Discussion Questions for What’s so great about Sarah Dessen? • Do you think Auden’s mother is threatened by her Read them all! Along for the Ride daughter’s choice to spend the summer with her father and his new family? What does her mother • Why is it so difficult for Auden to feel like a “normal” fear will happen? teenager? • How does Auden’s relationship with her step • In what ways are Hollis’ and Auden’s childhoods mother, Heidi, change? What does Auden discover different? How has this affected them as they have about Heidi throughout the course of the story? matured and made important decisions about their • Explain the significance of the picture frame lives? Hollis sends home to Auden; why does the • Auden and her new sister, Thisbe, are named after inscription, “The Best of Times” bother her so literary influences in her father’s life. Why are much? How does this gift serve as a catalyst for • $19.99 HC: 978-0-670-01194-0 names so important to Auden’s dad, Robert? What change in Auden’s plans? does he believe the right name will do for his chil- • Why does Auden feel she needs to stay with dren? How does the baby’s name cause a conflict her dad and Heidi after their baby is born? between Auden’s dad and Heidi? What does the What does she hope to gain from her visit? result of their disagreement indicate about their HC: 978-0-670-01088-2 • $18.99 HC: 978-0-670-06105-1 • $18.99 relationship? • Auden’s first encounter with Eli comes when she PB: 978-0-14-241472-9 • $8.99 PB: 978-0-14-241097-4 • $8.99 is taking her baby sister for a stroll in hopes of • Auden’s mom tells her, “People don’t change. If settling her down. When Eli observes the crying anything you get more set in your ways as you baby, Auden tells him, “It’s been a long night.” Eli When Ruby’s mother disap- Last year, Annabel get older, not less.” (page 13) Do you agree with comments, “Aren’t they all.” What can you infer from pears, Ruby remains silent was the girl who has this statement? Why or why not? Are there any his statement? and lives alone. When she’s everything—at least characters in the novel who show considerable discovered by the landlord, that’s the part she PB: 978-0-14-241472-9 • $8.99 978-0-14-241472-9 PB: PB: 978-0-14-241097-4 • $8.99 978-0-14-241097-4 PB: • Describe Auden. Is she the type of person you • $8.99 978-014-240625-0 PB: change throughout the course of the story? • $18.99 HC: 978-0-670-06105-1 HC: 978-0-670-01088-2 • $18.99 HC: 978-0-670-01088-2 played in the television would want to befriend? Why or why not? • $16.99 HC: 978-0-670-03639-4 Ruby knows that the game • Explain the significance of the picture frame Hollis is up. Social services place commercial for Kopf’s sends home to Auden; why does the inscription, her in the care of her Cora, Department Store. • Auden thinks, “Stuff that would be weird in the This year, she’s the girl hen it comes to academics, Auden “The Best of Times” bother her so much? How does the sister she hasn’t seen bright light of day just wasn’t so much once you who has nothing: no knows all about being the best. In this gift serve as a catalyst for change in Auden’s in ten years, and Cora’s passed a certain hour. It was like the dark just best friend because W life, however, she’s learned that it’s plans? evened it all out, somehow.” In what ways do the husband Jamie, whose mean-but-exciting easier to avoid the things that don’t guarantee • Why does Auden feel she needs to stay with her night time events liberate her? down-to-earth demeanor success. One of her biggest challenges is Sophie dropped her, dad and Heidi after their baby is born? What does makes it hard for Ruby to no peace at home her insomnia, and so she fills her nights with The Truth About • Since much of the action of the story takes place she hope to gain from her visit? at night, do you think the relationship between believe he founded the since her older sister PB: 978-0-14-240177-4 • $8.99 978-0-14-240177-4 PB: studying and preparing for college. When a • $8.99 978-0-14-240172-9 PB: PB: 978-0-14-250155-9 • $8.99 978-0-14-250155-9 PB: most popular networking became anorexic, and HC: 978-0-670-87778-2 • $17.99 HC: 978-0-670-87778-2 • In