FROM OUR EDITORS

A funky pair of dungarees and a strong friendship lie at the heart of this compelling coming-of-age novel. During the first summer they'll be separated from each other, four friends share a pair of second-hand jeans...and experience happiness, heartbreak, and all the complications of growing up.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn't look all that great: they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them. But Tibby says they're great. She'd love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they're fabulous. Lena decides that they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them. Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything) thinks she looks good in the pants. Over a few bags of cheese puffs, they decide to form a sisterhood and take the vow of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants . . . the next morning, they say good-bye. And then the journey of the pants żżż and the most memorable summer of their lives żżż begins.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

First novelist Brashares successfully creates four distinct characters, each with her own story line, and ties them together with a creative device: a pair of pants purchased in a thrift shop. As four lifelong friends prepare to split up for the summer, they discover that the second-hand jeans look good on all of them, despite their different physiques. They promise to rotate the jeans among them and, upon their reunion at summer's end, record their favorite adventures on the pant legs. These magical pants serve as a substitute friend for each girl as she is tested that summer, from Carmen, who goes to visit her father only to find out he's engaged to a woman with two teenage kids, to Tibby, who befriends a precocious 12-year-old cancer victim. Even though they are separated for most of the summer, the friends communicate their love and understanding for one another (Tibby writes to Lena, "Don't torture yourself, Len. We love you too much," to console her friend for mistakenly accusing a cute neighbor boy of spying on her while she skinny dips in Greece). Their bonds, combined with a realistic portrayal of teen emotions (Tibby is embarrassed by the smock she has to wear to work at Wallman's, while Carmen boils with rage when the seamstress fitting her bridesmaid dress disparages her curvy figure), make for an outstanding and vivid book that will stay with readers for a long time. Readers will hope that Brashares chronicles the sisterhood for volumes to come. Ages 12-up. (Sept). Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

"This first novelist successfully creates four distinct characters, each with her own story line, and ties them together with a creative device: a pair of pants purchased in a thrift shop," said PW in a starred review. "An outstanding and vivid book that will stay with readers for a long time." Ages 12-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Rita Karr

Any story that begins "Once upon a time..." has to be good, and this one is. It is hard to imagine that one pair of thrift shop jeans could play such an important role in the lives of four teenage girls. The story begins before the birth of four teenagers when their mothers meet in an aerobics class. Although the mothers drift apart, the girls become close friends. A trip to the local thrift shop and one non-descript pair of jeans become the catalyst for a summer of change. How can one pair of jeans look so incredibly good on four different girls with four dramatically different figures? Its magical, at least that is what the teens think. "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" is born when the girls decide to send the jeans to each other over the summer. The journey of the traveling jeans takes the denim talisman from Greece where Lena discovers herself, to California where Bridget learns a life lesson, to South Carolina where Carmen must learn about family, and finally back home where Tilly discovers the real magic in them-or is it life?

VOYA

Fun book! I have read many YA novels that focus on changing friendships, but never one that revolves around a pair of magical pants. I thought that the comparison between pants that make all wearers look and feel good and friendship was insightful and creative. Although I did not like the overgirlification of parts of it—such as Lena falling madly in love with a guy she barely knew—the novel was mostly realistic, and I could identify with the characters. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was enjoyable and meaningful at the same time, and that's sometimes a hard thing to find in YA literature. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2001, Delacorte, 304p, $14.95. Ages 12 to 18. Reviewer: Deana Rutherford, Teen Reviewer

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-During their 15th summer, four girls who have been lifelong friends spend the season apart. In a summer's launch ceremony, they decide to pass along among themselves a pair of thrift shop jeans which oddly seems to fit each of them, although Carmen, Tibby, Bridget, and Lena have very different physiques. Ann Bashares' novel (Delacorte 2001) uses this conceit to travel among the friends' four very different geographic locations, experiences, and self-realizations, making for a complex story in which each girl's voice is distinct both in text and in actress Angela Gothals' reading. Lena spends the summer in Greece, visiting her grandparents and gaining the courage to act instead of always observing quietly; Bridget attends soccer camp in Mexico and makes a dangerous game of flirting with a college-age counselor; Carmen has planned to spend the summer with her father but discovers, upon arriving in South Carolina, that he is about to remarry a woman who has two teens of her own; Tibby stays home in Washington, DC, working at a drugstore, and unexpectedly becomes friends with a 12-year-old girl who has leukemia. Each girl pushes the emotional limits of both herself and those around her. While the traveling pants themselves seem rather artificial, these emotions and the developments they inspire in the individuals and in their relationships ring absolutely true. The recorded version of this book makes it flow more easily than its print counterpart, due to Gothals' care in individuating every character's pitch and rhythm while remaining faithful to Brashares' words and the important pauses between passages.-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. Read all 6 "From The Critics" >