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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants | May 13, 2015

by Ann Brashares (Delacorte Press/Random House, 2001)

Every summer, I find myself rereading one of my all-time favorite young adult books: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I first read the book in my fifth grade math class. I would do the problem written on the board and then sneak in another page…until my teacher caught me. As the years have gone by and the series has grown to include four more books, I still find myself drawn to the magic of the pants and the four friends who share them.

The story starts out with the four girls—Carmen, Lena, Bridget and Tibby—discovering a pair of pants that fits each of them, despite their very different body types. After drawing up a manifesto and some rules, the girls decide to mail the pants back and forth as a way of remaining connected while they are apart during the summer. Carmen is off to visit her divorced dad in the Carolinas, but her plans to spend time with him are derailed when she finds out that he is now living with a new fiancé and two future stepchildren. Bridget has been accepted into an all-girls soccer camp in Mexico, where she quickly falls for a male coach who is 100% off-limits. Lena and her younger sister are staying with their grandparents in Greece. Lena just wants to capture the beautiful Greek landscapes in her paintings, but her grandmother seems intent on playing matchmaker. Lastly, Tibby is stuck at home working a crappy job at Walmart and filming a “suck-u-mentary” of other people with lame jobs. Everything changes when she comes across a twelve-year-old girl passed out in one of the aisles during her work shift. The girl, Bailey, shows up on Tibby’s doorstep a few days later and it’s the start of a unique and bittersweet friendship.

Ann Brashares’ writing is lovely and she gives each character a truly distinct voice and rich backstory. But what I love most about this book is the realistic portrayal of friendship. So many young adult novels these days feature petty mean girls or guarded, emotionally isolated heroines. It’s refreshing to see a group of girls who genuinely like each other and offer one another support, even when they disagree. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good realistic, contemporary read with substance…and a little magic.

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