The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Customer Reviews

• The pants seen 'round the world.  Jan 21, 2002 (99 of 110 found this helpful)

  With a new twist, this coming-of-age novel steals the genre for me. Ann Brashares takes us on a magical ride with the Traveling Pants and the best friends who comprise the sisterhood. Each girl experiences a different, new, aspect of life and their personality during their first summer apart in their lives. With each page, you will become closer to these girls, as they grow and begin to understand the world, and themselves.
  The novel is brilliantly narrated, each girl developing a real human personality. These characters are not the 2-D characters often found in novels of this genre. Ann Brashares develops them so thoroughly, at least one of these girls rings incredibly true to my own adolescence.
  Not only are they well-developed, and human, Brashares doesn't give them more wisdom than any other fifteen-year-olds would have. The characters un-annoyingly live their lives as real teenagers, and delve into human emotions that all women have experienced at some point.
  If you are looking for a light read, with some underlying, and truly deeper characteristics, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is definitely one to invest in. Each girl will find her way into your heart, and possibly show you something you never knew was there.

• AN IMAGINATIVELY TOLD STORY SUPERBLY READ  Nov 9, 2001 (44 of 48 found this helpful)

  With her debut novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," author Ann Brashares said that she hoped that teens would find it "to be the kind of book that sticks with them a bit, the way books I liked when I was that age stuck with me."

  All bets are that teens will find this warm story of friendship, loyalty, and love to be that and more. Angela Goethals, who has appeared in numerous films from "Home Alone" to "Jerry Maguire" perfectly voices the joys and sorrows of four young girls who have been friends for all of their lives.

  Tibby, Carmen, Lena and Bridget didn't spring from the same molds, still they're best friends. Finally, the time comes when they'll be spending their first summer apart, each going in different directions from overseas to a soccer camp to a summer with Dad.

  The common thread between the girls this summer is a pair of denim threads, blue jeans, that is. Now, these aren't just an ordinary pair of jeans - these pants are imbued with a bit of magic and they fit each girl perfectly. The girls decide that the jeans should be shared, and sent back and forth from girl to girl during the summer.

  That's a lot of traveling for pants, but the summer is also a lot of growing up for the girls as they face decisions, challenges, problems and experiences. But, what is paramount is the friendship between them as symbolized by the wonderful pants.

  This is a "feel good" story about friendship, about unconditional loyalty and love imaginatively told and superbly read.

  - Gail Cooke

• One of the Greatest books I've Ever Read!!  Oct 28, 2001 (47 of 53 found this helpful)

  This book is truly excellent. I first discvered the book from my friend who was reading it first. I asked to read it next. So what she decided to do was to letall of our friends pass it around and read it, and sign a page which was important to us. I read it in one day....twice!! I didn't do any homework, I just read the book. I read it twice. It was one of the best stories ever. 4 girls, all the same age as me-Carmen, Bridget, Lena and Tibby. All of there stories touched me, and I felt exalted when done reading it. The fact that I passed it on to my friend and she read it in a day too, says a lot about it. She never reads books in one day. This book was truly excellent, but I wouldn't recommend it for kids under 13. This book deals with true teenage problems, and doesn't depict teenagers as stupid or dumb, but does paint them as naive, but not in a condescending way. It also deals with them learning a lesson that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

• The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants  Jun 18, 2003 (35 of 40 found this helpful)

  While overall, I thought this book was fine and possibly engaging for young women, I strongly think the 12 year old age guideline is too young, both for some of the contents of the plot and for the deeper and more meaningful aspects of what a girl could discover from the book. In other words, I thought the chararacters were interesting to an older teen aged girl, but 12 year olds are not teenagers. In fact, these characters are 15 and almost 16, all about to be juniors in high school. And those ages, I think, as a mother, are the appropriate ages for a girl to be reading this book. Not only is there mature sexual content and encounter (albeit, which one of the characters cannot handle), the characters themselves, and their metamorphises, what they go through that summer, what they learn about themselves, will be much more understandable and appropriate to a 14 or 15 or 16 year old, then to an impressionable 12 or 13 year old. I would liken it to reading Jane Eyre, or Little Women, before a girl is old enough to understand the levels, the deep meaning, the beauty of these books. Sure, girls of 11 and 12 are capable of reading these books, but it is the parents' jobs to say "not yet". I also am disturbed that none of the other reviewers that I read on line seem to understand that one of the characters is self-destructively manic depressive and that would be something ( in fact I would urge any mother who lets her daughter read this book) to discuss the behaviors with her daughter.

• Sisterhood takes on a whole new meaning  Aug 8, 2002 (18 of 19 found this helpful)

  This book was quite a read. Being a teenager going into the novel, I was expecting a mushy, love infested story of fashion. Instead I read about seemingly real teenaged girls with very real problems. Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen each embark on a summer that's unlike any other. Beautiful Lena's off to Greece to reluctantly fall in love and cause havoc amongst the Greeks. Athletic Bridget is off to Baja to soccer camp, where she falls in love with a 20 something conselor, big no-no=big heartbreak. Tibby befriends a dying young girl who gives her insight on what life's all about. Carmen deals with her father's new family and a feeling that her Puerto Rican self is unworthy. despite being totally different, the girl's constantly write each other and share their most heart wrenching secrets. Their emotional turmoil is broken by a pair of jeans they, deem as magic. For some reason, the jeans make each girl who wears them feel like a queen. Though its just an issue of confidence and the aura projected by the jeans, you can't help but wonder if they really are magic. I didn't want to come to the last page of this book. Every female teen should at least read the back cover. Throughout the entire book, the reader is inspired by humorous quotes that foreshadow the trials and tribulations the character will face in that chapter. A highly recommended read.