Saturday, March 05, 2005

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants *****

Brashares, Ann. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. 2001.
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood. 2003.
Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood. 2005.





The book I just read is Girls in Pants, but I thought I would review the whole series, since this is the third in a very popular series. The series is so popular that there will be a movie coming out this summer based upon the first novel.

The first book is based upon the unlikely premise that all four of these girls were born in the same month. Their mothers were friends in lamaze class and they became friends early on playing together. Then, the unlikely part is that they have all stayed close all throughout school, even though they are all very different from each other and have different interests. You have to suspent disbelief as far as that goes and just go with it, since the story itself is really great.

The book starts with the girls facing their first summer apart ever. They are going to be in different places-- Greece to see family, soccer camp, stuck at home with noone else, etc. They have a pair of jeans that miraculously fits them all, and they agree to send them to each other all summer without washing them so that they can have a connection. Again, you have to suspect disbelief that 4 girls that are all different body types would fit into the same pair of pants. The novel is great because we follow four separate stories really, but they all come together in a few letters and with the pants.

The second and third novel continue the story. This most recent, Girls in Pants, details their last summer before leaving for college. They are all somewhat scattered and busy, but they stay friends through it all. I recommend this entire series. They are really quite good. I hope there will be at least one more summer for the sisterhood, after their first year of college. It would be interesting to see what happens to them all after they are separted and have new lives apart from each other.

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