3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows (3 Willows (Hardback)) (Hardcover)

by Ann Brashares (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 7–10—Incoming freshmen at the same high school that the original sisterhood attended, Ama, Jo, and Polly are learning that falling out of friendship is an unfortunate part of growing up. They're spending the summer apart—uprooted—dealing with divorce, unmet expectations, and, of course, boys. Fans of Brashares will likely be thrilled to get their hands on Willows, yet the story falls short of offering the chick-lit genre anything new. Undoubtedly, though, readers will become involved with the girls as they grow their separate ways, ultimately realizing that the roots of their friendship have never really come undone. The sweet (near sappy) novel will find a place on the to-read list of many tweens and teens.—Emily Chornomaz, Brooklyn Public Library, NY
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From Booklist
Brashares begins a new sisterhood series, with occasional cameos from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants gang. Ama, Jo, and Polly originally met in third grade. Now it’s the summer before high school, and they’re all dealing with disappointments and difficulties. Ghana-born overachiever Ama is horrified with her assignment to a summer wilderness camp instead of the academic program she was hoping for. Jo is dealing with her parents’ separation and the wildly attractive boy at work. Free-spirit Polly is struggling to transform herself into a model through radical dieting and modeling camps. There are glimpses of Tibby and Lena from the Pants series, but readers seeking old friends from the wildly popular series will be disappointed. However, Brashares has created an eminently likable trio of girls that tweens and younger teens will enjoy getting to know, and unlike the last Sisterhood books, there’s no sex, just the occasional kiss. Multiple copies are in order for any community where the Sisterhood series is popular. Grades 6-10. --Debbie Carton

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (January 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385736762
• ISBN-13: 978-0385736763
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #74,307 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 5 in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Sisterhood, December 30, 2008

By	K. Coombs (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

(What's this?)

As her subtitle implies, 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows is intended to build on the success of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books, and in fact, Brashares's new characters speak reverentially of the sisterhood (apparently word has spread). However, Brashares also pokes fun at her own cross-reference. As one character puts it, "A lot of girls in our school tried to follow in [the sisterhood's] footsteps. It's the best reason I can give for a lot of terrible-fitting jeans in our middle school."

Brashares isn't necessarily cashing in on her first series; perhaps instead of saying that she is building on the success of the Pants books, I should say that she is building on the kind of emotional and social success that a group of close friends can provide for each other. Brashares is very taken with the idea that good friends can help you through hard times. Still, her characters are far from being joined at the hip. They are independent and unique, only circling back to their friends at key moments.

The three girls in this new book--Polly, Jo, and Ama--have just finished middle school and are looking forward to high school with varying degrees of dread and anticipation. One of the dominant questions of the book is, Will old friendships survive a new era of life? As Polly, Jo, and Ama go their separate ways for summer vacation, that question hovers over them, with its deeper resonances of How am I changing? Who am I really, and who will I become?

Each girl faces her own set of challenges. For Polly, it's about self-definition. The path she chooses is utterly ill-suited to her--but Brasheres does interesting things with that. Polly must also face up to the fact that her mother is not okay, and why.

Jo is pulling away from the old group, trying to get in with a new crowd at the restaurant where she works for the summer near her family's beach house. She meets a too-charming guy and has to decide what to do about him. In addition, her parents' problems force Jo to reconsider what she wants out of life.

Ama, a classic perfectionist, is sent to a summer enrichment program where, for the first time in her life, she feels incapable of shining. How she learns to deal with failure is the theme of her summer. There's a little romance in her subplot, too. I was pleased to see that Ama is African American, by the way (literally: she was born in Ghana).

The author's framing device is three willow trees that the girls planted together when they were much younger. It's nice, though perhaps a tad expendable. However, I enjoyed the notes about willow trees that began each section of the book.

The most important thing you should know about 3 Willows is that Brashares writes very movingly about these girls. By the end of the book, I cared very much about what happened to Jo and Polly and Ama. That's the author's true gift to her readers.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, not classic, February 1, 2009

By	T. Feuerbach "Kate Feuerbach" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I loved the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series and was sad to see it end so I was thrilled when it was announced Ann Brashares would be writing a new series with a whole new set of characters and a new plot. I wasn't disappointed, but I did have some qualms with the book.

3 Willows is about three girls whose friendship is on the rocks. Already it's different from Brashares's other novel in the fact that the girls are no longer close. Jo, Ama, and Polly are considerably younger than the former sisterhood as they are only preparing to enter their freshman year in high school.

What Worked:

As usual with Ann Brashares, the characters are likeable and relatable.

The plot lines are fairly interesting.

Her ideas were unique. While there was some of the original sisterhood in the girls they were all their own people and nothing felt like déjà vu.

What Didn't:

Bringing up characters from the other books. Although they were from the same area as the original foursome I didn't like the overlapping. The sisterhood is portrayed as some mythical fantasy in this novel. Polly, who baby-sits for both Tibby's family and (as it's insinuated) Carmen's little brother, meets Brian briefly. She sees him sadly sitting in
Tibby's room and thinks that he must miss her and that their relationship is complicated. I felt like this opened up a new storyline for the original four and took the focus off the new girls. Effie, Lena's sister, plays a big part in the novel but whereas before she seemed like comical relief and was a sympathetic character she is now portrayed as a horrible witch. Lena herself makes an appearance but really adds nothing to the storyline, Jo just raves about how pretty she is. Bridget is mentioned as Jo's former soccer coach but the way Jo describes her makes her look like an ice queen. Carmen's own name is never mentioned, only her younger brother's.

Polly's story was unbelievably depressing. You felt like nothing good was ever going to happened to her and I felt like her physical appearance was unnecessarily ripped on.

All in all the book was entertaining, but the charm of the original sisterhood is missing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The magic is still there!, January 11, 2009

By	Mint910 (USA) - See all my reviews

3 Willows continues the tradition of friendship that The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants started and it does not disappoint. While comparable, 3 Willows explores a whole new side of friendship, friends that have grown apart and found new friends, do they still need each other? Following the three friends over a summer, the perspective rotates between the three characters with much less communication for awhile between the three characters, than in the original books.

Each of the three characters stories were interesting. Most exciting for me was Jo's summer at the beach, with trouble going on at home, Jo enjoys her job as a bus girl and an exciting relationship. Most relatable for me was Ama's story, a studious indoors girl goes to an outdoors camp, totally out of her element. And most heartbreaking, was Polly's summer, trying to find herself and what she's meant to be while her mother is always away at her studio leaving her home alone.

All of the stories were engaging, like with the original series, I didn't want to put down this book. It was interesting to see these friends who had grown apart, realize that maybe they wanted to actually still be a part of each other's lives and that maybe they still needed each other. There are mentions of most of the original characters from the Sisterhood series and even a few guest appearances, which was just great! Though they didn't share an article of clothing (not for lack of trying) like the original Sisterhood, the magic is still there and will please fans of the original series!