The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Care, in the finest sense of the word, comes repeatedly to mind in regards to THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS. Ann Brashares has crafted a compassionate, insightful, and lightly humored glimpse into the minds and actions of teenaged girls. The four friends themselves cherish their lifelong relationship. Literally and symbolically, they care for a pair of jeans from a secondhand store as they send the pants, and the rules for wearing them, to each girl over the course of one summer. Angela Goethals's precision and crispness frame each personality as she wears the pants. Her narration is joyful and alive with nuance. As the listener, you will care deeply for the personal growth and developing humanity of these engaging young women. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

October 15, 2001
A pair of jeans purchased at a thrift store is the unlikely bond that keeps four best friends emotionally connected during the first summer that they spend physically apart. This clever (if initially hokey-sounding) premise sets the course for four intertwined, compelling coming-of-age stories. Carmen doesn't think much of the pants she buys for $3.49, until she and her pals discover their magical quality. The jeans—which fit each girl perfectly despite their very different body types—serve as a surrogate friend for Tibby, Carmen, Lena and Bridget as they wrestle with new issues of first love, jealousy, fear and sadness in the months before their junior year of high school. Each girl has a turn with the pants, then sends them on to the next person in the rotation; by summer's end, when the friends are reunited, the jeans will be the symbol of what the girls have experienced. Goethals sounds every bit the teenager here, but her sometimes halting reading never quite captures the crackle of Brashares's writing style. In Goethals's command, the author's snappy asides and retorts occasionally sound cumbersome rather than humorous or biting, as they were intended. Many teen girls will likely take these shortcomings in stride and get lost in a story that speaks to them. Ages 12-up. Simultaneous release with Delacorte hardcover, reviewed in Children's Forecasts July 6.

Starred review from February 24, 2003
"This first novelist 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," said PW
in a starred review. "An outstanding and vivid book that will stay with readers for a long time." Ages 12-up.