Delacourt Press. 2001.
ISBN: 0385730586.
$8.95. Paperback. 294 pages
Readers Annotation
Four girls and one magical pair of jeans embark on a summer adventure none of them will forget.
Plot Summary
For the first time since their birth, four best friends: Lena, Tibby, Bridget and Carmen are spending the summer apart. Carmen, half Puerto Rican, buys a pair of jeans from a thrift store on a whim. Somehow, magically the jeans fit each girl although they have very different figures. Together they decide that the pants must have some kind of good mojo, so they create The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Each girl will wear the pants for a week before forwarding them to the next friend. Lena travels to Greece to visit her Grandparents. Bridget travels to Baja California to attend soccer camp. Carmen goes to visit her Dad in South Carolina. Tibby is the only girl staying home because she has a job at Wallman’s. Each of the girls faces a crisis that they must cope with alone. For each of them the Traveling Pants is the linking force in their friendship as they learn about love, family, and death.
Critical Evaluation
Brashares does a very complicated thing and makes it look easy. She takes four characters, gives them individual voices, and places in a story that manages to remain contiguous, easily read, and enjoyable. Brashares uses the epistolary format for part of the novel. Each girl has a set of troubles that she must learn to overcome. Lena must deal with the fallout from a misinterpreted situation with the boy Kostos. Bridget (Bee) has her first sexual encounter with a camp counselor. Carmen discovers her Dad is getting married again and will have a second family. Tibby befriends a little girl dying from leukemia. Although Brashares is dealing with big life changing subjects she is not heavy handed. The book is a little gem that I would recommend to any student.
Information about the author
Brashares is the author the the “Sisterhood” series of books. She also has a website that is connected to her blog. However her biography hasn’t been updated since 2008. You can find out more about http://annbrashares.com/
Genre
Fiction, epistolary novel
Curriculum ties
None
Challenge Issues
Underage sex
Challenge defense ideas
· Become familiar with the book and its content.
· Refer to the collection development policy of the library.
· Refer to reviews from Booklist, School Library Journal, and Publisher’s Weekly available for viewing on Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Sisterhood-Traveling-Pants-Book/dp/0553494791/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260311481&sr=8-1
· Try to get reviews of the book from teens that have read it.
Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about how Carmen finds the pants and they fit all the girls.
2. Discuss the characters individual issues, for example: Lena and Costos.
Reading Level/Age
Young adult. Ages 13 and up.
Why I included this title
This book is on the 2001 Best Books for Young Adults list.
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