the century, weaving in details of the local farming and logging cultures, and examining attitudes of racial prejudice and feminism.

Narrator Mattie Gokey loves poetry and would like nothing more than to accept the scholarship to Barnard that her teacher, Miss Wilcox, has helped her earn. But her mother recently died of breast cancer, her brother left the family farm after a fight with her dad, and she is desperately needed at home, where her sisters and brothers are too old to be bossed but too young to do farm work.

A talented writer with a thirst for books, Mattie tells her own story in a strong but conflicted voice. Her best friend, Weaver Smith, is also hoping to go to college, but as a black boy saving money for Columbia he faces his own challenges. Their unusual but completely believable friendship sustains Mattie through a difficult year and helps her decide on a course for her life. As the novel progresses, she makes two big promises, and these promises frame the narrative.

For readers who will eventually graduate to the sweeping books of John Irving and Barbara Kingsolver, A Northern Light is the perfect stepping-stone. Deft foreshadowing and a real-life mystery keep the story moving along.

LUCAS
With Lucas, author Kevin Brooks tells the poignant story of Caitlin McCann and her family, who are also reeling from a death. Caitlin's mother died almost 10 years ago, but the wounds still fester, especially for her father. At his suggestion to "let it all out," to "cry herself a story," Caitlin recounts the events of her 15th summer, from the first time she sees the beautiful outsider, Lucas, to the tragic events on the mudflats.

In between, Caitlin spins a dark, suspenseful tale of British life in a small island village not the resort town you might imagine, but a small-minded, inbred community characterized by alcohol abuse, gossip, prejudice and evil. When Lucas, a pale boy with a ghostly presence, suddenly appears on the island nothing is the same for Caitlin. She is bewitched by his manner and his kindness. Lucas seems to have a sixth sense about people, and he warns Caitlin about her companions, whom he sees as dangerous, angry and cruel. Turns out he's right about everything.

This taut story, though quite a bit longer than most young adult novels, will keep readers in its web, much like Lucas keeps Cait captivated throughout the narrative. As the tale unwinds, we see Lucas become the object of jealousy and suspicion, as mean Jamie Tait and his cohorts plot to rid their island of this "gyppo." Brooks' wonderful novel, told by an unforgettable protagonist, reminds us of the redemptive power of stories.