The Girl Who Owned A City

Simple story line that's very easy to follow and even adults will enjoy! However, for the language use and brief violence and bullying, I say 10+ Amazing post-apocolypsic world story that will get you thinking!

The Girl Who Owned a City "At this very time last Tuesday, Lisa had been sitting, patiently in sixth grade social studies. There had been no reason to believe that her life would ever change. But it had and now it seemed suddenly terrible. The whole world has changed." In this post-apocalyptic world, children under 12 years of age are the only survivors of the horrendous plague that invades their dreams and haunts them wherever they wander. There hasn't been such a great story of a world without adults since the Lord of the Flies. In the book, The Girl Who Owned a City, by O.T.Nelson, a courageous 10 year old girl, Lisa, is appointed leader of the children on Grand Avenue, America. As soon as the deadly plague hits, gangs of fierce and ruthless children begin to form. Finding weapons, they threaten innocent young children for supplies and more recruits. Lisa's enemy, the boisterous Tom Logan and his army try to steal supplies from the children of Grand Avenue. Lisa's only hope is to be able to gather the children and create a militia in order to fight Tom Logan's gang. Devoid of water and electricity, they must learn to survive on this barren and ghostly planet, using all of the supplies they have scavenged. O.T.Nelson uses descriptive language to get across to the reader about how lucky they are to have the resources they have. For example, a five year old boy must learn to drive a car in order to make long trips to a secret source of supplies. This is a perfect book for those young adults who love an interesting mix of sci-fi and survival story.

I found this book in the school library in Junior High and have thought about it ever since. All the positive stuff the other reviewers have said about it I agree with. To this day I stop and think about what I would do if I had been her. I can't even imagine how the ideas and concepts put forth in this book have shaped who I am today. The only bad thing about this book was that it is so short. I did stumble upon a book with a similar theme that you should hunt down (it's currently out of print) if you loved this book - Emergence by David R. Palmer. Enjoy!

When everyone over 12 dies, 10-year-old Lisa and her brother Todd are thrust into a world with no adults. Lisa is very resourceful, and finds many places to get food. However, there is a gang that is determined to steal everything she has from her. So she organizes a militia of Grand Avenue (her street) and they start learning how to defend themselves. When Grand Avenue fails, Lisa finds another location that would be like a fortress. They start a city there, and soon the population is over 500. But when the same gang is able to conquer Glenbard, Lisa has to find a way to get it back. This is an excellent story. I got it in July and have read it about twelve times. I never get tired of it. It's exciting, although scary, to think about what would happen if a plauge really happened, and we children had to survive. This book is a great read.

I first read this book when I was in 5th grade (I am almost 34 now). The powerful story about how one girl could organize and unite her neighborhood, stave off the gangs, and basically initiate the re-emergence of civilization in a world gone awry after all adults were killed by a plague fascinated me as a child, and has stayed with me over the years. I remember to this day how much of an impact Lisa's poem "Having things is something, but not everything . . . Earning the values for your life is more than just something, it is everything" had on my goals and values growing up. Many years later, I had to do a paper for an American Studies class in college about an archetypal "American" story, and pulled out my old copy of "The Girl Who Owned a City," and it was only then that I realized that the author was an advocate of Ayn Rand's philosophy. As an adult reading the book, I noticed the political ideology of the author much more. As a child, I thought it was a great story with a moral that was very inspirational to me at the time -- that girls can be leaders and have a creative impact on society. I give this book five stars, because, whether or not the book contains a political message, it is a great story for kids. After all, how many books today emphasize the fundamental premise that you must work for what is important in life--and not just expect success to be handed to you on a silver platter?

I first read this book when I was 10 (17 or so years ago) and it was immediately my favorite. I even enjoy rereading it now from time to time. It encourages self-reliance, courage, and creative thinking...the reader is continually asking, "What would I do if I were in the same situation?" The book thrusts the reader into a world without the security of adults, where children are forced to find their own way. As a child, it was always a fantasy of mine that all adults would fade away and take their annoying authority with them, but The Girl Who Owned A City presents a very realistic view of such a world...with its hardships and cruelties, yet also with its opportunities and challenges. The plot captivates while it teaches responsibility, compassion and the importance of intelligence and creativity. I highly recommend it to anyone from 8 or so years old on up. It's still on my bookshelf, and I still like to take a few hours to reread it, pretend I'm Lisa in a world gone haywire, and wonder, "just what would I do?"