"Along for The Ride" Contrast & Contradictions

Now that I've read more in the book, I've noticed a change in Auden's feelings about her stepmom Heidi. Before, Auden used to think that Heidi was just a over perky annoying girly girl, but Auden is suddenly realizing that Heidi isn't as crazy as she seems. Auden starts getting to know who Heidi really is on the inside, and not the "annoying little girl" on the outside. She notices that Heidi has a lot more in common with her, then her dad. Auden thought that her stepmom was the one who ruined her family, when in reality it was her dad that killed it. Usually, Auden and Heidi were never close, they weren't they didn't have that close "stepmom-stepdaughter" kind of relationship, they stayed in their own personal business, but one day everything changed when Heidi opened up to Auden. In the book, Auden heard Heidi calling Thisbe (her stepsister) "Caroline" instead of her name. When Auden walked by, Heidi was surprised and embarrassed that Auden had heard everything. When Heidi said, "I don't like the name! I wanted to name her Isabel. It's the name of one of my best friends here in Colby, and I've always loved it." At that point, Auden knew that Heidi was getting more comfortable with Auden, and she kind of enjoyed it. They started to talk about what Heidi really wanted, and they got closer from there.

I can predict that more on in the book, Auden will start to open up to Heidi about more things in her life. She's starting to have a better connection with her stepmom, then her birth mom. Heidi and Auden have started to open up more to each other about how they really feel about everything going on in their lives. Not only is Auden getting closer to her stepmom, but she's warming up to some of her coworkers at Heidi's store she works at. Auden was never a girly girl growing up, so now that she is working with the top girly girls she's ever met, she's starting to become closer friends with them. In the book, Auden and her new friend Maggie,

"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.

"Frosting & Friendships"

I've been reading a lot in my book so far and I've learned more about my character and the theme of the book. Lily has gone through a lot of different conflicts so far. Now that she's getting closer to the day of her friend Sophie's surprise birthday party. Lily has been facing even more conflicts through out the book now. She has to help her band write a song and dance for their audition for the "Spring Fling". She has to put her baking skills to the test by baking "the most perfect" dessert for the surpass party. There's just one problem, Lily isn't the best when it comes to baking. She has to put in her all to make this dessert the best any of her friends ever tasted. I think that I can relate to Lily very much. She always has to try to make everything the way she expects it to be in her mind, but then when she tries to accomplish whatever she's trying to achieve, it goes the completely different way. She's so focused on

"Frosting and Friendships"

The book I've started to read is called "Frosting and Friendships" by Lisa Schroeder. It's about a 13 year old girl named Lily.. Lily is in a "baking book club" with some other girls. The problem is, all the other girls in "The Baking Bookworms" are masters at baking any desert. Little do they know, Lily is the last person to be a baker. When it comes down to baking anything, Lily isn't the best at that. Now that Lily is reunited with her old friend Sophie, Lily tries to give her all to baking just so she can impress Sophie. But it all goes wrong, when Lily's struggle to become a baking perfectionist, gets in the way of her girl band, and their friendships. What will Lily choose? The Baking Bookworms, or her group of true friends? I think a lot of people can relate to Lily's situation. Everyone probably had a time when they really wanted to impress someone, and prove to them that they could do the same thing. Maybe it wasn't a friend but someone will always want to prove that they can do something.

Now that I'm getting more ahead in my book, I've gotten to more of Lily's other conflicts that built up over other conflicts. Lily is currently going through a lot of self consciousness when it comes down to her baking. Lily has a week to find the perfect deserts for Sophie's surprise party, and she has to practice her baking skills. On top of that, she has to write a song, along with a matching dance and another song for her bands audition.  Lily has so much on her plate, she's not sure that she'd going to get everything she needs to get done in time. Everything starts going wrong, once she's all on her own without the help of the people around her. It's all up to Lily herself, she might regret some of her choices.

"Frosting & Friendship" Lisa Schroeder

The book that I'm now reading is called "Frosting and Friendship" by Lisa Schroeder. The book is about a girl named Lily. She's part of a girls only baking book club. Lily's good at reading, but she's not the best at baking. She wants to do everything she can to empress the other baking bookworms in her club. She especially wants to win back her old friend from summer camp, Sophie, and wants to empress Sophie's new best friend Isabel. Problems start to happen when Lily is given a task to bake the best dessert for a very special event. Lily runs into other conflicts when it comes down to her girl band. Lily has a limited amount of time to write a a dance to go along with a song for her bands audition.Will Lily have enough time to bake an amazing dessert and have time to make a unique song and dance? I'll just have to find out.

 So far reading this book, I can predict that Lily will go through a lot of conflicts throughout the book. Even at the beginning of the book, there are many different conflicts with Lily's baking skills, and band skills. I can already tell that Lily is going to go through a lot, but will eventually take on her problems head on and defeat them. I've been learning a lot about Lily and how she is as a character. I can relate to her in many different ways. She's sometimes insecure about herself and her abilities, but always has something to keep herself motivated. She's determined to do better then her mistakes and make the best out of nothing. Lily isn't really the most "popular" girl at their school. Her and her friends aren't the perfect match either. One of Lily's bandmates is one of the prettiest girls in Lily's point of view, and her other band mate, is a shy girl who doesn't really like the spotlight. I think that Lily and her friends are the perfect mis matched pair of friends.