The Girl Who Owned a City

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What post-apocalyptic novels have you read or heard of? Try to list at least three.

Teaching Suggestion: The Girl Who Owned a City anticipates the widespread popularity of post-apocalyptic novels in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Examples from middle grade or young adult fiction include The Hunger Games, The Last Kids on Earth, The City of Ember, and Life As We Knew It while the genre as a whole encompasses works like The Road, Oryx and Crake, The Fifth Season, Station Eleven, The Stand, etc. However, while many of these works are also examples of dystopian fiction, The Girl Who Owned a City imagines rebuilding society in something like its current form. Use this prompt to spark discussion about why post-apocalyptic fiction appeals to readers and what ideas it allows us to engage with.

Helpful links:

• Post Apocalyptic Books on GoodReads
• “End of the World as We Know It: Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic, and Dystopian Worlds” 2019 New York Public Library article by Amanda Pagan discussing the post-apocalyptic genre and listing popular examples of it

2. What do you know about America during the 1970s? Can you think of any major events that occurred or were ongoing during this period?

Teaching Suggestion: The Girl Who Owned a City is in part an introduction to capitalist principles, so the most relevant answer to this question is the ongoing Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. The decade also witnessed a prolonged period of economic malaise (driven in part by various oil crises) and an uptick in terrorism, both of which contributed to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and the broader shift toward conservatism and neoliberal policies. Use this prompt to ground students in the novel’s historical context and introduce them to a simplified version of its economic and political concerns (particularly Earning One’s Own Way).

Helpful links:

• “70 historic moments from the 1970s”: CNN gallery of iconic images from the 1970s
• “The Real Legacy of the 1970s”: 2019 New York Times op-ed by Michael Tomasky discussing the impact 1970s inflation had on American political culture

Short Activity

Imagine you had to survive on your own for a week. Come up with a list of the supplies you think you’d need to survive, noting roughly how much/many you would need of each.

Teaching Suggestion: Besides introducing the premise of the novel—a world in which children have to fend for themselves—this activity should get students thinking about some of Nelson’s key concerns, including the importance of thinking through problems and practicality versus idealism. After students have compiled their list, you may ask them to compare notes or discuss their ideas as a class: How do their ideas about what is practical or necessary differ, if at all?

Helpful links:

• Would You Survive?: 2015 tongue-in-cheek book by Helaine Baker with quizzes rating your preparedness for scenarios ranging from hauntings to robot rebellions
• “10 Essentials”: National Park Service list of basic supplies to have on hand when hiking or camping