Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

About Ann Brashares

“I don’t really write with the idea of trying to teach any lessons. I want to tell a story as truthfully and engagingly as I can, and then let the chips fall where they may.”—Ann Brashares

Ann Brashares grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with three brothers and attended a Quaker school in the D.C. 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. Ann made the transition from editor to full-time writer to write her first novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ANN BRASHARES ON THE SECOND SUMMER OF THE SISTERHOOD

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, your debut novel, received much critical praise, awards, and adoration from readers of all ages. What are your thoughts on its success and why do you think it resonated so heavily with readers?

Its success has been a wonderful surprise each step of the way. From the outset I tried to keep my expectations very low. I know how hard it is to get a book published let alone have it succeed. I’ve read many excellent books that did not succeed commercially. Here I give credit to the publisher, Random House, and to the booksellers. They supported the book wholeheartedly.

To the extent that it has resonated with readers, I am grateful for it. I sense that they have responded, more than anything else, to the unconditional love and loyalty that the Sisterhood represents.

Has the success changed your writing process and expectations for the The Second Summer of the Sisterhood?

I tried not to let the success change anything, but it kept creeping into my consciousness anyway. I worried that I wouldn’t live up to the hopes of my readers. I worried that I would forget how to write. I worried that I never knew how to write in the first place. I worried a lot and I wrote very little.

When I finally forced myself back to my computer, I worried I had fallen out of touch with my characters. They felt to me like friends with whom I'd been intensely close, but hadn't seen in a long time. It's painful, in a way, to have to ask clunky, anonymous questions of people you used to know in an intimate, hour-by-hour way. Luckily, though, when I started to spend real time with Carmen and Bee and Tibby and Lena, I relaxed. I grew close to them again and enjoyed being with them so much, I forgot all the things I was worrying about.

As for expectations, I still try to keep them in check. But I do allow myself to hope. I hope that readers who liked the first book will like the second one, too.

Did you plan for the girls’ relationships with their mothers to play a stronger role in The Second Summer of the Sisterhood? Does your relationship with your own mother resemble any from the book?

It didn’t start out that way exactly. As I was working out stories for each of the girls, I realized that most of them involved their mothers to some degree. So I just went with it. The mother-daughter bond is about as rich a subject as any I know. And I felt those relationships could give a center of gravity to a book that otherwise ran the risk of going in too many directions at once.

My relationship with my mother doesn’t resemble any of the ones in the book precisely. There are some thematic similarities to Carmen, though, in that my parents were divorced and I had to come to terms with my mom having a romantic life of her own.

As the mother of three young children, do you find that you relate more to the girls or their mothers?

Even though I’m closer to the age of the mothers, I related more to the daughters. I think that’s because I wrote the book from the girls’ points of view. Although I tried really hard to imagine how the mothers would feel, I didn’t actually spend my days thinking their thoughts the way I do when I’m writing in a character’s point of view.

Also, my daughter is not a teenager yet. When she gets to be a teenager, then I’ll really understand what those mothers go through.

Female friendship remains a central theme in the second book, do you have your own Sisterhood? In your writing, you seem to have a real understanding of the importance of those bonds, how have you come to know that?

I have a few very good old friends from childhood and some more recent friends whom I love dearly. But truthfully, I think the Sisterhood is more fantasy than reality for me. I grew up in a house full of boys (wonderful boys, I should mention), and always dreamed about sisters.

Do you have a sense of where the girls will be “next summer”? How do you see their growth continuing?

Next summer will be the girls’ last before they split up to go to college. That’s going to be a big deal for them. I suspect Tibby is going to fall in love for the first time. I have a feeling Bridget might encounter Eric, the soccer coach, again. I have a few other plans up my sleeve, but I think I better keep them secret.

What do you hope readers will take away from this second book?

I don’t really write with the idea of trying to teach any lessons. I want to tell a story as truthfully and engagingly as I can, and then let the chips fall where they may. But I realize when I get to the end of the story, I care very much that my characters evolve and grow. In spite of their torments and their selfish impulses, I care that they are guided by a spirit of goodness. I want them to set a high standard for compassion and for friendship.

ANN BRASHARES ON THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS

How did you come up with the book’s unique central concept? Why traveling pants?

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was born in an unusual way. I was working as an editor at the time, chatting in the office with a colleague and friend who told me about a summer when she and some girl friends shared a pair of pants. She told me the pants had sadly been lost in Borneo. My mind was immediately filled with all sorts of wonderful possibilities.

I think pants have unique qualities, especially in a woman’s life. Whatever bodily insecurities we have, we seem to take out on our pants. In high school, my friends would have their skinny pants and their fat pants. I like pants that allow women not to judge their bodies. The Traveling Pants are the kind of pants that always love you. They fit my characters’ bodies in a non-restrictive way.

Describe your favorite pair of pants. What makes them your favorite?

At the moment, my favorite pair of pants are bright red. They are cropped, slightly flared summer pants. Like a good friend, they are flexible, forgiving, and boost my confidence even on really off days. They are low maintenance pants–never requiring dry cleaning or even ironing. The waistline is zippered and definite, so it doesn't have that subtly defeated quality of elastic. And these pants manage to make me feel loved even through major body transitions (like having a baby!).

This story should resonate with young women because sharing clothes is such an integral part of many female friendships. Did you have a clothes-sharing experience that helped to shape the book?

The concept of The Pants is directly related to my experience with my wedding dress. Before I had chosen a wedding dress, I had a picture in my mind of what mine would look like. One day, my mom and I were touring wedding venues in the Washington, DC area where I grew up. Our guide showed us some wedding photographs, and one of them showed a bride wearing a dress just like the one I had imagined. The tour guide invited me to take the picture home, so I did, and I left it in my drawer.

A few months later, the sister of a friend, a young woman named Hope, asked if I had picked my wedding dress. I hadn't. Hope’s recent wedding hadn’t worked out. She wasn't broken-hearted about the groom, but she was broken-hearted about her beautiful, amazing dress not being worn. She asked me if I would consider wearing it at my wedding. I didn't know Hope very well, so I politely declined a few times. Yet she was strangely insistent and later arrived at our friend's apartment with a huge box. Through the clear plastic front I could see that the dress inside was remarkably familiar. It was exactly the same as the dress in the photograph I had put in my drawer. I was ecstatic.

I tried to give the dress back to Hope, after I had worn it in my wedding, but she didn't want it.

So I decided, in the spirit of her generosity, that it was a fortuitous, serendipitous kind of dress, and needed to be shared some more. Since then, it has been worn beautifully by my older brother's wife, my middle brother's wife, and my lifelong best friend. These are probably the three women I am closest to in my life–my own sisterhood. I'm hoping it will be worn again. In fact, I am imagining that instead of the next bride throwing the bouquet at the end of the wedding, she can ball up my wedding dress and throw that.

Much of the novel takes place in Baja and Greece. Did travel play an influential role in your childhood or teenage years?

I love to travel and have taken a lot of trips, but have never actually been to either Baja or Greece. I did a lot of reading and imagining for those stories. They existed more in my imagination than any place else. I love islands. I loved that Oia, the town where Lena’s grandparents lived, was stuck in time and had this geological drama in the background.

I grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, which was very Plain Jane. When I was a kid, I had a scrapbook that I used to write letters in from places I wished I could have gone. I would imagine being in Argentina and then write about all the incredible things I was seeing there. This book is almost like a continuation of those imaginary years.

How old were you when you first fell in love? Who was he? Where were you?

I first fell in love when I was 14 or 15, but it wasn’t immediate falling in love, it was a slow… slow fall. The person I fell in love with immediately was my husband. He is an artist and we met during my freshman year at Barnard. He sat across from me and drew a picture of me in the Columbia University Philosophy Reading Room. I hadn’t even noticed him, but a friend of mine saw what he was doing and told me. As soon as I went out with him, that was it. It was the first time I felt like I loved someone instantly. We’ve been together ever since.

You’ve written about four very different girls. Are the characters in this book based on people you know or wish you had known?

Oddly enough, they aren’t. They are composites of different people. I based Lena's story on the Greek myth of Artemis, the proud, boy-hating goddess of the hunt who, when spotted bathing by a suitor, turns the poor guy into a stag. I wanted my Lena to be less pleased with herself, though, and for her suitor to be more formidable. The story of Tibby and Bailey I based on the great, great movie It's a Wonderful Life. Bailey started out more like an angel than a person. I imagined her as an angel who revealed the cynical little prejudices and presumptions that I remember finding so seductive when I was fifteen. Carmen was the girl who said things I could never say and Bridget was the girl who did things I would never do.

Who are you most like: Carmen, Tibby, Bridget or Lena?

There’s a little bit of me in each of them. I would say I have more in common with Lena and Carmen than the other two. I have some life experience in common with Carmen, but we are considerably different too. I am a little like Carmen in that I sometimes feel as if I lose myself when I'm out of context. Also, I have dealt with issues of divorce and step families. For the protection of the innocent, though, I must say that my own family circumstances were completely different than hers. As for Lena, I guess I know what it is to feel awkward and inward sometimes, and romantically, to feel like a big chicken. Sometimes the girls provided me with an escape or a fantasy.

