Along For the Ride
Sarah Dessen
Theme One: Can People Change?
When she arrives she immediately regrets it, seeing Heidi, her stepmother, who runs a boutique on the boardwalk, and seems too air headed to even have a brain. Along with that is the newborn baby, Thisbe is a very colicky baby and cries non-stop. At the beginning of the book Auden has a distinct view about herself and everybody around her. But over the course of the summer that all changes. She meets Eli, a mysterious bike jumper who has an unknown and fragile past. They take interest in each other when they run into each other consecutively at night, which is the time when they both seem to be the most active. Eli takes Auden under his wing, showing her the nightlife of the beach town. They soon spend every night together, eating pie, running errands, and talking about life. As she gets to know Heidi, Maggie, Eli, and all her new friends, she realizes that there might be more to her that even she realized. She found out that she can be smart and academically strong, along with having good relationships with her friends and Eli. Other people who change throughout the summer are her parents. Her mother realizes that Auden needs to be who she wants to be. She becomes open-minded and forms a stronger relationship with Auden than she ever had before. Her father, with the help of Auden, becomes less selfish and realizes that he has a responsibility to be there for his children, especially the new baby.