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
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the siterhood of the traveling pants is about four best friends who leave eachother for one whole summer, their first summer apart, when Carmen finds a pair of pants that magicly and ironicly fit all the girls they deside to mail the jeans the eachother throughout the summer, each girl gets the jeans for a week then passes them to there "sister". they have to track anything good that happens to them while they wear the jeans. the siterhood of the traveling pants is origanal and just a good book to read.
I thought the movie was cute! I finally found a copy of the book at my local library. I knew the book was different from the movie, so I was excited to see how the story played out in print. Frankly, I was bored with this book!
First, the "cutesy-ness" of the girls' friendship is vomit-inducing! We're supposed to believe that four girls, from completely different backgrounds, remain best friends for fifteen years. Their mothers lost touch, they went to different schools, and one went to Portugal for a few months. (In my experience, when people often separate when they go to different schools.) Second, the cutsey power of the aerobics studio, where their pregnant mothers met sixteen years, was a bit much. Especially the fact that they kept breaking into the studio to have their ceremonies. Third, the content of their notes were often really lame.
The vocabulary is simple, the plot even simpler. The characters were all in desparate need of self-esteem. Carmen needs closure over her parent's divorce; she's still seven years old in that regard. Bridget is manic-depressive- "single minded to the point of recklessness". Tibby is the sterotypical "rebel girl". Lena has boundary and privacy issues. No one to admire here. Especially since the target audience is middle school and could use positive role models. :(
That said, I was appalled by some of the situations in this book:
1) Rule #3- a boy can't remove the Pants, but they can remove it in his presence
2) Breaking and entering into the aerobics studio. But, it's okay because the owner doesn't have a good security system
3) Bridget does a kamikaze with her mental illness. (Sadly, Brashares never mentions that Bridget is mentally ill.) She nearly gets herself in trouble with a 19 year old campus counselor. There's way too much talk about lust in her story!
4) Effie is 14 and makes out with lots of boys.
5) Accusations of rape
6) Nudity
Two stars because I wanted to see what happened to one of the younger girls. I skimmed through the very end of the book to find out what would happen to her. (I already knew, from the movie and other book reviews, but I wanted to see how it was handled in print.) Girls, get your parents' permission before you buy this book. Ladies, rent the movie.
