Friendship, Loyalty and Love

The most important theme of the novel is friendship, loyalty and love for each other. In spite of their youth, these four girls recognize the value of the relationship they have had with each other all their lives. The pact they make on the Traveling Pants may seem superficial and even a bit childish, but it is elemental in how they express their feelings for each other. Their letters, their determination to stay close, and their support of each other during both good and bad times, are examples we all can follow about the value of being surrounded by those we love.

Consequences and Lessons Learned

The theme of consequences and the lessons they offer is also an important idea. Each girl makes both good and bad decisions over this summer away from their friends, but they learn valuable lessons from these experiences that they write down on the Pants so they can never forget them.

Life's Simple Pleasures

The theme of life's simple pleasures are what bring happiness is a theme which is ultimately voiced by Tibby who learns this through her experiences with Bailey, her work at Wallman's, her loss of Mimi, and the intense pleasure Brian McBrian gets from playing Dragon Master. However, she is not the only one who learns this. They all discover from their own experiences and the consequences they face just exactly what is most valuable in life.

MOOD

This story is filled with sadness, despair, fear, and loneliness just as life is full of these emotions. However, for each girl there is also a sense of triumph and ultimately happiness after a summer of experiencing life's passages.

Ann Brashares - BIOGRAPHY

Ann was born in Chevy Chase, Maryland and is the sister to three brothers. She went to a Quaker School called Sidwell Friends School. She now lives in New York City and proclaims that she is a lover of both travel and pants. She is married and has three children and still has a pair of jeans from the tenth grade. However, they are not magical and they don't fit anymore! She has followed The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, her first novel, with three sequels relating the adventures of the Pants over the next three summers of the four girls.

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, published in 2001.

Ann currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband Jacob Collins and their three children. She is said to consider her daughter to be a member of the "Sisterhood".

AWARDS for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Some of the many awards presented to this novel include:

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