Kyla Middleton
Period 4
Ms. Peritore
“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” Quarter One Book Review

“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” written by Ann Brashares features Carmen, Lena, Tibby, and Bridget whom are four best friends that are experiencing riding the rollercoaster of adolescence together, similarly to what typical groups of teenage girls do today; they are there for one another and have been since birth, they create a web of support for one another. Yet, another all too familiar hot, sticky summer in Bethesda, Maryland is approaching them until Carmen finds a pair of jeans in a thrift shop that seem to poses a magical power that changes everything. The jeans Carmen found seemed to fit Carmen’s own curvy figure, Lena’s petite figure, Bridget’s athletic figure, and Tibby’s normal figure. This seems like a representation the author placed purposely in the story to illustrate the strength of their friendship by making the jeans a unifying factor, which is an enjoyable way to experience their friendship as a reader. The jean’s were a groundbreaking find, but the girl’s soon discover that an even greater change is upon them, they have to spend the summer apart for the first time. They are dispersed all over the globe for the summer, Bridget is in Mexico for soccer camp, Lena is in Greece to visit her grandparents, Carmen travels down to South Carolina to visit her father, and Tibby stays home to work in the superstore of Wallman’s. One can infer that the author purposely designs their summers in this way to describe the characters by story and action rather than descriptive language. For example, Tibby spends her summer stuck in her hometown and decides to make a “suckumentary” to express her despair and pain. This makes her an insightful character because I as a reader inferred that she was dramatic and at times depressing but also rather funny and creative. Due to their long distance separation, the girls use the magical jeans as a support system by allowing each girl to wear them for a few weeks and then passing them off to the next, but the rule is that they must write a letter to the receiver of the jeans before sending them, gushing about their amazing summers. The letters they sent seemed to make the story more interesting because with each letter I read, the more I learned about the characters and was drawn to the story because it gave it a more personal, exciting, and inviting feel. The summer turned out to be a disaster for some of the girls and the jeans became the new support system. The letters they sent and the “magic power” the jeans gave each girl was sufficient enough to replace the physical support system that was temporarily missing, the jeans became the new sisterhood, until they are reunited again at the end of the summer. I really enjoyed the use of separation the author placed in the story because I as a reader inferred that friends can still support one another and maintain strong relationships no matter the distance. All in all, this book was exciting and very relatable due to each personal story from the characters. I would recommend this book to anyone because the content in it is interesting and deep enough for anyone to understand, but to also enjoy.