By Ann Brashares Random House LLC, 2001 Carmen Murray

Introduction to the Novel The story begins in Bethesda, Maryland. They gather at Carmen’s house to discuss their ritual meeting at Gilda’s, an aerobics’ gym where their moms met, and they discover the plants she bought at a thrift store. When they try on the pants, it magically fits them all perfectly. Then they go to Gilda’s where they solidify their sisterhood and write a manifesto. As the story progresses, the friends separately journey to different cities, except for Tibby who stays in Bethesda. Lena goes to Oia, Greece with her sister, Effie, to visit their grandparents. In Charleston, South Carolina, Carmen visits her dad, Al. Bridget goes to a soccer camp in Baja, California.

Meet the Sisterhood Lena Kaligaris Lena is a shy and aspiring artist of Greek heritage. She is claimed to be beautiful, but she is self conscious about her looks and states otherwise. Lena also has a problem with following her feelings, and she dwells upon everything. She has a sister, named Effie, two parents, and two grandparents that live in Greece

Meet the Sisterhood Bridget “Bee” Vreeland Bridget is a daring soccer star who usually acts on impulse. Although courageous, she can prove to be the most vulnerable when her consequences catch up with her. She has a twin brother, named Perry, a father, and her mother, Marly, committed suicide.

Meet the Sisterhood Carmen Lowell Carmen is a half-Puerto Rican who is organized, most of the time. In her group of friends, her role is the person that holds them together. Her brain often gets in her way when she over thinks. She lives with her mother, Christina, because her parents are divorced. Carmen is very sensitive and she has a bad temper that can take over at any moment.

Meet the Sisterhood Tibby Tomko-Rollins Tibby is a rebel figure who often feels like she is outcast in her family. Her passion is to make film. She lives with her parents who were former “hippies” and her two younger siblings, Nicky and Katherine. After her parents had her brother and sister, they had gotten more suitable jobs. Tibby feels as if she was left in her parents’ former lives and so she distances herself.

The Antagonist Each girl has her own conflict throughout the summer. There could be multiple antagonists in the novel, but the main antagonists are the girls’ inner selves. All of the girls have been caught, during the story, over- thinking and not trusting themselves. That can be a person’s biggest enemy.

The Central Conflict In Bethesda, Bailey and Tibby have become acquaintances and Bailey helps Tibby with her movie. After finding out that Bailey is in the hospital, Tibby soon discovers that she has leukemia. In Oia, Valia, Lena’s grandmother introduces Kostos to Lena. At fist sight, Lena rebuffs him thinking he will be another boy that will fall in love with her. At soccer camp, Bridget becomes infatuated with one of the coaches, Eric. Carmen goes to North Carolina to visit her dad, and she ends up meeting a new family that she was not expecting.

Minor Characters Kostos Dounas Kostos is the grandson of some of Lena’s grandparent’s friends. Lena’s grandmother, Valia, introduces them at a party. He is working for his grandfather tat summer. During the summer they come to a consequential misunderstanding which is eventually resolves

Minor Characters Bailey Graffman Bailey is a twelve year old who has leukemia throughout the book and begins to die from it towards the end. She helps Tibby with her movie after they meet at Wallman’s. Bailey wants enough time to understand people so she can be understood. She sees who Tibby’s video subjects really are and not just their appearance. This talent gives her an influence that changes Tibby’s views.

Minor Characters Paul Rodman Paul is Carmen’s older stepbrother that lives in South Carolina with Lydia and Al. During the story their relationship grows stronger since they get along wonderfully. One of the things that she admires about him is how honest he is. He takes her bad temper better than others. Paul is the type of person that would calmly take irrational emotions from other people and calmly tell you his opinion.

What Critics Said “The novel is beyond a pair of blue jeans. Its about four best friends that spend their first summer apart from each other. This is a wonderful story for teen girls, and the author expresses the characters’ emotions perfectly.”- Kidzworld “This is a great about four teenage friends who spend their first summer apart. Fortunately for them, a used pair of pants is found that magically fits them all. The pants travel to each of them over the summer,and they eventually become a metaphor for finding their own strength. Brashares makes each girl lovable in her own way.” - Kirkus Review

My Take on the Novel Sisterhood of the Traveling pants is a wonderful novel. From the prologue to the epilogue, their powerful friendship was made known. The way that Ann Brashares emotes the characters is amazing. I had some prior knowledge of the plot, and after reading the novel I came to the conclusion that the book definitely surpassed the movie.