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(Hardcover)
Reader Rating: (180 ratings)
With unraveled embroidery and fraying hems, the Traveling Pants are back for one last, glorious summer.
Lena: Immerses herself in her painting and an intoxicating summer fling, fearing that the moment she forgets about Kostos will be the moment she sees him again.
Carmen: Falls under the spell of a sophisticated college friend for whom a theatrical role means everything and the heritage of the Pants means nothing.
Bridget: Joins a dig for an ancient city on the coast of Turkey and discovers that her archaeology professor is available in every way except one.
Tibby: Leaves behind someone she loves, wrongly believing he will stay where she has left him.
Join Ann Brashares's beloved sisterhood once again in a dazzling, fearless novel. It's a summer that will forever change the lives of Lena, Carmen, Bee, and Tibby, here and now, past and future, together and apart.
Carmen, Lena, Bridget and Tibby may not be forever in blue jeans, but they do share the Traveling Pants for at least one more summer. Fans rejoin the foursome just after their freshman year in college. Carmen is attending a summer theater program in Vermont, where she unexpectedly lands a plum role and must contend with her roommate's attempts to sabotage her performance. Enrolled in a summer painting class at Rhode Island School of Design, Lena falls for a fellow student and also receives a surprise visit (his specialty) from Kostos, her former Greek beau. On an archeological dig in Turkey, Bridget finds herself attracted to a professor (who's married). And Tibby, in the most poignant story line, becomes reclusive while taking film classes at NYU, and breaks up with her devoted boyfriend, Brian, after their first sexual encounter results in a pregnancy scare. Brashares credibly recounts the emotional turmoil surrounding the girls' love, peer and family tribulations. There is just passing mention of "the Pants" and their special powers until novel's end, when the jeans, through a rather unlikely set of circumstances, disappear in Greece-an event that bands the four friends together in a countrywide search. The series' legion followers will eagerly follow each gal through her summer of ups and downs and will again be heartened by the teens' rock-solid friendship. Ages 12-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews and RecommendationsA lover of summer, pants, and travel, Ann Brashares lives in New York City with her husband and their three children. Her Sisterhood novels, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (which was made into a major motion picture), The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, and Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood, comprise an internationally bestselling and award-winning series that reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
Reader Rating:
September 27, 2008: This book was probably my favorite out of the series. In this book you have the four original girls and the same old pants. The conflict is that the girls start splitting apart and having their own lives instead of just sharing one as before. They go through hard times but they really can't do anything for one another just because they have all moved and as I said before have started their lives as individuals. Over the course of the book they start to realize that they jeans really have not done anything for them but brought them closer together. What I liked about the book is that the narrator is not one of the girls so you don't just get one girls opinion on things. This book is 384 pages and I think all of it is worth reading. The setting is all different places including Greece. This book is on my top 10 list.
Reader Rating:
August 29, 2008: I loved the first three books in this series, but the concluding novel was dissapointing. It was boring, uneventful, and uncharacteristic of writer Ann Brashares' usual excellence. I would recommend reading this book only if you have read the preceding three. If you have not, then i would not recommend it.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants has come a long way. In this, their fourth (and dare we say last?) summer together, this quartet of bosom buddies have grown into engaging young women. Of course, that doesn't mean that their problems have gone away. Under author Ann Brashares' steady-handed custodianship, Lena, Carmen, Tibby, and Bridget each grapple with personal problems and triumph in their separate and collective ways. A poignant setting of a classic teen series.
With unraveled embroidery and fraying hems, the Traveling Pants are back for one last, glorious summer.
Lena: Immerses herself in her painting and an intoxicating summer fling, fearing that the moment she forgets about Kostos will be the moment she sees him again.
Carmen: Falls under the spell of a sophisticated college friend for whom a theatrical role means everything and the heritage of the Pants means nothing.
Bridget: Joins a dig for an ancient city on the coast of Turkey and discovers that her archaeology professor is available in every way except one.
Tibby: Leaves behind someone she loves, wrongly believing he will stay where she has left him.
Join Ann Brashares's beloved sisterhood once again in a dazzling, fearless novel. It's a summer that will forever change the lives of Lena, Carmen, Bee, and Tibby, here and now, past and future, together and apart.