Why did you choose Carmen to set up the story?

Carmen struck me as the person who was most conscious–who recognized the importance of the girls’ friendship. She didn’t just live it, she knew it inside and out. I think she’s the most introspective of the four.

What do you think are the most important aspects of female relationships?

Loyalty and love. And I mean the kind of love that parents have–unconditional. So often, relationships become competitive or marked by pettiness or envy. For relationships to really transcend the negative stuff in life, they need to be without judgement. I wanted to create a story about a rare bunch of girls who didn't succumb to malice or jealousy and, instead, learned to grow alongside each other and in support of each other. I like the idea in this book, particularly for Carmen, that they are just going to love each other whole-heartedly, no matter what.

Do you think those things change as people get older?

I think that relationships do change over time. And that’s another reason why Carmen has the role she does. She has an awareness that the relationship is fragile and that so many other priorities, like boyfriends or distance, can get in the way. People’s lives inevitably go in different directions as they get older, when they stop having so much in common. They have to work not to let it go.

What do you hope teens will take away from reading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants?

Honestly, I mostly hope they'll enjoy it and take pleasure away. I want it to be the kind of book that will stick with them a bit, the way books I liked when I was that age stuck with me. If there's a message, I guess it's just this: love yourself and your friends unconditionally.

Author Q&A

Q: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, your debut novel, received many awards, much critical praise, and adoration from readers of all ages. What are your thoughts on its success and why do you think it
resonated so strongly with readers?

A: Its success has been a wonderful surprise each step of the way. From the outset I tried to keep my expectations very low. I know how hard it is to get a book published, let alone have it succeed. I’ve read many excellent books that did not succeed commercially. Here I give credit to the publisher, Random House, and to the booksellers. They supported the book wholeheartedly. To the extent that it has resonated with readers, I am grateful for it. I sense that they have responded, more than anything else, to the unconditional love and loyalty that the Sisterhood represents.

Q: A list of main characters in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants could include the Pants. They’re not just a symbol of the strong bond between the four girls, but they also take on a life of their own, becoming a caretaker in some scenes or even a benevolent higher power. What inspired you to write about such a magical pair of jeans? Was it based on a real-life experience?

A: I love the idea of taking a bunch of big, abstract concepts—love, honesty, power, magic—and stuffing them all into a mundane, concrete, everyday object. The Pants are that object. I’ve always loved the idea of enchanted clothing. I like to imagine that clothes can hold transformational power, and that somehow they can hold memories and emotions in their fibers.

The Pants were, in part, inspired by a real story—that of a friend and colleague named Jodi Anderson, who did actually share a pair of jeans with her close friends.

Q: How did you become a writer? What do you love most about writing? What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
A: I still feel self-conscious when I call myself a writer—I haven’t been one for very long. I came to it very slowly and with utmost caution. My career has been spent around books, but for ten years I was too frightened to actually try to write one. I edited them, I wrote outlines for them, I worked closely with authors, I even rewrote big sections of other people’s books on occasion. I always long to master a thing before I feel safe enough to try it. Which is totally illogical, of course.

The part of writing I love most is when I achieve a feeling of deep involvement with a character. It never happens right away. I have to spend a lot of time with a character before I feel that union. I know it has happened when I stop telling my character what to do and she starts telling me. It’s kind of like the Velveteen Rabbit moment when a beloved fiction becomes real.

I also feel self-conscious about giving advice, being rather new to this. But here goes. First, don’t think you can’t be a writer because you haven’t known you were destined to be a writer from the beginning of your life. Writers can become writers at different stages. And yes, some do start early. Second, write about characters you know how to love. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have flaws; they absolutely must. It’s their struggle that makes us truly love them. But be sympathetic. Your readers won’t connect if you don’t.

Q: Your novel is both humorous and poignant. You deal honestly with death, divorce, sex—what sorts of issues would you like to write about in the future?

A: I don’t really think of myself as writing about issues. The stories naturally include issues, but they don’t usually start with them. I like to go after big emotions, and tragedies are often the way to get them. Only I’m not so much interested in racy, headline-grabbing tragedies. I’m more interested in the kinds that happen to people every day.

Q: Which girl would you have identified the most with in high school? Which character do you identify with the most now?

A: In high school I think I would have identified most with a combination of Tibby and Lena—the cautious ones. Now . . . hmmm . . . I think I still identify with the Tibby/Lena combo. I guess I haven’t made all that much progress.