what ways is Robert contributing to Heidi’s Auden and Eli would have been the same if their • $16.99 HC: 978-0-670-06110-5 Sarah Dessen Q&A • $16.99 HC: 978-0-670-03530-4 bizarre gift from her globe-trotting, carefree sense of helplessness and depression? How would time together had been during the day? Web site around. A luxuri- no one to sit with at brother arrives, Auden is inspired to accept ous house, fancy private lunch. Until she meets you describe his character? • In what ways are Auden and Eli similar? How are her father’s invitation to join him and his new school, a new wardrobe, the Owen Armstrong. • On her first night in Colby, Auden has a personal they different? family for the summer before she heads to promise of college and a Tall, dark, and music college. After witnessing the conflict between encounter with Jake. Why does she regret her • Eli tells Auden, “It’s never too late to have a happy obsessed, Owen is a actions? How do the other characters regard her future—it’s a dream come her father and his new wife, a late-night project childhood.” (page 15) What does Eli do to help true. So why is Ruby such reformed bad boy with because of this experience? a commitment to truth lands Auden a job at Clementine’s, a local Auden change and grow as a person? a reluctant Cinderella, wary telling. With Owen’s boutique; and it is here that she opens her • Auden’s mother calls her daughter regularly in • Adam tells Auden, “It all counts, the bottom line and defensive? And why is order to receive reports about how things are help, maybe Annabel mind and heart to new friends and experiences. is what defines you isn’t how many times you Nate, the genial boy next can face what happened PB: 978-0-14-240176-7 • $8.99 978-0-14-240176-7 PB: PB: 978-0-14-240175-0 • $8.99 978-0-14-240175-0 PB: going at Auden’s father’s. Why does her mother • $8.99 978-0-14-250103-0 PB: HC: 978-0-670-89122-1 • $16.99 HC: 978-0-670-89122-1 With the help of Eli, a local boy with a tragic crash, but the number of times you get back on • $17.99 HC: 978-0-670-88549-7 show so such interest in Robert’s life? door with some secrets of the night she and Sophie past, Auden begins to learn that sometimes the bike. As long as it’s one more, you’re all his own, unable to accept stopped being friends. life can be messy and that success or failure • From Auden’s perspective, the girls she works with good.” Do you agree? Why or why not? the help that Ruby is just isn’t measured by how often you crash, it’s at Clementine’s (Maggie, Leah, and Esther) are • In what way does Auden finally learn to go “along Visit the world of Sarah Dessen at Sarah-land.com learning to give? measured by how many times you get back typical teenage girls. In what ways is her vision for the ride”? on the bike and try to ride. reshaped as she gets to know them more intimately? Viking • Puffin Books Divisions of Penguin Young Readers Group Viking • Puffin Books Viking • Puffin Books (bundles of ten) 978-0-670-01757-7 Divisions of Penguin Young Readers Group Divisions of Penguin Young Readers Group Discussion Discussion The Truth About Q: The setting for Along for the Ride is the fictional beach Questions for Questions for town of Colby, North Carolina, first used in your novel Keeping the Moon. What about this town drew you back Just Listen Lock and Key and made you want to explore it further? ABOUT THE AUTHOR • Do you believe that • When Ruby is discovered A: I knew I wanted to set the book at the beach, and it just people who seem to living alone, why is she so Q&A seemed like a good fit to go back to Colby, a place that have everything are afraid of being taken from I (and a lot of my readers) already knew pretty well. Plus, both Along for the Ride and Keeping the Moon are stories truly happy? Why or the yellow house? Why Q: In Along for the Ride, Auden is the daughter of why not? does she want to prove about transformation and finding acceptance. In my mind, university professors; did your own experience of Along for the Ride is kind of a companion to the earlier • Annabel is unable to that she can make it on being the daughter of academics influence the story her own? Why does her novel.