The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Ann Brashares

When a pair of jeans manages to work on four diffirent best friends and make each look uniquely special, that's when you know you're in possession of a truly remarkable article of clothing. The pants of, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares, is what makes the book complete. Even though this novel is a “girly” book; that’s what makes the characters more relatable, the plot interesting in almost gossipy way, and the theme, which is the importance of friendship.

The characters are relatable. Carmen is the most thoughtful of the four friends, and recognizes the importance of friendship more than others do. Carmen is half Puerto Rican and half White, she lives with her single Latina mom. Throughout the book she has to deal with feeling replaced when she finds out that her dad is engaged to a white woman who already has two teenagers. Bridget is an athlete, she spends her summer at a soccer camp in Mexico. She is impulsive and reckless, but her high spirits help her make friends quickly. Lena is the shy one. She travels to Greece to spend the summer with her grandparents. She is quiet and happiest when she can just be alone. She's not much into boys, because through experience she's learned that they usually only like her for her looks. Finally there’s Tibby, the rebel. The only one of the 4 girls stuck at home, she views it as plain and boring.

The Plot behind the story is interesting. The book starts out with Carmen buying a pair of jeans. Magically, they happen to fit Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bridget perfectly, even though they have different body types. When they all go their separate ways, the girls mail around the pants to whoever needs them, once the pants arrive they can help each girl with a boy or a big soccer game etc. All of the girls have their own drama over the summer. Bridget for example, has a bad relationship with one of her soccer coaches. She constantly flirts with her coach Eric, to the point where she sneaks out one night to a local bar just to see him. A few days later she snuck out to his cabin and they have sex. Afterwards, she gets very upset and can't get out of bed for days. Carmen goes to visit her dad. When she gets there though, she sees he has a new family already and feels mad and replaced. Eventually it gets to the point where she can't take it any more and runs away. Carmen expects her dad to come out looking for her, but when he does nothing she hops on a bus and goes back home. Feeling extremely guilty about the whole ordeal, she finally calls him and tells him how she feels. Deciding to surprise him, she flies to South Carolina on the day of his wedding and heads to the church. Lena paints walks and talks her days away. One day, she's skinny dipping in a secluded pond, when suddenly a boy named Kostos walks in on her. She goes to her grandfather and tells him about it. He makes a big deals a bout it and triggers a family feud between Lena's family and the family of Kostos. Secretly, the kids start seeing each other and fall in love. Tibby gets a summer job. She immediately hates it, like everything else, and decides to make a "suckumentary" about