Q: Before the girls set off on their separate adventures, Carmen says “magic comes in many forms” (p. 20). Do you believe in magic? If you could own a piece of magical clothing, what would it be and why?

A: I believe in a subtle kind of magic, I guess. I tend to imbue objects with intentions and abilities—not earthshaking, but modest ones. My son had this pair of pajamas that kept him safe and snug for hundreds and hundreds of nights. With all the washing and folding and putting them on and taking them off, I spent a lot of time with those pajamas. When at last they were reduced to rags and I had to throw them out, I took a few minutes to thank them and kiss them goodbye. That’s a bit strange, I guess.

Which brings me to the magical piece of clothing I would wish to own. I think it would be a garment I could trust to keep the people I love safe. Kind of like fire-retardant fabric, only more powerful and less itchy. But I confess that’s the mother in me talking. As a writer, I’ve designed a fabric that challenges as often as it protects.

Q: One of the prevailing themes of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is the importance of friendship. Did you realize when you were writing the book that it was going to be about friendship, or did this theme develop as you explored the characters during the writing process?

A: The book started with the Pants, and as such, it was always about what was communal and transitional. Which I guess is to say that the book started out being about friendship. What surprised me, in writing it, was how much the individual stories took over. An abstract idea like friendship, inspiring though it may be, is not as compelling as characters coming to life—not to me, at least.

Q: If you could meet only one of the Sisterhood for coffee, who would it be and why? What would you talk about?

A: I think I would choose to meet Bridget. Not because I love her the most (I do love her, but it feels wrong to play favorites) but because she is the one I worry about the most. She has enormous gifts, but she also has some pretty big deficits. Because she hasn’t got a mother, I think I feel more maternal toward her.

That’s not to say that coffee with her would be all serious. Bee’s got buzz even without any caffeine.

Q: An important part of the book is the characters’ self-discovery, but just as important is the characters’ discovery that there is more to other people than what you see on the outside. Carmen realizes there’s more to her dad’s new family than “being blond together.” Tibby realizes there’s much more to those starring in her “suckumentary” than she could ever hope to understand. Lena discovers that Kostos is far from being a stalker. Bridget is the only one of the four who doesn’t make an important discovery about another person. Her experience with Eric only accentuates how little she knows about him as well as how little she understands the mental and emotional consequences of their intimacy. Her journey seems to be the most introspective, and although at the end she’s comforted by the Pants and her friends, she is left very confused. Why did you choose to make Bridget’s story more introspective than the others?

A: Bridget is the character who knows herself least. While the other three characters often look inward, Bee looks out. So, being the taskmaster I am, I sent the other three out, out, out of their (sometimes) selfish and insular worlds, and I sent Bridget in. Her journey toward knowledge had to start with self-knowledge. I wanted to give her an experience that would shake her up. Bee thinks she can be blithe about her intimacy with Eric, but she simply can’t. She is forced to suffer the wounds in the center of herself. And those don’t heal quickly or easily.

Q: Do you have a sisterhood of your own?

A: Not quite like the one I write about. I have very close friends from different times in my life. I have close friends from childhood and high school. I have two close friends from college. I have a play group with other mothers whom I love (including my sister-in-law and my cousin). I would say I have overlapping sisterhoods.

Q: The four friends learn about themselves as individuals by being on their own. They’re forced to be stronger than when they were together. What do you think this means in regard to friendship?

A: Carmen notes that the four girls of the Sisterhood sometimes feel like four parts of one person. Being on her own forces each of the girls to become a whole person, to develop the parts of herself that get less use. Friends are the ultimate support, but they can also insulate you from the world and even stunt your growth. The friendship in this novel proves its power by giving support while spurring the girls toward independence.

Q: Was it difficult to structure the novel by alternating among four unique points of view?

A: It wasn’t really difficult, because I wrote the main part of each girl’s story separately. Toward the end I felt like a movie editor splicing all of my scenes together. When I was done I honestly couldn’t tell if it was a book or a big pile of nonsense. I had one clear operating rule: When in doubt, don’t reorient, don’t recap, don’t rehash. Just throw the reader right into the middle. Chances are she’ll stay with you. My faith in the reader has probably been my best gamble.

Q: Readers certainly will approach the companion books to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with their own hopes and expectations. How does that affect your writing?

A: I can’t help being affected by that. It’s a great honor to have people care about your book and your characters. You don’t want to disappoint them. It affected me to the point of total paralysis at the outset of writing both the second and third books. But after a while I have to figure it’s my job to write books. It’s my job to figure out what happens to these girls, and if I do my honest best . . . well, what else can I do? Readers so far have been pretty forgiving. And, anyway, once I get started writing, I stop questioning myself and pay attention to the important people—my characters.

