The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Can you close that suitcase?..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

They were just a soft, ordinary pair of thrift-shop jeans until the four girls took turns trying them on--four girls, that is, who are close friends, about to be parted for the summer, with very different sizes and builds, not to mention backgrounds and personalities. Yet the pants settle on each girl's hips perfectly, making her look sexy and long-legged and feel confident as a teenager can feel. "These are magical Pants!" they realize, and so they make a pact to share them equally, to mail them back and forth over the summer from wherever they are. Beautiful, distant Lena is going to Greece to be with her grandparents; strong, athletic Bridget is off to soccer camp in Baja, California; hot-tempered Carmen plans to have her divorced father all to herself in South Carolina; and Tibby the rebel will be left at home to slave for minimum wage at Wallman's.

Over the summer the Pants come to represent the support of the sisterhood, but they also lead each girl into bruising and ultimately healing confrontations with love and courage, dying and forgiveness. Lena finds her identity in Greece and the courage not to reject love; Bridget gets in over her head with an older camp coach; Carmen finds her father ensconced with a new fiancée and family; and Tibby unwillingly takes on a filmmaking apprentice who is dying of leukemia. Each girl's story is distinct and engrossing, told in a brightly contemporary style. Like the Pants, the reader bounces back and forth among the four unfolding adventures, and the melange is spiced with letters and witty quotes. Ann Brashares has here created four captivating characters and seamlessly interwoven their stories for a young adult novel that is fresh and absorbing. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

From Publishers Weekly

A pair of jeans purchased at a thrift store is the unlikely bond that keeps four best friends emotionally connected during the first summer that they spend physically apart. This clever (if initially hokey-sounding) premise sets the course for four intertwined, compelling coming-of-age stories. Carmen doesn't think much of the pants she buys for $3.49, until she and her pals discover their magical quality. The jeans which fit each girl perfectly despite their very different body types serve as a surrogate friend for Tibby, Carmen, Lena and Bridget as they wrestle with new issues of first love, jealousy, fear and sadness in the months before their junior year of high school. Each girl has a turn with the pants, then sends them on to the next person in the rotation; by summer's end, when the friends are reunited, the jeans will be the symbol of what the girls have experienced. Goethals sounds every bit the teenager here, but her sometimes halting reading never quite captures the crackle of Brashares's writing style. In Goethals's command, the author's snappy asides and retorts occasionally sound cumbersome rather than humorous or biting, as they were intended. Many teen girls will likely take these shortcomings in stride and get lost in a story that speaks to them. Ages 12-up. Simultaneous release with Delacorte hardcover, reviewed in Children's Forecasts July 6.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; FIRST EDITION 5th printing edition (September 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385729332
• ISBN-13: 978-0385729338
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,014 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #26,739 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 1 in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The pants seen 'round the world., January 21, 2002

By	"bookboarder" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

With a new twist, this coming-of-age novel steals the genre for me. Ann Brashares takes us on a magical ride with the Traveling Pants and the best friends who comprise the sisterhood. Each girl experiences a different, new, aspect of life and their personality during their first summer apart in their lives. With each page, you will become closer to these girls, as they grow and begin to understand the world, and themselves.
The novel is brilliantly narrated, each girl developing a real human personality. These characters are not the 2-D characters often found in novels of this genre. Ann Brashares develops them so thoroughly, at least one of these girls rings incredibly true to my own adolescence.
Not only are they well-developed, and human, Brashares doesn't give them more wisdom than any other fifteen-year-olds would have. The characters un-annoyingly live their lives as real teenagers, and delve into human emotions that all women have experienced at some point.
If you are looking for a light read, with some underlying, and truly deeper characteristics, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is definitely one to invest in. Each girl will find her way into your heart, and possibly show you something you never knew was there.

44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN IMAGINATIVELY TOLD STORY SUPERBLY READ, November 9, 2001

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Audio Cassette)

With her debut novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," author Ann Brashares said that she hoped that teens would find it "to be the kind of book that sticks with them a bit, the way books I liked when I was that age stuck with me."

All bets are that teens will find this warm story of friendship, loyalty, and love to be that and more. Angela Goethals, who has appeared in numerous films from "Home Alone" to "Jerry Maguire" perfectly voices the joys and sorrows of four young girls who have been friends for all of their lives.

Tibby, Carmen, Lena and Bridget didn't spring from the same molds, still they're best friends. Finally, the time comes when they'll be spending their first summer apart, each going in different directions from overseas to a soccer camp to a summer with Dad.

The common thread between the girls this summer is a pair of denim threads, blue jeans, that is. Now, these aren't just an ordinary pair of jeans - these pants are imbued with a bit of magic and they fit each girl perfectly. The girls decide that the jeans should be shared, and sent back and forth from girl to girl during the summer.

That's a lot of traveling for pants, but the summer is also a lot of growing up for the girls as they face decisions, challenges, problems and experiences. But, what is paramount is the friendship between them as symbolized by the wonderful pants.

This is a "feel good" story about friendship, about unconditional loyalty and love imaginatively told and superbly read.

- Gail Cooke

47 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Greatest books I've Ever Read!!, October 28, 2001

By	Erica (Homewood, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This book is truly excellent. I first discvered the book from my friend who was reading it first. I asked to read it next. So what she decided to do was to letall of our friends pass it around and read it, and sign a page which was important to us. I read it in one day....twice!! I didn't do any homework, I just read the book. I read it twice. It was one of the best stories ever. 4 girls, all the same age as me-Carmen, Bridget, Lena and Tibby. All of there stories touched me, and I felt exalted when done reading it. The fact that I passed it on to my friend and she read it in a day too, says a lot about it. She never reads books in one day. This book was truly excellent, but I wouldn't recommend it for kids under 13. This book deals with true teenage problems, and doesn't depict teenagers as stupid or dumb, but does paint them as naive, but not in a condescending way. It also deals with them learning a lesson that they will remember for the rest of their lives.