Teens who loved Ann Brashares's
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2001) will cheer its equally riveting sequel
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood. As in the first novel, four teen girls who have known each other since birth (their moms shared a pregnancy aerobics class) further forge their bond of friendship through a pair of thrift-store jeans that magically, impossibly, fits them all perfectly.
Like the summer before, Carmen, Bridget, Tibby, and Lena share their individual adventures with the Pants collective, creating an engaging, kaleidoscopic narrative of four voices. This summer, Tibby attends a film program in Virginia and Bridget (Bee), whose mother has died, impulsively jets off to Alabama to get reacquainted with her estranged grandmother. Lovely Lena tries to protect herself from the heartbreak of loving her long-distance Greek god boyfriend Kostos, and Carmen deals (poorly) with her mother dating again and having the nerve to borrow the Pants!
The Second Summer, while breezy and fun to read, deals seriously with love lost and found, death, and finding the courage to live honestly. The teens' lessons are often painful, but the Sisterhood prevails. Quotations from luminaries such as Charlie Brown ("Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love") to Nelson Mandela ("There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered") open each chapter and cleverly reflect the novel's many moods. (Ages 12 and older) --Karin Snelson
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Review
“Light and romantic." —
The New York Times “Fits like a favorite pair of pants.” —
USA Today
“A great summer read.” —
The Sacramento Bee
"The characters seem like old friends, and the author's sure ear for dialogue and her empathy for her protagonists' complicated emotions creates a story as comfortable as an old pair of jeans. A big, complex, satisfying sequel." --
Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"Equally authentic and engaging." —Publishers Weekly
"
The Second Summer, while breezy and fun to read, deals seriously with love lost and found, death, and finding the courage to live honestly." —Amazon.com
"[A] big-hearted, complex tale of living, learning, and caring." —
School Library Journal"Brashares has done an outstanding job of showing the four teens growing up and giving readers a happy, ultimately hopeful book, easy to read and gentle in its important lessons." —
Booklist"It takes a really good book to leave you laughing one moment and crying the next. This book did just that. It is even better than the first book." —
VOYA"Although these teens deal with issues common to YA novels—identity, romance, parental conflict—Brashares' tale, with its lively characters, honest emotion, and wry wit, rises above the norm." —
Children's Literature
--This text refers to an alternate
kindle_edition edition.
Book Description
The sparkling sequel to the smash hit,
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants
--This text refers to an alternate
kindle_edition edition.
From the Back Cover
Can't wait for the next installment of the Pants? Check out the SPECIAL EDITION of "The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, in stores now!
Inside you'll find an exclusive "Who's Your Soul Mate Quiz" and a sneak peak at the third book, "Girls in Pants.
With a bit of last summer's sand in the pockets, the Traveling Pants and the Sisterhood that wears them embark on their 16th summer.
"Bridget: Impulsively sets off for Alabama, wanting to both confront her demons about her family and avoid them all at once.
"Lena: Spends a blissful week with Kostos, making the unexplainable silence that follows his visit even more painful.
"Carmen: Is concerned that her mother is making a fool of herself over a man. When she discovers that her mother borrowed the Pants to wear on a date, she's certain of it.
"Tibby: Not about to spend another summer working at Wallman's, she takes a film course only to find it's what happens off-camera that teaches her the most.
"From the Hardcover edition.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
From the Inside Flap
Can't wait for the next installment of the Pants? Check out the SPECIAL EDITION of
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, in stores now!
Inside you'll find and exclusive "Who's your Soul mate Quiz" and a sneak peak at the third book,
Girls in Pants.With a bit of last summer's sand in the pockets, the Traveling Pants and the Sisterhood that wears them embark on their 16th summer.
Bridget: Impulsively sets off for Alabama, wanting to both confront her demons about her family and avoid them all at once.
Lena: Spends a blissful week with Kostos, making the unexplainable silence that follows his visit even more painful.
Carmen: Is concerned that her mother is making a fool of herself over a man. When she discovers that her mother borrowed the Pants to wear on a date, she�s certain of it.
Tibby: Not about to spend another summer working at Wallman�s, she takes a film course only to find it�s what happens off-camera that teaches her the most.
