Sunday, October 14, 2012

Module 7: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants


 Book Summary: Four best friends are about to be separated for the summer when they find a pair of magical jeans that fit all of them - even though they are all different sizes. Sending the pants back and forths connects the four girls during their time apart as they each experience life changing events. Lena travels to Greece to spend time with her grandparents and falls in love. Bridget goes to soccer camp and gets involved with her older coach. Carmen, expecting to have the summer alone with her Dad, finds him distracted by his new fiancee and family. Tibby is stuck at home working and working on a film making project with a 12 year old who has leukemia.

APA Reference of Book:Brashares, A. (2001). The sisterhood of the traveling pants. New York: Delacorte Press/Random House Children's Books.

Impressions: I originally read this book when I was a young teenager and fell in love with the characters. Now, as an adult, rereading it reminded me of why I became so attached. The book deals with such a variety of characters and the issues they are facing that it is easy to find one of them to relate to. The issues faced by the girls are very realistic to teenagers of that age. I think that is is able to appeal to girls from middle school and high school who may be facing many of these same situations.
 
Professional Review:
The pants were magic--worn, thrift-shop jeans that made each of the four best friends look absolutely fabulous. Obviously they were life-changing pants. Thus the plan: route them to each of the four at their various summer destinations, with appropriate rules attached, of course, and watch wonderful things happen. Only they don’t. Carmen’s dad still remarries; Lena’s trip to Greece to visit her grandparents is still marred by a terrible misunderstanding with a gorgeous Greek teen; Bridget still does dumb things at a Baja California soccer camp; and Tibby must work at Wallman’s. The pants are just pants, and life is just life, full of joys, sorrows, living, and dying. This is the charm of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Carmen, Lena, Bridget, and Tibby are growing to adulthood, and Brashares accurately portrays one glorious, painful summer in their evolution. Young teens will identify with one, or even all four, of these interesting, funny young women, and they’ll be on the lookout for their own pair of traveling pants.


Bradburn, F. (2001, August).  Reviews the books [Review of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by A. Brashares].  Booklist,97(22), 2106.  Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com
Library Uses: This would be a good choice for a teen book club because there are a lot of emotional situations to discuss and there is a lot to be learned from the characters.

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