Ann Brashares grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland with her three
brothers and attended a Quaker school in the DC area called Sidwell
Friends. She studied Philosophy at Barnard College, part of
Columbia University in New York City. Expecting to continue
studying philosophy in graduate school, Ann took a year off after
college to work as an editor, hoping to save money for school.
Loving her job, she never went to graduate school, and instead,
remained in New York City and worked as an editor for many years.
Last year, Ann made the transition from editor to full-time writer
and wrote her first novel, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants."
Ann lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, Jacob Collins,
an artist, and their three children, Sam, Nathaniel, and Susannah,
their newborn, who is an honorary member of the Sisterhood.
"From the Hardcover edition."
Gr 9 Up-Best friends Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen are preparing to spend their first summer apart since they were born. Before leaving to visit her father, Carmen buys a pair of second-hand jeans on a whim, and when the others discover that the pants fit all of them, they create the sisterhood of the traveling pants. Each teen gets them for a few weeks before sending them on, and thus they travel from Washington, DC, to Greece to Baja California to South Carolina, linking the friends even as they are apart. The summer and the pants come to represent more than any of them can ever anticipate in this four-part coming-of-age story. Before the season ends, each teen must deal with some unpleasant problem, reach a real low, then confront her personal flaws and pull herself back up again. Brashares deftly moves from narrative to narrative, weaving together themes from the mundane to the profoundly important, from death to raging hormones, from stepfamilies to dead-end minimum-wage jobs. The endings aren't pat, yet each story line comes to a satisfying conclusion. All four girls are completely realistic, and even the secondary and adult characters are fully drawn. The result is a complex book about a solid group of friends, with each one a strong and courageous individual in her own right. They form a true sisterhood of acceptance and support, resulting in a believable and inviting world.-Linda Bindner, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
A pair of jeans purchased at a thrift store is the unlikely bond that keeps four best friends emotionally connected during the first summer that they spend physically apart. This clever (if initially hokey-sounding) premise sets the course for four intertwined, compelling coming-of-age stories. Carmen doesn't think much of the pants she buys for $3.49, until she and her pals discover their magical quality. The jeansAwhich fit each girl perfectly despite their very different body typesAserve as a surrogate friend for Tibby, Carmen, Lena and Bridget as they wrestle with new issues of first love, jealousy, fear and sadness in the months before their junior year of high school. Each girl has a turn with the pants, then sends them on to the next person in the rotation; by summer's end, when the friends are reunited, the jeans will be the symbol of what the girls have experienced. Goethals sounds every bit the teenager here, but her sometimes halting reading never quite captures the crackle of Brashares's writing style. In Goethals's command, the author's snappy asides and retorts occasionally sound cumbersome rather than humorous or biting, as they were intended. Many teen girls will likely take these shortcomings in stride and get lost in a story that speaks to them. Ages 12-up. Simultaneous release with Delacorte hardcover, reviewed in Children's Forecasts July 6. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
"Funny, perceptive, and moving."--"USA Today
"A complex book about a solid group of friends, with each one a
strong and courageous individual in her own right. They form a true
sisterhood of acceptance and support, resulting in a believable and
inviting world."--"School Library Journal, Starred
"A feel-good novel of substance. . . . Move over, Ya-Ya
Sisters."--"Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"The loving depiction of enduring and solid friendship will ring
true to readers, who will appreciate this recognition of one of
life's most important relationships."--"The Bulletin, Recommended
"From the Hardcover edition.
"From the Hardcover edition."
"From the Hardcover edition."
"From the Hardcover edition."
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