Book recommendation for a 13-year-old girl?

An additional thought: When I was batmitzvahed (only a few years ago), almost every book I received was related to the Holocaust. Not to mention most of the Jewish historical education that I received within community (I was raised religious). I think it's really important to provide Jewish girls with positive images of powerful people throughout history, especially Jewish women, and not just the ones who died tragically or miraculously survived. Maybe think less "Anne Frank diary/Devil's Arithmatic/Number the Stars" and more book by or about a notable Jewish woman who did not sacrifice herself in one way or another in order to become notable. You might check out Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon, Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye, Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0827607881/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/, a story about the Maiden of Ludmir, A Dangerous Woman: The Graphic Biography of Emma Goldman by Sharon Rudahl. If she likes poetry, a book of poems by a Jewish woman might be very powerful. My favorites include Kadya Molodowksy (Katherine Hellerstein's billingual compilation entitled "Paper Bridges" is definitive and gorgeous), Irena Klepfisz (The A Few Words in the Mother Tongue compilation is best), Alicia Suskin Ostriker, Marge Piercy, Adrienne Rich, Anna Margolin, Reyzl Zykhlinsky and others. Depending on her interest or lack of interest in religion, an interesting gift that may be cherished is a copy of Norman Fischer's zen inspired translations of the psalms, titled Opening to You. Depending on her spiritual bent, it could be a total hit or a total bust.

I was given an anthology of American poetry as a Bat Mitzvah gift. It was inscribed by the givers (some friends of my parents). I still take it off the bookshelf and read a poem or two at random, 40 some odd years later. (Oh wow wow wow: while writing this post, I just pulled it off the shelf to see what they wrote. This is the inscription: "Dear Wordwoman: May reading this book give you as much pleasure as it gives us in presenting it to you on the occasion of your Bat Mitzvah. Love, ___") So that is my vote: a book of poetry. And an inscription something like that.

She's a reader, and when she was an infant I started a collection of first editions of children's literature for her. But that was back when I was a practicing attorney with money to burn :-) I'm also going to give her cash, but I'd like to give her a physical gift as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Capture_the_Castle Maybe this is more of an eight or ninth grade kind of book, but Lorrie Moore's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Will_Run_the_Frog_Hospital%3F was one of the defining books of my adolescence.

I was gifted a beautiful copy of the collected works of Lewis Carroll when i was a kid, and i still have it and love it. Also, something to consider: when i had my bat mitzvah (back in the 80s), i got several gifts that i loved, and lots of gifts that probably seemed very lovely and meaningful to the gift giver, but that felt old fashioned or stuffy or irrelevant to me as an almost-teenager, even if i knew that they had financial value. (I'm looking at you, engraved gold Cross pens, custom menorrah, and earrings well suited to a classy 45 year old.) If your niece loves to read, and has an appreciation for the classics, then i think your gift will be lovely and appreciated. But if not, in 10 years you may discover that book shoved in the back of her bookshelf at her parents house, completely untouched, the lasting value unrealized. (If she loves to read, but is unlikely to see the value of first edition, i think a Kindle would be a great gift.)

When I was your niece's age, I loved http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/458300.Turn_Not_Pale_Beloved_Snail. There was a copy in my local library and I read it at least once a year until I moved away to go to university. It's ostensibly about being creative and being a writer but it's also about relationships: with family, with friends, with your environment. I recently bought an ex-libris copy because it meant so much to me when I was young, and it still stands up. From the book jacket:Some people think of writers as those who spend their lives huddled in a garret scribbling away and never experiencing real life. Jacqueline Jackson, noted author of many books, says that anyone, child or adult, who wants to write meaningfully and well cannot afford to hide away from life. Indeed, she suggests that it is only by opening up all our senses to the myriad aspects of life around us that our writing can become rich and colorful. Using examples from the work of writers, giving insights into her own methods of writing, and inviting the reader to share many of her own family's feelings and experiences, Mrs. Jackson echoes the lines of Lewis Carroll's 'The Lobster-Quadrille': 'Turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.' The dance is life; the writing is about it. Jacqueline Jackson gives us all a very special invitation to join in.I don't know what your price range is, but it's possible to buy new-condition copies for under $50: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=871490644&searchurl=sts%3Dt%26tn%3Dturn%2Bnot%2Bpale is a first edition in "near-fine" condition (which is one step up from "very good" but one step down from "new"). http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316454818/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ is a first edition in "new" condition but costs a bit more.

Oh please, please get her A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It's a beautiful book about growing older (and loving books!) that she'll value now and value even more as an adult.

Thank you to everyone who replied, these are all terrific suggestions! For a whole host of reasons, I've decided to go with Turn Not Pale, Beloved Snail, and have found & ordered a signed, inscribed first in near fine condition. It seems unlikely that she would already have read or heard of it, and it sounds like a book with much lasting value for the young person entering adulthood. I've also ordered a reading copy for myself so that I can preview it before presenting her with it. As much as I love I Capture the Castle, a true first in reasonable condition with dust jacket is inching away from my preferred price range, and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is off in the stratosphere :-) One kind of weird twist to this that I neglected to mention is that, while my sister is Jewish, I am not (I'm an atheist). She converted when she married, and my niece, of course, has been raised Jewish but I don't want to give my niece a book that would imply that I know anything about young Jewish women, although Norman Fisher's book was a wonderful suggestion. Everything Is Illuminated is also a great idea, as I think it's one of the wisest books written in the aftermath of September 11. I really appreciate the time and thought that you all put into your responses. This has also provided me with a list of books to read. It's great to get recommendations from people who obviously care about books and writing, and who are so articulate about the reasons behind their recommendations. Thanks so much!

Recently my 23 year old cousin told me that the volumes of http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_21?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=best+american+nonrequired+reading&sprefix=best+american+nonrequ%2Caps%2C194 I've given her each year since she was 13 are the very best gifts she's ever gotten. She always been a reader and tells me that she was introduced to her 3 favorite writers through the series. As a reader myself, I was so moved by how much these gifts have meant to her. So, that's what I recommend: the whole series.