The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants


Ann Brashares


ISBN: 0-440-22970-7


Dell-Laurel Leaf 2001

Plot Summary:
The Septembers are four best friends. Their mothers were in a birthing class together and they were all born within a month of one another. This summer is the first year they have been apart. Carmen, Tibby, Bridget, and Lena feel so close that they sometimes feel like four parts to a whole. Carmen finds a pair of jeans at the thrift store and these jeans happen to be a pair that fit all four girls. Even with their four very different body styles, they all fit these jeans somehow magically.
In order to stay connected this summer they make a sisterhood of the pants and plan to keep shifts with the pants. The pants follow them through their adventures as Lena visits her grandmother in Greece, Carmen visits her dad and step family, Tibby will stay and work at Wallman’s and film a documentary, and Bridget is going to soccer camp in Baja California. Each girls sends a letter to the next girl when she sends the pants, and this maintains their connection to one another.
As Lena falls in love with Kostos, and gets closer to her grandmother, Bridget falls for her coach, Carmen faces her father’s new family, and Tibby deals with her emotionally evasive family, befriends a twelve year old girl dying of leukemia in a transforming friendship, and works at Wallman’s, the jeans support them and create a unity for the highs and lows during their first summer apart.

Critical Evaluation: The book deals with body image issues as Carmen's step mom responds to her "curvy" shape when Carmen is different than her step mother's children and allows teen viewers a way to relate to the sensitive feelings during adolescence about ones shape in comparison to other females. Lena's relationship with Kostos and her new bond with her grandmother are exciting and she discovers what a first love feels like only to lose Kostos as he leaves for college. Lena's experiences are painful and empowering but not as troublesome as the other girls. Tibby meets Bailey and after getting over the fact that she feels the girl is annoying, they become very close and a twelve year old girl teaches her the value of life and friendship as she courageously faces death. Tibby's "suckumentary" becomes a project she can share with Bailey and the construction of the film is a provocative examination of life. Then Bridget the athletic risk taker falls for her coach and finds excitement and a great loss all at once. The adventures are all expressions of growth and development as the four girls function apart and together during the summer of their Sophmore year.

Annotation:Four best friends form a sisterhood over a pair of magic jeans in a pact to stay connected during their first summer apart. Lena, Carmen, Bridget, and Tibby all experience various adventures, loss, love, and growth during the summer of their Sophmore year of high school.



Author: Ann Brashares was born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area with her three brothers. She attended the Sidwell Friends School and then studied philosophy at Barnard College, part of Columbia University in New York City.After college she worked in editorial jobs until 2000, when she began her first novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, published in 2001. Over the next five years she wrote three sequels-The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants, and Forever in Blue.

Genre: YA novel: chick lit, drama, friendship, comedy

Curriculum Ties: English Literature

Booktalking Ideas:

1.) Once Bridget "gets the guy" is it a good thing?

2.) How should Carmen handle the situation with her father and her discomfort with her step mom?

3.) How does Tibby learn from Bailey?

4.)How does Lena grow as a result of her time in Greece connecting with her heritage?

Reading Level/ Interest Age: 9th grade and up

Challenge issues: None

Reasons for selection: This book is a great coming of age story as all four girls grow and change in different ways but remain focused on supporting one another through letters and the pants. The girls represent positive relationships for young girls and demonstrate that it is important to "love your pals. love yourself." While the book seems campy it deals with rejections, love, body image issues, heritage, identity, love, and friendships. It is offers young female readers a great girl story.