The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

Brashares, Ann. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Delacourt Press; 2001,

ISBN: 0385730586.

Reader’s Annotation

Best friends Tibby, Carmen, Lena and Bridget must part for the summer, but they discover a pair of magical jeans, and they make a pact to share the jeans, as well as all their adventures during the summer.

Plot Summary

Four friends, best friends, are sophomores in high school, and are about to face their first summer apart.  But before they part, they discover a magical pair of jeans that fits each one of them, despite their different shapes and sizes.  The girls agree to rotate the jeans throughout the summer and include letters about the adventures each girl has.  During the summer, Ann Brashares chronicles the experiences of the four friends: the Tibby befriends a 12-year-old with leukemia, Carmen's father has a new family, Lena falls in love in Greece, and Bridget has her first sexual experience, which devastates her.  This book is the first in a series of four, which follows Tibby, Carmen, Bridget, and Lena from their sophomore year of high school to the end of their freshman year in college.

Critical Evaluation

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants paints a wonderful picture of friendship—the kind of friendship everyone wishes they could have.  When Lena, Bridget, Carmen and Tibby find the jeans, and discover that they fit each one of them perfectly, even though they all are different shapes and sizes they make a pact, to stay close, and to share the jeans.  As each of the girls’ stories are featured, Brashares depict a variety of scenarios, emotions—from joy to anger and sorrow.  The girls make a few bad decisions along the way, but the thing they know that they can count on is their friends. This book, the first in the series, was made into a popular movie in 2005.

Information about the Author

Ann Brashares was born in Alexandria, VA, and grew up in Chevy Chase, MD. She attended elementary and high school at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C. (the same school Melia and Sasha Obama attend now).  At Barnard College, Barashares studied philosophy, and then she went on the work as an editor 17th Street Productions. She is best known for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which became an international best seller. For more information, go to: Ann Brashares.

Genre

Romance

Chick Lit

Curriculum Tie-ins

None

Booktalk Ideas

1. What do you think the pants may symbolize?
2. Discuss the importance of friendship in the lives of Lena, Tibby, Bridget and Carmen.  Are those things important to all teens?

Reading level/Interest age

Young Adult (ages 12 +)

Challenge Issues/Challenge Response Ideas

Sexual content

Language

• Present the library’s selection policy
• Be familiar with similar works in the collection
• Refer to ALA Intellectual Freedom resources

 

Why I included this work

• Honors and Awards include:
• South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominee (2003-2004)
• Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice (2004)
• ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2002)
• Garden State Book Award (Teen Fiction Grades 9-12, 2004)
• Book Sense Book of the Year (2002.6|Children's Literature Winner, 2002)
• (show all 14 items)ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (2009.02|Journey > Destination, 2009)
• TASL Volunteer State Book Children's Choice Award (2003-2004)
• Iowa Teen Award Nominee (2003-2004)
• Iowa Teen Award Winner (2003-2004)
• Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee (2003-2004.2|Middle Grades, 2003-2004)
• Young Hoosier Book Award Winner (Middle Grades, 2003-2004)
• Sequoyah Children's Book Award (2004|YA, 2004)
• Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award Nominee (2007)
• Rhode Island Teen Book (2002)

 Great Quote from the Book:

“I could tell the pants hadn’t come into our lives because of tragedy. They’d just witnessed one of those regular but painful life transitions. That, it turns out, is The Way of the Pants.”