Review: The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson

The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson & Dan Jolley
Illustrated by Joelle Jones

Release Date: January 1^st 2012
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Format: Paperback
Pages: 126
Source: Library
Author: Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add it: Goodreads

A DEALY VIRUS KILLED EVERY ADULT ON EARTH, LEAVING ONLY US KIDS BEHIND.

My parents are gone, so I'm responsible for my little brother Todd. I have to make sure we stay alive. Many kids are sick or starving, and fierce gangs are stealing and destroying everything they find. Lots of people have given up, but here on Grand Avenue, some of us are surviving. Because of me.

I figured out how to give the kids on Grand Avenue food, homes and protection against the gangs. But Tom Logan and his army are determined to take away what we've built and rule the streets themselves. How long can we keep fighting them off? We need to find another place for us to live safely.

 A strong place. A secret place.

 In a world like this, someone have to take charge.

 BUT DO I HAVE THE STRENGTH TO TAKE CHARGE OF A WHOLE CITY?

 

I don’t know if it’s because I just read Anya’s Ghost and absolutely loved it or if it was just that I really didn’t like this book but it is definitely not one of my favorites. The plot is an interesting one. Everyone above the age of 12 has contracted a mysterious disease that ends up turning them into dust. However the author never goes into detail about any of that. All we get is a bunch of kids running around and fending for themselves.

The story focuses on a 10 year old girl, Lisa, and her brother Todd. She has taught herself to drive a car and drives around to different places trying to find food and supplies for them. While other kids, mostly gangs that have formed, steel from them or other people. Lisa’s main goal is to survive with her brother and make sure he doesn’t turn to one of the gangs.

Lisa devises a plan after her brother is beat up and robbed. She wants to start a militia with a bunch of the neighborhood kids. They try building their houses together and combining supplies only for a gang ran by Tom Logan to come through and ruin everything. She then decides to move everyone into an old school and run a city out of it.

I was not a fan of Lisa at all. She definitely acted like a 10 year old girl, which I suppose is the point, but the immaturity really bothered me. She kept calling it “my city” even though everyone worked very hard to run it and people even expressed that they didn’t like her saying that. She never did quit throughout the entire book though. She even argued why it was “her city”.

It’s pretty hard to believe some of the things these kids are doing. Considering none of them are over 12. They are carrying guns, training guard dogs to attack, and even dumping boiling oil on people. Someone gets shot and I found it hard to believe they could fix that. The person who gets the oil dumped on them survives but there is no way when you see the injury that occurred from it.

This book was originally a novel written by the same author. I would be interested in reading it just to see if there is more detail involved. This book would be good for middle aged kids as it fits more with their mindset. The missing details were what did it in for me though.

My Rating: