2 of 2 copies available
summer is a time to grow
seeds
Polly has an idea that she can't stop thinking about, one that involves changing a few things about herself. She's setting her sights on a more glamorous life, but it's going to take all of her focus. At least that way she won't have to watch her friends moving so far ahead.
roots
Jo is spending the summer at her family's beach house, working as a busgirl and bonding with the older, cooler girls she'll see at high school come September. She didn't count on a brief fling with a cute boy changing her entire summer. Or feeling embarrassed by her middle school friends. And she didn't count on her family at all. . .
leaves
Ama is not an outdoorsy girl. She wanted to be at an academic camp, doing research in an air-conditioned library, earning A's. Instead her summer scholarship lands her on a wilderness trip full of flirting teenagers, blisters, impossible hiking trails, and a sad lack of hair products.
“Brashares gets her characters’ emotions and interactions just right.” —Publishers Weekly
"Like the previous Pants books, this one will travel from girl to girl." —Kirkus Reviews
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
January 13, 2009 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780739380451
- File size: 225326 KB
- Duration: 07:49:25
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Text Difficulty: 7-12
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Reviews
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Ann Brashares, author of THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS, offers three new engaging teenage characters and situations. Jo's brother has died and her parents are divorcing, Ama's adjusting to her move from Ghana, and Polly discovers scary secrets about her mother. Friends since they planted willow sprigs in third grade, they're now on the brink of high school. Farr's narration differentiates the three well. She gives academic Ama a soft accent and an air of disgust as she deals with a dreaded outdoor summer camp experience. Farr registers Jo's fury over her parents' new arrangements and her excitement at new love. She captures Polly's nervous struggle to pursue a modeling dream. A strong author interview follows the story. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from November 10, 2008
With the Traveling Pants series all wrapped up, Brashares introduces a new group of BFFs and addresses a slightly younger crowd. Living in the same town as the semilegendary Sisterhood girls, Ama, Polly and Jo have tried to share a pair of jeans and settled on a joint-property scarf (plus an induction ceremony), but their rituals are “lame,” and so, they suspect, is their trio. Only socially backward Polly thinks she’ll miss the others when all three disperse the summer before high school. In typical Brashares fashion, each girl faces unexpected tribulations: intellectually ambitious Ama, who is afraid of heights, has won a spot in a prestigious scholarship program—which sends her mountain climbing. Jo, newly told that her parents are divorcing, submerges her feelings in the excitement of being friends with a popular girl and having an older boyfriend—or so she thinks. Polly, sold out by Jo in the pursuit of cool, learns that her single mom is alcoholic. Fans will like the tidiness in the controlling metaphor, willow tree cuttings planted after a third-grade project, and for all the fidelity to formula, Brashares gets her characters’ emotions and interactions just right. Ages 12–up.
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