"Along for the Ride" Predictions

So far in the book, there have been a lot of things going on with Auden. She's becoming more familiar with her dad's new life. Auden's a big help to her stepmom Heidi. Since the new baby was born, Heidi's schedule was crazy. She's had to take care of the baby, work, manage the stores income, and just be at home with her new family. When Auden offers to help out at Heidi's store so she can have more time with the baby, Heidi couldn't be more relived that someone stood in for her. Auden isn't really happy right now in the book. She's upset because she hasn't spent that much time with her father, and when they do see each other, it's only for a little time. Auden's dad is a writer working on his new book, and he's always in his office writing. He hardly comes out just to have some time alone with Heidi and the baby, and now that Auden's visiting for the summer, she thinks he doesn't even care. Auden isn't the only one who feels that way, Heidi feels like everything doesn't matter to Auden's dad anymore. That all he's focused on is his work, and not their new family.

I think that more further in the book, Auden will try to bring her new family more closer with each other. Since Auden's dad is always in his office working, Heidi's busy with the baby, and Auden is helping Heidi out at her store, everyone doesn't spend that much time with each other. I think that Auden is going to try to tear everyone away just so they can have some time with each other. In the book Auden says that her dad's new life seems so "distant". She thinks that her dad doesn't usually have time for his family, and she wants him to realize that. She says, "his work takes up to much of his time, that he doesn't even notice what's going on with his family anymore."

"Along for The Ride" Sarah Dessen

The book that I started to read is called, "Along for The Ride" by Sarah Dessen. It's about a girl named Auden who goes to visit her dad, her stepmom, and their new baby for the summer. Her stepmom is having a hard time adjusting to having a newborn in the house, and needs a little help from anyone she can get. The whole point of Auden's trip to visit her dad once more before she goes off to college, but her visit doesn't go as she plans. She meets two guys that she doesn't know which one she really likes, her stepmom get's her a job at her store, her dad never seems to be around anymore, and she's starting to learn what being a real teenage girl feels like. Growing up, Auden wasn't raised like a kid. She would go to a lot of museums, plays, and adult parties, with her parents. She wouldn't play with barbies, have playdates, ride bikes, it just wasn't something Auden was raised to do. Auden was raised almost like a young adult. Now that she's working at her stepmom's new store, she starts learning all the secrets to being a teenage girl, and starts having her own secrets.


I think that Auden is going to fall in love with her dad's new family. She has a little stepsister named Thisbe that she only seems to know how to calm down. I feel like she's going to start to become more used to everything and want to stay longer, maybe even find a college closer to them. I can already tell that Auden is getting used to the people, her job, and everything. She starts becoming more known with the girls that work with her at the store, and get's to know them better. Auden isn't the type to open up about everything she's been through in her life, but maybe she'll find a friend she can really trust to give in and let everything out. For Auden, it takes time for her to trust someone. She's not really the person to just meet some body and tell them everything about her. She has to get to know them a little better, and I think that by being that way, she's going to meet someone really special to her.

Ellen DeGeneres - Upstander

For my up stander project, I've been doing my research on one of the biggest up standers I know, Ellen DeGeneres. Ellen is a famous talk show host and comedian, but all the money that she makes goes to so many different organizations that she donates to. She helps with many organizations for helping animals. Not only does she donate to these animal sanctuaries, she co-owns "Halo Pet Food", a pet food company of all natural pet foods that donates over 100 million pet foods to different animal shelters across America. Along with that, she's a proud advocate and member of LGBT community. Ellen had trouble when she first came out on national television, but later took a stand for herself and all the people out in the world going through the same thing she did. She showed people that hiding who you are inside, doesn't make everything better, it just makes it worse. She keeps her head high and inspires people to take a stand for what they believed in.

Ellen DeGeneres was born January 26, 1958 in Metairie, Louisiana. She lived with her parents Betty DeGeneres & Elliot DeGeneres, along with her brother Vance. DeGeneres really didn't know what she wanted to become when she grew up. She worked many different jobs before she started using comedy for something more than just helping her and her mother get by tough times. When Ellen started to realize that her comedy made people smile, she wanted to make sure that her talent kept people smiling. In 2003 when she had her hit talk show, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" all attention was on her. She had one so many awards for being an outstanding comedian, and all her work with donating to many foundations. Ellen DeGeneres is one of the many well known up standers known around the world.