Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, Book 1)

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

They were just a soft, ordinary pair of thrift-shop jeans until the four girls took turns trying them on--four girls, that is, who are close friends, about to be parted for the summer, with very different sizes and builds, not to mention backgrounds and personalities. Yet the pants settle on each girl's hips perfectly, making her look sexy and long-legged and feel confident as a teenager can feel. "These are magical Pants!" they realize, and so they make a pact to share them equally, to mail them back and forth over the summer from wherever they are. Beautiful, distant Lena is going to Greece to be with her grandparents; strong, athletic Bridget is off to soccer camp in Baja, California; hot-tempered Carmen plans to have her divorced father all to herself in South Carolina; and Tibby the rebel will be left at home to slave for minimum wage at Wallman's.

Over the summer the Pants come to represent the support of the sisterhood, but they also lead each girl into bruising and ultimately healing confrontations with love and courage, dying and forgiveness. Lena finds her identity in Greece and the courage not to reject love; Bridget gets in over her head with an older camp coach; Carmen finds her father ensconced with a new fiancée and family; and Tibby unwillingly takes on a filmmaking apprentice who is dying of leukemia. Each girl's story is distinct and engrossing, told in a brightly contemporary style. Like the Pants, the reader bounces back and forth among the four unfolding adventures, and the melange is spiced with letters and witty quotes. Ann Brashares has here created four captivating characters and seamlessly interwoven their stories for a young adult novel that is fresh and absorbing. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

Book Description

Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn’t look all that great; they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them. But Lena decides they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them.

Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. . .

Take the New York Times bestselling book and pair it with a perfect cast, a screenplay from one of Hollywood’s most respected writers, and gorgeous locales like Vancouver, Baja, and Santorini, and you have The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the teen girl movie of summer 2005 from Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures!

• Ken Kwapis directs a dream cast: Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls) as Lena, 2004 Emmy nominee Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia) as Tibby, America Ferrara (Real Women Have Curves) as Carmen, and newcomer Blake Lively as Bridget.

• Screenplay by Delia Ephron—the screenwriter behind You’ve Got Mail and associate producer of Sleepless in Seattle.

• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants received enormous recognition including starred reviews, was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, is a Book Sense Book of the Year, a Publishers Weekly Flying Start, and won the hearts of teen girls across the country—and continues to be a New York Times Bestseller.

Download Description

Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn't look all that great: they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them.

But Tibby says they're great. She'd love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they're fabulous. Lena decides that they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them. Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything) thinks she looks good in the pants.

Over a few bags of cheese puffs, they decide to form a sisterhood and take the vow of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants... the next morning, they say good-bye. And then the journey of the pants -- and the most memorable summer of their lives -- begins.

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"Tautly written, the novel is wise."
   USA TODAY

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