"A killing virus has swept the earth, sparing only children through the age of twelve. There is chaos everywhere, even in formerly prosperous mid-America. Gangs and fierce armies of children begin to form almost immediately. It would be the same for children on Grand Avenue but for Lisa, a ten-year-old girl who becomes their leader. Because of Lisa, they have food, even toys, in abundance. And now they can protect themselves from the fierce gangs that roam the neighborhoods. But for how long? Then Lisa conceives the idea of a fortress, a city in which the children could live safely and happily always, and she intends to lead them there." (description from book cover)
Overall Rating: **** (out of five)
Strengths:
- Strong Female Character. As an antidote to some young adult fiction that girls read these days, it is nice to have a book where the main character is not worried about boys. Rather, Lisa is worried about surviving by some method other than violence.
- Premise. The appeal of post-apocalyptic fiction is seeing ordinary people survive and even thrive. What is more interesting than seeing the weakest and most unprepared members of society, children, attempting to face what we might consider grown-up challenges.
- Violence. There is fighting, children with guns, and other potentially problematic behaviors in this book. Usually, this is limited to the "bad guys" of the story, but in some cases the good guys, too. It's not on the scale of The Hunger Games.
