The Girl Who Owned a City

Title: The Girl Who Owned a City
Author: O.T. Nelson
Series: None
Genre: Juvenile Fiction



A plague has hit the earth and killed everyone over the age of 12. This leaves all the children of the world to fend for themselves. With the extinction of adults, comes the loss of power and just about every convenience we take for granted. This includes knowledge. The knowledge of how to make things work, how to fly an airplane, how to be a doctor and so much more. Gangs have formed and many children are going hungry.

Lisa decides that she's not going to let that happen to her and her younger brother. She thinks of new places to get food that others haven't, and eventually has her big idea. She wants to gather all the children from her street and move into a high school. One they can turn into their castle, their fortress.

As expected all of the other gangs want to defeat them and take the things that they have. A lot of thought has to go into keeping them away from them and they don't always win.

I thought this was a fun scientific read, although I was slightly disappointed with the ending. I don't know what I expected, all of the adults died and it's not like they're going to magically come alive at the end of the book. I did feel, however, that I could have used a little more closure.

I had originally found this book in a middle school classroom and the title jumped out at me. Although it's a tad bit violent with five year olds both driving cars and wielding guns, I think that kids who are 12 and under would enjoy the story and thinking about putting themselves temporarily into that situation.