Q: What can you tell us about Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood?

A: I can tell you that it takes place right after the girls’ high school graduation and tells the story of their last summer before they split up for college. I can also tell you that Tibby falls in love for the first time and that Bridget once again encounters Eric Richman, the soccer coach. But I’d better be quiet now, before I give too much away. . . .

Praise

“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.

Awards

WINNER 2002 ALA Best Books for Young Adults
WINNER 2004 Indiana Young Hoosier Award
WINNER 2003 Iowa Children's Choice Award
WINNER 2002 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award
WINNER 2003 Missouri Gateway Readers Award
WINNER 2004 New Jersey Garden State Teen Book Award
WINNER 2002 Rhode Island Children's Book Award
WINNER 2003 Tennessee Volunteer State Book Master List
WINNER 2002 Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List
WINNER 2003 Washington Evergreen Young Adult Book Award
WINNER 2004 Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award
NOMINEE 2005 Arizona Young Readers Award
NOMINEE 2004 Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award
WINNER 2004 Iowa Teen Book Award
WINNER 2003 Rhode Island Children's Book Award
WINNER 2003 Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award
WINNER 2003 Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List
WINNER 2004 Washington Evergreen Young Adult Book Award
WINNER 2004 Missouri Gateway Readers Award
WINNER 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year

Discussion Guides

1. The novel opens and closes with a first-person narrative by Carmen. Why do you think the author selected this character to frame the story? If you could change it, would you select another character, and if so, what would he or she say? Or do you think Carmen’s is the best viewpoint to begin and end the novel?

2. “For some reason our lives were marked by summers. . . . Summer was the time when our lives joined completely, when we all had our birthdays, when really important things happened” (p. 5). What is the significance of the Sisterhood’s first summer apart? Why is it so important that the four friends have individual adventures? Do you think they would have remained close if the Pants had not been a part of their lives?

3. Of the four girls, whom are you the most like? The most different from?

4. Epigraphs (short quotations) from a variety of sources—song lyrics, remarks by real-life personalities, fictitious sayings by the novel’s characters—are used to separate sections of the book. Which one is your favorite and why?

5. Carmen’s discovery of a new blond stepfamily comes as quite a shock. How could her father have better handled this news? Would it have made a difference to Carmen?

6. In the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey sees what the world would have been like had he not been born. Author Ann Brashares has said that the character of Bailey was inspired by this film. How would Tibby’s life have been different if she had not met Bailey?

7. Lena is described as quite beautiful. How do you think this affects her friendships? Have you ever been friends with someone who is noticeably more or less attractive than you are? How did it make you feel?

8. Bridget feels powerful as she pursues Eric, but her actions leave her fragile and uncertain. Do you think that by the end of the story, Bridget is able to take back some of her power? Why or why not? What role do you think Bridget’s friends will play in her recovery?

9. In the novel, the Pants take on a life of their own. Each of the girls in turn feels loved and comforted by them, as if the Pants were a creature or a person. Do you believe that the Pants are really looking out for the girls? Or is what the girls sense a manifestation of their own emotions? Or is it some combination of the two?

10. Each of the girls is very different from her friends and has widely ranging talents: Lena is a painter, Tibby is a filmmaker, Bridget is an athlete. But their talents don’t define them so much as send them off in different directions. Carmen is more of an enigma; what would you say her talents are and where do they take her in the novel?

11. If you were given the Pants, what rule governing their use would be the hardest for you to keep? Rule 10 is “Remember: Pants = love. Love your pals. Love yourself” (p. 25). How is this rule observed by each member of the Sisterhood in the story? How is it broken?

12. In the epilogue (p. 293), Carmen says, “What happened in front of my friends felt real. What happened to me by myself felt partly dreamed, partly imagined, definitely shifted and warped by my own fears and wants.” Have you ever felt that way? How does it feel to see yourself reflected in other people?

13. The novel’s settings are varied—Baja California, Greece, South Carolina, and Maryland. By the end of the book, each of the girls has had a revelation that has a lot to do with where she has been. If you could spend a summer in one of these places, which would you choose? If you could spend a summer anywhere in the world, where would you go? Would you want your friends with you or would you rather travel solo?

14. What does Carmen mean when she says that she, Lena, Tibby, and Bridget are the real Septembers (p. 7)? What is it about their friendship that convinces Carmen they won’t drift apart the way their mothers did? Fast-forward ten years . . . do you think the Sisterhood will still be inseparable? What are the bonds that will help their friendship endure? Will the Pants still fit them? If not, will it matter?

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