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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

Summary

Carmen, Tibby, Bridget, and Lena are the Septembers, a group of friends whose friendships started before they were born. They are all now fifteen-years-old and are spending their first summer apart from one another. To keep them together if not in body then in spirit, they form the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, a club of sorts where each gets to wear these "magical" jeans for a period of time, and then send them on to the next girl as the jeans collect the intimate story of each girl's individual summer. The pants link the novel's four individual storylines, and connects the "Sisterhood". Each character's summer adventure brings life realizations and learning experiences.

Booktalk

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 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 now the journey of the pants–and the most memorable summer of their lives begins.

294 pages, 8th grade and up

Discussion questions

Spoiler alert! Some of the questions contain key elements of the plot. Do not read if you don't want to know what happens!

  1. The girls see the Pants as "magical", although they aren't magical in the fantasy sense. What makes the Pants magical to each character and to the group as a whole?
  2. Why do you think the author uses pants as the traveling item? Do you think she could have used a different item? If so, what else could she have used? If not, why?
  3. Each of the four main characters learns something important during this summer, although the novel doesn't state exactly what those lessons are. What did each character learn about life and relationships? What did you learn from the characters?
  4. During these crises each girl needed advice from her friends that she did not really get, what advice would you have given them?
  5. Of the four characters, which one did you relate to the most, which one best mirrors you? Why? Which one would mostly likely be a friend of yours? Why?
  6. Lena and Bridget both fall in love over the summer, but neither relationship is ever fully developed, and each has to leave her newfound love behind. What do you think happens between Lena and Kostos, and Bridget and Eric?
  7. Lena flies to Bridget to be a "mother" for her in her time of need. Of the three friends, why do you think it was Lena who acted as the "mother"? Why did Bridget send the letter that made Lena go to Baja in the first place to Lena instead of Carmen or Tibby?
  8. Towards the end of the novel Tibby looks at Tucker through Bailey's eyes and realizes that she doesn't know why she had a crush on him in the first place. How does Bailey see Tucker?
  9. When Carmen meets her dad's fiancé and her children, she assumes Lydia and her children are only worried about outside appearances. Why does she assume this and what truth does Carmen discover about them?

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