Brashares, A. (2001). The sisterhood of the traveling pants. New York: Delacorte.

Genre: Romance

Intended audience: Romantics, particularly girls.

Personal reaction to the book: It’s a chick-lit book that goes beyond the usual stereotypes:

The hot boys weren’t all clueless;

The characters progressed during the book (a hard concept for the genre, I know);

The plot was believable, with not everything resolved as if by magic, tra-la! (The pants are supposed to have magic, but — besides fitting all four girls — the magic clearly resides in the friendship, not the denim.)

I gave it four stars: It’s probably a 2.5 for me, but I’m not the target audience, so another 1.5 stars because there’s finally a novel for teenage girls I can recommend without biting my tongue.

Author facts: Ann Brashares lives in New York City with her husband and four children. She intended from the start to turn Sisterhood into a series. Evidently a believer in reader response, Brashare believes characters belong to both the author and readers.

Related website: http://annbrashares.wordpress.com; http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/annbrashares/author/