The Girls In the Back of the Class: They're High School Girls With Secrets, Trouble, And Two Choices-Dropping Out.Or Trusting Her.

Her classroom was the last stop for a group of troubled kids. Teacher LouAnne Johnson, the petite ex-Marine of Dangerous Minds, was their last chance. The boys, like handsome Latino Julio Escovar, expected to end up in jail. The girls, like regal, golden-skinned Simoa, often mysteriously disappeared. But not in LouAnne Johnson's class.

Risking her life, and her heart, LouAnne cajoled, bribed, and loved these teens. She went out on tough urban streets to track down Simoa, she faced a dangerously angry father to get pretty, talented Araceli into art school, and she fought drug pushers, trouble-making dropouts, and burned-out teachers to leave her kids alone. Her goal was to get her kids to graduation. Her method? Believe in them...until they believed in themselves.

LouAnne Johnson, a former U.S. Marine and Navy journalist, is the author of the national bestseller Dangerous Minds, previously published as "My Posse Don't Do Homework," which was made into the hit movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer. she also wrote Making Waves, a book about her experience in the Navy. LouAnne Johnson now lives in the Southwest, where she teaches high school English.