Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Brashares)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Ann Brashares, 2001
Random House
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780553494792

Summary
Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn't look all that great; they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them. But Tibby says they're great. She'd love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they're fabulous. Lena decides they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them.

Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything), thinks she looks good in the pants. Over a few bags of cheese puffs they decide to form a sisterhood, and take the vow of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." The next morning, they say good-bye.

And now the journey of the pants—and the most memorable summer of their lives—begins. (From the publisher.)

Sisterhood was adapted to film in 2005. The second book in the series, Forever in Blue, was adapated in 2008, as Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

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Author Bio
• Birth—July 30, 1967
• Where—Alexandria, Virginia, USA
• Reared—in Chevy Chase, Maryland
• Education—Barnard College
• Currently—lives in New York , New York

Ann Brashares is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known as the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.

She was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She attended elementary and high school at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. After studying philosophy at Barnard College, she worked as an editor for 17th Street Productions. 17th Street was acquired by Alloy Entertainment, and following the acquisition she worked briefly for Alloy.

After leaving Alloy she wrote The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which became an international best seller. It was followed with three more titles in the "Pants" series, the last of which, Forever in Blue, was released in January 2007. The first book in the series was made into a film in 2005, and a second film based on the other three titles in the series was released in August 2008.

Brashares' first adult novel, The Last Summer (of You and Me) was released in 2007. The first companion book to the Sisterhood series, 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows was published in 2009, and the second companion book, Sisterhood Everlasting was published in 2011.

A second novel for adults, My Name is Memory was published in 2010 and has been optioned for film. Her next book, a young-adult time-travel novel, The Here and Now, was published in 2014. She lives in New York with her artist husband, Jacob Collins. They have four children.

Although Brashares writes primarily fiction, she has contributed two 80-page biographies to the nonfiction book series Techies—Linus Torvalds, Software Rebel and Steve Jobs Thinks Different, both issued in 2001. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 4/27/2014.)

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Book Reviews
First novelist Brashares successfully creates four distinct characters, each with her own story line, and ties them together with a creative device: a pair of pants purchased in a thrift shop. .... [A]n outstanding and vivid book that will stay with readers for a long time. Readers will hope that Brashares chronicles the sisterhood for volumes to come. (Ages 12-up.)
Publishers Weekly

Any story that begins "Once upon a time..." has to be good, and this one is. It is hard to imagine that one pair of thrift shop jeans could play such an important role in the lives of four teenage girls.... "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" is born when the girls decide to send the jeans to each other over the summer.
Rita Karr - Children's Literature

Fun book! I have read many YA novels that focus on changing friendships, but never one that revolves around a pair of magical pants. I thought that the comparison between pants that make all wearers look and feel good and friendship was insightful and creative.... [E]njoyable and meaningful.... (Hard to imagine it being any better written.) —Deana Rutherford, Teen Reviewer.
VOYA

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. —Frances Bradburn
Booklist

During their 15th summer, four girls who have been lifelong friends spend the season apart. In a summer's launch ceremony, they decide to pass along among themselves a pair of thrift shop jeans.... While the traveling pants themselves seem rather artificial, [the] emotions and the developments they inspire in the individuals and in their relationships ring absolutely true (Grade 9 & up). —Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
School Library Journal

In this feel-good novel with substance, four teenage girls, friends since they were all born just weeks apart, are about to embark on their first summer as separate young women.... The pants become a metaphor for the young women finding their own strength in the face of new love, unexpected friendships and death, a father's remarriage, and a reckless relationship-and without their best friends.
Kirkus Reviews

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Discussion Questions
1. The novel opens and closes with a first-person narrative by Carmen. Why do you think the author selected this character to frame the story? If you could change it, would you select another character, and if so, what would he or she say? Or do you think Carmen's is the best viewpoint to begin and end the novel?

2. "For some reason our lives were marked by summers.... Summer was the time when our lives joined completely, when we all had our birthdays, when really important things happened" (p. 5). What is the significance of the Sisterhood's first summer apart? Why is it so important that the four friends have individual adventures? Do you think they would have remained close if the Pants had not been a part of their lives?

3. Of the four girls, whom are you the most like? The most different from?

4. Epigraphs (short quotations) from a variety of sources—song lyrics,remarks by real-life personalities, fictitious sayings by the novel's characters—are used to separate sections of the book. Which one is your favorite and why?

5. Carmen's discovery of a new blond stepfamily comes as quite a shock. How could her father have better handled this news? Would it have made a difference to Carmen?

6. In the movie It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey sees what the world would have been like had he not been born. Author Ann Brashares has said that the character of Bailey was inspired by this film. How would Tibby's life have been different if she had not met Bailey?

7. Lena is described as quite beautiful. How do you think this affects her friendships? Have you ever been friends with someone who is noticeably more or less attractive than you are? How did it make you feel?

8. Bridget feels powerful as she pursues Eric, but her actions leave her fragile and uncertain. Do you think that by the end of the story, Bridget is able to take back some of her power? Why or why not? What role do you think Bridget's friends will play in her recovery?

9. In the novel, the Pants take on a life of their own. Each of the girls in turn feels loved and comforted by them, as if the Pants were a creature or a person. Do you believe that the Pants are really looking out for the girls? Or is what the girls sense a manifestation of their own emotions? Or is it some combination of the two?

10. Each of the girls is very different from her friends and has widely ranging talents: Lena is a painter, Tibby is a filmmaker, Bridget is an athlete. But their talents don't define them so much as send them off in different directions. Carmen is more of an enigma; what would you say her talents are and where do they take her in the novel?

11. If you were given the Pants, what rule governing their use would be the hardest for you to keep? Rule 10 is "Remember: Pants = love. Love your pals. Love yourself" (p. 25). How is this rule observed by each member of the Sisterhood in the story? How is it broken?

12. In the epilogue (p. 293), Carmen says, "What happened in front of my friends felt real. What happened to me by myself felt partly dreamed, partly imagined, definitely shifted and warped by my own fears and wants." Have you ever felt that way? How does it feel to see yourself reflected in other people?

13. The novel's settings are varied—Baja California, Greece, South Carolina, and Maryland. By the end of the book, each of the girls has had a revelation that has a lot to do with where she has been. If you could spend a summer in one of these places, which would you choose? If you could spend a summer anywhere in the world, where would you go? Would you want your friends with you or would you rather travel solo?

14. What does Carmen mean when she says that she, Lena, Tibby, and Bridget are the real Septembers (p. 7)? What is it about their friendship that convinces Carmen they won't drift apart the way their mothers did? Fast-forward ten years...do you think the Sisterhood will still be inseparable? What are the bonds that will help their friendship endure? Will the Pants still fit them? If not, will it matter?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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