Best Books for ages 10-14 #3: Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares (2001)
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There are thousands of books about the friendships and romances of teenage girls, so it would have been impossible not to include one on this list. It’s a very important genre, speaking to many young people about the issues that define their lives at the time of reading. Of all the books that fit into this category, the ‘Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants’ is a beautifully-written and sensitively-portrayed tale of four girls and the first summer they spend apart.
In a way, the trousers are a simple linking device – one of the four protagonists found a pair of trousers in a second-hand shop that was equally flattering to all four girls in the friendship group and they decide to send them to one another when keeping in touch over the summer. All four girls get a chance to take the limelight in the book and we are immersed in their personal worlds.
What could be a light and fluffy novel actually deals with some key issues. Death, loneliness and discovering one’s true identity all play their role in this essential coming of age novel.
The novel sadly never received critical success. However, there are four sequels, and in 2005, a film adaptation of the first book was created and was well-received.
By the same author: ‘The Last Summer (of You and Me)’, ‘The Second Summer of the Sisterhood’ and more.