The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Brashares,A. (2001). The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

Brief Annotation: Four best girlfriends find a way to stay close together as they go their separate ways for a summer. These teenage girls find a magical pair of pants (that happens to fit them all) and they take turns wearing the pants throughout the summer. Lena, Tibby, Carmen and Bridget all are doing different things that are challenging to them. Lena is in Greece with her grandparents and falling in love with a boy. Tibby is stuck at home but befriends a young girl battling Leukemia. Carmen is visiting her dad who is getting remarried and Carmen needs to reconcile some anger she has towards him. Finally Bridget is at a soccer camp where she also falls in love and makes some big decisions. The girls go through their ups and downs alone, but then come together at the end of the book to be sisters once again!

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction Novel

Grade Level: Grades 6-8

Readers who will like this: Teenage girls will enjoy this book the most. It is a more mature read, addressing issues of intimacy and dilemmas. The idea of sisterhood is appealing to all ages really, so this book can often be used with older ages too. It would be fun to have the more advanced girl readers come together in a book club and read on their own time.

Response/Rating (1-4): 4, This is a very fun book. It is an easy read and has some great story lines. The girls are wonderful in the book and you truly fall in love with their characters. The friendship is genuine and proves to be a great example of true “sisterhood”.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: “ Who are your very best friends?” * I would most likely not read this book aloud.