I never forget books I've read, so this experience is maddening.  I am
struggling to find the title and author of a book I read in 7th grade.
 I thought it was called "The Girl Who Ruled the World," but searches
for that on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (even in the out of print
section) have come up empty.  The premise is as follows:  All the
adults in a community die from a mysterious virus, leaving the kids. 
The kids end up banding into two warring factions, one of which takes
over the high school and makes it into a essentially a fort.  I know
it sounds like a silly rip off of Lord of the Flies, but it was
actually a good book.  I would love to know the correct title and
author!

Gina

You almost remembered the title correctly. It is actually "The Girl
Who Owned a City," by O.T. Nelson.

"A killing virus has swept the earth, sparing only children through
the age of twelve. There is chaos everywhere, even in formely
prosperous mid-America. Gangs and fierce armies of children begin to
form almost immediately. It would be the same for the children on
Grand Avenue but for Lisa, a yen-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."

Amazon: The Girl Who Owned a City 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0822596709

"After a mysterious plague kills everybody on Earth over age 12, Lisa
attempts to provide food for herself and her little brother, Todd.
Gradually she realizes that there is strength in numbers, and
organizes the neighborhood kids into a 'militia' to defend their
homes. When she realizes that the homes are too difficult to defend,
she decides to move the group into the local high school and to
fortify it. Children begin to arrive from everywhere, drawn to Lisa's
leadership, and the fortress soon becomes a 'city' of seven hundred
children."

Crowbold: Nuclear war, plagues & other disasters
http://www.crowbold.com/homepage/nukebib.htm

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "the girl who owned a city"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22the+girl+who+owned+a+city%22

I hope this is helpful! If this is not the correct book, please
request clarification; I'll be glad to offer further assistance before
you rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

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Request for Answer Clarification by gmosca-ga on 22 Feb 2005 15:50 PST

Yay!  Thanks so much.  That was driving me nuts.  I will rate the
answer 5 stars.  But one question: Did you arrive at the correct title
via some web-based method I missed, or did you already happen to know
the correct title (and thus were able to Google correctly).  I ask
because my frantic searching with the wrong (but similar) title and
various plot keywords yielded nothing!!

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Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 22 Feb 2005 16:10 PST

I didn't use any magical search strategy: I knew the book's title
because this was one of my goddaughter's favorite books, some thirty
years ago. It's odd how things like this stay in my memory for
decades, yet I can't remember where I put my purse five minutes ago!

Thank you very much for the five-star rating and the nice tip. I'm
glad to have been able to help.

~pinkfreud

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Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 22 Feb 2005 17:18 PST

One more thing that might be of interest to you: my goddaughter, who
loved "The Girl Who Owned a City," was, in later years, crazy about a
book called "Swan Song." She convinced me that I should read "Swan
Song," and I wasn't sorry. This is NOT a book aimed at youngsters, but
it does have a remarkable young girl as a central character, and it
deals with a catastrophic end-of-the-world type scenario. You might
want to give this book a try. It's strong stuff, but very well done:

Amazon: Swan Song
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671741039

Thanks for the prompt and thorough answer!!  I was slightly concerned
I had dreamt this book up during my troubled youth.

Please excuse a typographical error in the quote from Amazon.
Obviously, "yen-year-old girl" should have been "ten-year-old girl."
The error was present in the original text, which I excerpted intact
from Amazon.

I went in search of info on this story tonight.  I first read it
serialized in a kids' magazine they handed out in middle school in the
70s.  I never, ever forgot it.  Today, I'm thinking it might make a
pretty cool movie.  I'm thrilled to see that others are remembering it
from their youths and that new kids are discovering  it and
recommending it on kidsbookshelf today.

You guys familiar with "The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes"?

No, can't say I'm familiar with "The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes." 
I will have to file that one away, along with "Swan Song," as future
titles to check out.

Thanks!

I'm trying to find the source story for "The Boy Who Predicted
Earthquakes".  I read it in a middle school text book called
"Diversity".  And then I discovered that it was turned into an episode
of Rod Serling's "Night Gallery".  I think Ron Howard's little brother
Clint played the title character.  I just remember thinking that the
TV show was nowhere near as scary as the original story.  So far, all
my net searches have lead only to short blurbs about the NG ep,
nothing on the short story.  Will have to do more research on that
one.  For some reason, I can't think of "The Girl..." without thinking
of "The Boy...".

sisterdebmac,

You might want to post a new question to see whether one of the Google
Answers Researchers can help you find your story.

To post a question, start here:

http://www.answers.google.com/answers/askquestion

sisterdebmac,

Hi again. 

I've found a book that contains "The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes."
It's out of print, but readily available used, at reasonable prices.

If you'd like to post a new question, I guarantee you an answer. ;-)

~pinkfreud