Hi there, I'm looking for two books I remember reading in eigth or ninth grade. I think the first one was written in the 70's or so. Everyone over 12 was killed by some disease and the lead character is a strong female. I distinctly remember a scene where she was attempting to learn to drive a car ( I think her mom's station wagon) and then teaching the older children to drive it so they could travel to farther areas in search of food. I don't think the book is about a lingering disease because toward the end the girl is imagining the surviving children  rebuilding their world from what they could learn from taextbooks, manuals, etc. The girl had a younger brother -- about eight or so -- who seemed to be very anxious and looked to her for constant support. I think the girl's name MAY have been Lisa, but I'm not certain.

The second book is similar but I think the majority of the population was wiped out be nuclear war (but it could have been a disease). This book too featured a strong, young, female who took the lead in caring for the survivng children in her area. I think adults survived in this book because the girl shoots two men wearing haz-mats who invade their house (probably stealing food or supplies). Throughout the book, she continues to have dreams of a group of children sitting in a neat row at individual school desks and she has the feeling that they are waiting for her. Finally at the end, she uses one of the suits to search for these children, leaving behind her "family." (I presume because she has taught them enough to survive on their own.) I want to think that this book was written in the 80's but it could be newer than that.

Both books were reletively short. Does this sound familiar to anyone? I've tried looking up some book databases, but I'm not very good with search engines.

The world ends in Hickory Hollow by:Ardath Mayhar?

I'm getting too many hits, is there anything else that can help narrow it down, time travel? magic? etc...

Sorry, I thought I had responded sooner to your reply. I looked up your suggestion and it didn't sound familiar. I think the book starts off after the disaster starts and the children are left to pick up the pieces, so to speak. No, there is no magic or time-travel. As far as I can remember, the events take place on earth, and I think it was contemporary (for the time) not a future sci-fi.

I looked through about forty pages of children's books on Amazon and haven't found it yet.

The first book is "The Girl Who Owned A City" by O.T. Nelson.  And yes- her name was Lisa.

I loved this book when I was a kid!!!

The second one doesn't sound familiar to me at all, sorry!

Thank you so much! :D

Well, one is better than none. ^^