From the Hardcover edition.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
PROLOGUE
0nce there were four girls who shared a pair of pants. The girls were all different sizes and shapes, and yet the pants fit each of them.
You may think this is a suburban myth. But I know it's true, because I am one of them-one of the sisters of the Traveling Pants.
We discovered their magic last summer, purely by accident. The four of us were splitting up for the first time in our lives. Carmen had gotten them from a second-hand place without even bothering to try them on. She was going to throw them away, but by chance, Tibby spotted them. First Tibby tried them; then me, Lena; then Bridget; then Carmen.
By the time Carmen pulled them on, we knew something extraordinary was happening. If the same pants fit-and I mean really fit-the four of us, they, aren't ordinary. They don't belong completely to the' world of things you can see and touch. My sister, Effie, claims I don't believe in magic, and maybe I didn't then. But after the first summer of the Traveling Pants, I do.
The Traveling Pants are not only the most beautiful pair of jeans that ever existed, they are kind, comforting, and wise. And also they make you look really good.
We, the members of the Sisterhood, were friends before the Traveling Pants. We've known each other since before we were born. Our mothers were all in the same pregnancy aerobics class, all due in early September. I feel this explains something about us. We all have in common that we got bounced on our fetal heads too much.
We were all born within seventeen days of each other, first me, a little early, in the end of August, and last Carmen, a little late, in the middle of September. You know how people make a big deal about which twin was born three minutes before the other one? Like it matters? Well, we're like that. We draw great significance from the fact that I'm the oldest-the most mature, the most maternal -and Carmen is the baby.
Our mothers started out being close. We had a group play date running at least three days a week until we started kindergarten. They called themselves the Septembers and eventually passed that name down to us. Our mothers would gab in whoever's yard it was, drinking iced tea and eating cherry tomatoes. We would play and play and play and occasionally fight. Honestly, I remember my friends' mothers almost as well as my own from that time.
We four, the daughters, reminisce about it sometimes- we look back on that period as a golden age., Gradually, as we grew, our mothers' friendship disintegrated. Then Bee's mother died. A giant hole was left, and none of them knew how to bridge it. Or maybe they just didn't have the courage.
The word
friends doesn't seem to stretch big enough to describe how we feel about each other. We forget where one of us starts and the other one stops. When Tibby sits next to me in the movies, she bangs her heel against my shin during the funny or scary parts. Usually I don't even notice until the bruise blooms the next day. In history class Carmen absently grabs the loose, pinchy skin at my elbow. Bee rests her chin on my shoulder when I'm trying to show her something on the computer, clacking her tee& together when I turn to explain something. We step on, each other's feet a lot. (And, okay, I do have large feet.)
Before the Traveling, Pants we didn't know how to e~, together when we were apart. We didn't realize that we, are bigger and stronger and longer than the time we spend together. We learned that the first summer.
And all year long-, we waited and wondered what the second summer would bring. We learned to drive. We tried to care about our schoolwork and our PSATs. Effie fell in love (several times), and I tried to fall out of it. Brian became a regular fixture at Tibby's house, and she, wanted to talk about Bailey less and less. Carmen and Paul evolved from stepsiblings to friends. We all kept ue nervous, loving eyes on Bee.
While we did our thing, the Pants lived quietly in the top of Carmen's closet. They were summer Pants -that's what we had all agreed on. We had always marked our lives by summers. Besides, with the no-washing rule, we didn't want to overuse them. But not a day of fall, winter, or spring went by when I didn't think about them, curled up in Carmen's closet, safely gathering their magic for when we needed them again.
This summer began differently than the last. Except for Tibby, who'd be going to her film program at a college in Virginia, we thought we'd be staying home. We were all excited to see how the Pants worked when they weren't traveling.
But Bee never met a plan she didn't like to change. So from the start, our summer did not go the way we expected.
--This text refers to an alternate
kindle_edition edition.
About the Author
Ann Brashares is the #1
New York Times bestselling author of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series,
The Whole Thing Together,
The Here and Now, 3 Willows, The Last Summer (of You & Me), and
My Name Is Memory. She lives in New York City with her family.
Visit Ann online at AnnBrashares.com and follow @AnnBrashares on Twitter.
--This text refers to an alternate
kindle_edition edition.