The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2001)

A teen coming-of-age novel involving the friendship of four girls united by the accident of birth (their mothers were in the same prenatal aerobics class) and a seemingly magical pair of old blue jeans found at a thrift store. Funny, I found this book at a thrift store!

Each of the girls has a very different life-changing summer experience their 15th year, but their bond to each other remains close. ( )

This is a nice sweet book about four friends that separate for the summer for the first time to travel to various places. The keep in touch via letters and sending each other a pair of "magical" traveling pants. ( )

Carmen, Tibby, Bee, and Lena are fifteen years old, inseparable best friends, and about to spend their first summer apart. Each girl is about to face their own adventure, even if they don't know it, and they're all a little nervous about their impending independence. When Carmen finds a pair of jeans at a thrift shop that magically fits all four of the girls very different body types, they decide that the jeans will be the link that keeps them connected throughout the summer.

Brashares first novel in the Traveling Pants series is one that I've loved since I first read it. Brashares creates characters that are real--these girls are smart but do stupid things, are beautiful but also flawed, and are going through the very real pains of growing up.

There are arguments to be made that the "four girls with very different personalities but are the best of friends" plot isn't always the most realistic, but it does happen. The fact is, the girls have been together since birth, and friendship from birth can be a very strong bond. Even though each girl has separate interests, the four love each other, and love being with each other, and that is real enough.

Is it a perfect debut? No. There are issues with certain plots that fall into dangerously close territory of cliche. But Brashares manages to get inside the heads of these girls and express their innermost feelings in a beautiful way.
( )

A well-realized, strongly plotted explorations of adolescence from various viewpoints. ( )

This is the second time I've read this book, but it had been awhile and I forgot why I liked it so much.

I think the idea that these four girl put friendships first (which can be rare) is what really appeals to me. It's almost like a romantic comedy in that you know that the relationships would never be quite that strong in real life, but you wish it could be true anyway (just with friendships, obviously).

I also like that Brashares puts the four girls in very real situations and doesn't make any of them perfect. They all have flaws and they all have good points, which makes their interaction and acceptance of each other even more telling.

I haven't seen the movie yet (it's on my to-do list), so that comparison still has to come.

Overall, I like that Brashares presents a story of five very different girls who are friends not because it's cool or popular or because what the other is wearing, but because they genuinely accept and enjoy each other and I think that's important for young adults to see. ( )