The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Brashares, Ann, 2001.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
New York: Delacorte Press.
320 pages, hardcover.
$15.95

ISBN 9780385729338.

Format: book

Rating: 4.5/5.0 stars

Plot Summary

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a story about four teenage girls, who have been friends since their moms were pregnant with them, and are about to embark on a summer-long journey apart for the first time.

Carmen, our narrator, is the realist and a loyal friend who tries to reconnect with her father in South Carolina and becomes the bratty step-child who desperately needs to unload her pent up frustrations.

Bridget, the lonely superstar athlete who takes crazy risks and always seems to run from her problems, just might get into some mischief while attending her all-girl soccer camp in Baja, Mexico.

Shy, quiet Lena who never takes risks at all, protecting her heart and thoughts choosing instead to observe the world and recreate it in her art, travels to Greece to visit her ya-ya and poppy (grandparents).

Rebellious Tibby is home for the summer babysitting, tolerating her menial job and trying to record footage for a documentary project.

Together in spirit, the girls share a magical pair of jeans that somehow fit all four of them and tell the story of the pants as they send them to each other. It is a summer that will change all four girls, forever.

Critical Evaluation

The Sisterhood…is written with such a solid grip on teen-speak that it is a challenge to think that Brashares didn’t grow up with this kind of sisterhood to draw from when writing this, her first novel.

Brashares writing is crisp and clear with dialogue that is spot-on (incredibly realistic) and lends to the character development of each of our young girls – allowing readers to insights by showing instead of telling. By developing four very different types of girls as our lead characters, Brashares shares four stories within one, and offers readers a chance to identify with at or have a special kinship with at least one of the girls: Carmen, Lena, Bridget or Tibby.

All of the family connections read so real that readers are pulled into this sisterhood, and cheers as Carmen, Lena, Bridget or Tibby discover new parts to their own identity and cries when each is hurting or suffers a loss. Brashares seems to control the pulse of this friendship, and these girls, and as they grow, readers will learn through them how they see the world, each other, and themselves.

Brashares’ use of a pair of a traveling pair of jeans as a tool to reveal the inner souls of these girls works well, as every teen girl can connect with the power of friendship, love, loss, and sharing secrets. If these pants could talk, well…

Reader’s Annotation

When four lifelong teenage girls prepare for their first summer apart, what could possibly hold them together as they travel to Mexico, or South Carolina or Greece? A magical pair of pants, magical because they can’t possibly fit all four very different sized girls, yet they do.

Information About the Author

Ann Brashares is a lover of travel and pants, and still owns a pair of jeans from high school, though they contain no magic and don’t quite fit. She was raised in Maryland with three brothers and attended a Quaker school.

She took a year off between college and graduate school to earn some money, and ended up loving her role as an editor – forgoing the idea of graduate school altogether.

Ann lives in Brooklyn with her husband and three children; the youngest Susannah is an honorary member of the Sisterhood. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was her debut novel, the first in the series of five novels. The newest Sisterhood Everlasting was released this summer, and is most definitely these girls all grown up.

(Brashares, 2011).

Genre

Fiction: Romance – contemporary

Read-Alikes

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

In or Out by Claudia Gabel

Curriculum Ties

The Sisterhood…supports a writing unit on character development, with dialogue creation that is true and believable and adds another layer to each character.

Booktalking Ideas
1) sneaking into the yoga studio where Carmen, Bridget, Lena and Tibby write the rules for when wearing the pants

2) bio snip-its of each of the four girls showing their individuality and unity

Book Trailer Links
Book Trailer by a Reader

Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 9 and up / Ages 12 and up

Challenge Issues
teen rebellion, coming of age, romance, teen sex

First, I would share some of the recommendations used as part of the selection process, including reviews from resources as noted below. Next, I would point out the value in allowing these types of materials to be optional reading as teens grow ever closer to adulthood and making their own decisions. Finally, following our school district’s policy #KEC, after explaining that our school district’s philosophy is that no parent or group of parents has the right to determine the reading matter for children other than their own, I would refer the parent or community member to the building principal, so that he/she can file a written complaint to begin the process of review.

Awards

Book Sense Book of the Year Award for Children’s Literature, 2002

American Library Association’s (ALA’s) Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, 2002

South Carolina Book Award Nominee for YA Book Award, 2004

Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader’s Choice Award for Senior, 2004

Iowa Teen Award, 2004

Why Title Included & Selection Tools
The Sisterhood… is a story of friendship, and growing up yet never forgetting from where you came. Tibby, Carmen, Lena and Bridget are closer than sisters, and they allow readers into their family – to experience their hardships and triumphs, heartbreak and celebrations. It is a coming of age story, which every teen collection should have.

School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, USA Today