Carmen, Lena, Bridget and Tibby may not be forever in blue jeans, but they do share the Traveling Pants for at least one more summer. Fans rejoin the foursome just after their freshman year in college. Carmen is attending a summer theater program in Vermont, where she unexpectedly lands a plum role and must contend with her roommate's attempts to sabotage her performance. Enrolled in a summer painting class at Rhode Island School of Design, Lena falls for a fellow student and also receives a surprise visit (his specialty) from Kostos, her former Greek beau. On an archeological dig in Turkey, Bridget finds herself attracted to a professor (who's married). And Tibby, in the most poignant story line, becomes reclusive while taking film classes at NYU, and breaks up with her devoted boyfriend, Brian, after their first sexual encounter results in a pregnancy scare. Brashares credibly recounts the emotional turmoil surrounding the girls' love, peer and family tribulations. There is just passing mention of "the Pants" and their special powers until novel's end, when the jeans, through a rather unlikely set of circumstances, disappear in Greece-an event that bands the four friends together in a countrywide search. The series' legion followers will eagerly follow each gal through her summer of ups and downs and will again be heartened by the teens' rock-solid friendship. Ages 12-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
The fourth book in the "Traveling Pants" series finds Lena, Tibby, Carmen, and Bridget immersed in the full intensity of college and young adult life. The ubiquitous, magical jeans has helped the girls learn to be apart, but now "being apart wasn't the exception, it was the rule." Each learns (again) the value of true friendship, no matter the time or distance, but there is also much to be learned about young men, an ever-present theme. Independently and together, the girls struggle with issues of virginity, loyalty, and family values. Their struggles are honest and sincere, not cavalier, but readers might not agree with the choices the girls make; reading the book could open the door to discussing these issues for groups of girls or mothers and daughters. As in the past books in the series, there are many comments that will make readers smile softly with understanding. Toddlers and teenagers "both liked to leave their mother, so long as their mother did not move…Carmen's mother did move. She was a moving target. Home was a time and no longer a place." The conclusion of the story which has captured imaginations across many generations is unexpected and yet, quite perfectand not to be spoiled by announcing it in advance!
In the fourth and final installment of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, Brashares splendidly conveys the difficulty of retaining childhood friendships after leaving home for college. As their lives take them in different directions, the girls are challenged to recreate themselves, a process intensified by the loss of the close friendships that they once shared. Boys are an issue, but the focus is on the girls finding their own way within various relationships rather than on defining themselves through these relationships. Lena sees herself in a new light after an affair with a fellow art student. Carmen concludes that it is okay for all things to grow and change after losing her childhood home and the comfortable role she had as an only child. Bridget faces the fact that relationships do not always pan out the way that she thinks they should, but she eventually puts it aside to reconnect with Eric after a summer apart. Tibby and Brian suffer a setback after a pregnancy scare makes them reconsider where they are and what they want in their lives. And the traveling pants, once the young women realize that they are no longer needed, disappear into thin air, leaving the girls confidently on their own. Depth of emotion on these tough issues is easily avoided by switching characters often. This light read is a great ending to the series. Sisterhood followers who are eagerly awaiting this final book will not be disappointed.
To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, January 2007: The friends (Tibby, Carmen, Bridget, and Lena) have finished their first year of university and are finding it difficult to get together this fourth summer of the traveling pants. Tibby and Brian's relationship is growing closer and yet when they have sex, it somehow destroys the love and trust between them, and Lena's younger sister moves in on Brian when Tibby drops him. Lena is taking a painting class, figuring that she is finally over the pain of Kostos's betrayal; yet when she gets closer to another painter and even falls for him and has an affair, in the end she knows she still isn't finished with Kostos. The other two have their own summer adventures, with the four passing the traveling pants back and forth as usual. Carmen, after wallowing in low self-esteem and confusion, finds herself (literally) in a challenging theatrical production; Bridget is in Turkey learning how much she loves archaeology, and confused about her long-distance relationship with Eric. It's Lena's sister who goes to Greece at the end of the summer, and it is she who causes a crisis involving the traveling pantsa crisis that finally brings the friends together. Fans of the series will certainly want to follow the lives of the four friends in this fourth book. Reviewer: Claire Rosser
Gr 8 Up
In their latest episode, Bridget goes to Turkey on an archaeological excavation and Lena takes a painting class in Providence. Tibby stays in New York to take classes, and Carmen attends a theater festival in Vermont to work as backstage crew. There are new love interests, loss of virginity, and breakups and makeups. The themes are familiar, but fans who already identify with the characters will want to read more about their latest exploits. The pants pay a more prominent role than they did in the third book and a significant event takes place as each teen receives them. The possibilities and impossibilities of love are explored as Bridget is attracted to the married leader of the excavation team and Tibby fears she is pregnant. When Carmen auditions and lands a major role in the theater production, she worries that she cannot handle the part. Although squeamish at first, Lena becomes attracted to a fellow art student when they agree to pose in the nude for each other on weekends. Although the ending is a bit unrealistic, fans will surely suspend judgment as they delight in the story. The quotes from famous people that open each chapter are the most profound words in the book, but young romance readers and those wanting light fare will not be disappointed.
In the fourth, and apparently final, installment in the series, Lena, Carmen, Bridget and Tibby again go their separate ways, held together in friendship by their wise and magical Pants. Each wears the Pants for a while and sends them on, the Pants always fitting perfectly. The fairytale spirit of the narrative develops as the young women come to realize the Pants have taught them how to be together as friends, and how to be apart, too. Like the Pants, the third-person voice unites the individual stories, providing a consistent tone. Lively prose, snappy dialogue and a complex intertwining of four stories mark this outstanding series. First-time sex, fear of pregnancy and breaking up are presented delicately, with humor and poignancy. An ode to love and friendship to delight Brashares's legions of fans, who have spent a good deal of their young lives sharing the Pants along with the sisterhood. (Fiction. 12+)
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Excerpted from Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares Copyright © 2007 by Ann Brashares. Excerpted by permission.
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