Raising Myself by Carla Brooks Johnston is a true story set against a background of adventures of a female Tom Sawyer that will keep you turning pages as you empathize with the efforts of a teenager trying to find a life for herself even as she lies in a hospital bed hoping to recover from being stabbed by a would-be rapist. What do you do when you're a girl who is orphaned at 13 with a stepfather who wants to rape you, a school counselor who decides you shouldn't go to college and tries to push you into a vocational curriculum, schoolmates who discriminate against you because you aren't part of a Dick and Jane family, no one to tell you the facts of social and sexual life, and no one to turn to for help when you are in trouble or to share your thoughts and feelings when you achieve something good? You raise yourself. Aside from being a good read, the book is both thought provoking and an inspiration for those whose lives include teenagers, for those wanting women to succeed, and for those who want hopes and dreams to become real.