The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Ann Brashares

We were given the task in class, to read a book written by an English-speaking author, published later than 1950. I wanted to read a feel-good story, and the first that came in mind was “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”. I saw the movie with same name when I was younger, and decided that I wanted to read the book as well. Ann Brashares is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants, and Forever in Blue. I have just read the first novel of this award-winning series, and I enjoyed it just as much as the movie, if not even more.

The story is as simple as it's genius; we follow one pair of jeans, four girls and their unforgettable summer. As they are spending their last days together before their first summer apart since birth, they discover a pair of jeans, which miraculously fits all of them. The four girls, Lena, Bridget, Tibby and Carmen, decide that they'll send "the traveling pants" back and forth among themselves throughout the summer. I would say that the pants are the missing link in their dependable and solid friendship, and it keeps them together during the summer.

It is a "bildung" novel, also called "coming of age" novel, following four young persons' transitions from childhood to adulthood.  The theme of friendship is quite relevant in this novel. They all learn that they can get through everything if they have their friends to rely on in the end. Almost everyone are familiar to this theme, and will once or maybe twice in their life experience that their best friends are the most important and reliable. Even though you get a crush on a nice guy, you should never set him before your best friends. And if you've done something really bad, your friends are always there to comfort you. You may know the expression; bros over hoes.

Lena, Carmen, Tibby and Bridget

 “The loving depiction of enduring and solid friendship will ring true to readers, who will appreciate this recognition of one of life’s most important relationships.”—The Bulletin

Advice to fellow students

If we should take the exam using Internet or not, is quite debated. Some teachers and sensors think that the Internet only makes the students confused and that the possibility of cheating increases. On the other hand, some think that using Internet during the exam makes the students more open minded, reflected and independent.

I think that there are both pros and cons in this debate. Firstly, I became very glad when I heard that our class was chosen to be some of the first students to use Internet during the exam. I get a lot of my inspiration from articles I have read, and do therefore think that my exam would be much more reflected and well written. You get to see other persons’ reflections upon the topic and get a lot of inspiration; some might even say that the Internet is too inspirational. What characterizes an exam with use of Internet, is often plagiarism, not use of own words and too much of other students’ reflections.

With this in mind, I think that all students should be allowed to use Internet during the exam. Even though some students use a lot of other persons’ words, I would guess that most students don’t. In fact, this shows which students who have the vocabulary and knowledge to write their “own” texts.

Another thing to have in mind when you write an article is what kind of sources you use. Every teacher I have ever had, say: don’t use Wikipedia! I understand this, but personally I think that it is okay to use this site, as long as you compare it to other sources. The best way of collecting information is to compare the material with at least two sites. I am, along with a handful of other students, not checking my sources well enough before using them.

Safe and informative sources recommended by my teacher might be Sweet Search, Ref Seek, Wolfram Alpha and Google. I use Google in 99,99% of the cases, and admit that I should be better at using other search engines. When you have found a reliable source you want to use, it is extremely important that you write it down in your exam. If you want to learn how to do it properly, click here. As a last advice before your exam: use the Internet carefully and always write down your sources!