The Girl Who Owned a City

If libertarian ideas are to have a future then we have to reach each new generation with the ideas. That is one reason that libertarian oriented fiction for young people is important. I have already reviewed the first two volumes of the Shadow Children series here and here. And I shall be reviewing volume three shortly

Today I want to share two other books which are favorites of mine and which I think are good additions for any young person’s library.

I don’t remember when I first read O.T. Nelson’s book The Girl Who Owned a City but I certainly enjoyed it immensely. It is not only a libertarian work for kids but basically an Objectivist novel as well. And I personally enjoyed it since the story takes place in the locality where I was living when I read it. I’ve moved on since then but the book is still a pleasure to read.

One day the children of the world wake up to discover that they are alone. All the adults have died in some mysterious plague. Left to fend for themselves they have to discover what it takes to survive.

The main character is Lisa, a young girl, left alone to fend for herself and her younger brother. All the support that her parents had given her is now gone and she realizes that to survive she must think. She has to figure out how to survive. Using her reason Lisa discovers food that others had forgotten about. She also discovers that some children resort to looting instead of thinking to survive.

Forced to defend herself from the looters Lisa builds an alliance with some of the other children from her neighborhood. But repeated assaults by the looters make life difficult. Lisa decides her only alternative to have her own city. She and her children retreat to an abandoned school which they turn into fortress in order to fend off the looters.

The author wrote this book for his own children, Lisa and Todd, and his goal was to create a children’s story that would translate the basic ideas of Ayn Rand into a format that they could understand. And in this he succeeded. This is a Laissez Faire recommended book.

Paperback, 200 pages, $5.95.