The Second Summer of the Sisterhood Part 40

Q: There are many special moments during the summer in which this book takes place. Do you have a favorite summer memory?

A: I remember the first summer my husband and I spent apart. He wasn't my husband yet. At that point we had only known each other for a few months. We weren't prepared to miss each other so much. I was nineteen, working in France after my first year of college, and he was painting in Maine. We spent the summer writing love letters and waiting for those letters to arrive in the mail. He couldn't figure out how to both paint and wait for my letters, so he set up his easel by the side of the road and made a painting of the mailbox. We still have that painting somewhere.

At the very end of that summer, he came to meet me in Paris. He asked me to marry him. I thought he was kidding, because we were so young and hadn't known each other very long. It turned out he wasn't.

Q: Have any of the characters-the girls or the many supporting players-turned out differently than you originally conceived them?

A: Bridget is the one who has strayed farthest from my original conception. I meant for her to be a lighthearted, fun-loving character. She was supposed to liven things up when they got depressing. But I realize, in hindsight, this was a pretty shallow role to fill. Hardly anybody is wholly lighthearted once you get to know them. Bee has demons that make me cry for her.

Another surprise is Effie. Although I haven't yet given her a central role, every time I include her in a scene she begins to take over. She starts chewing up the scenery. I have a feeling I may not be able to keep her on the sidelines forever.

Q: Lena is devastated to learn that Kostos has married another woman. "She looked at Kostos, and finally, he looked at her. His face was all different. As his eyes met hers, knowing and seeing her at last, her vision began to fuzz at the edges" (this pagethis page). Loving Lena as you obviously do, how difficult was it for you to put your character through such tragedy? Do you ever hesitate before plunging one of the girls into a painful experience?

A: I have one advantage over readers, which is that I know what is coming from the very beginning. I knew better than to form any real hopes for Lena and Kostos-not in this book, anyway. When it came time for the inexorable heartbreak, I plunged right in. I admit, though, I couldn't sleep at all when I was writing those parts of the book. I remember shaking in my bed with all that pent-up emotion.

Q: Each of the Sisterhood books takes place during the summer. Have you thought about what Bridget, Carmen, Lena, and Tibby are like during the school year? Are you ever tempted to touch on their lives during that time?

A: Summer feels like a blank slate, a perfect place to begin a new story, whereas the school year feels bogged down by so many social and logistical concerns. Summer has a timeless feel, where the more particular rhythms of school fix you in time and s.p.a.ce. I may change my mind about it, but so far I am pretty happy to write in eternal summer.

Q: Your next book, Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood, takes place during the girls' seventeenth year, their last summer before college. Tibby falls in love; Bridget reconnects with Eric, the soccer coach; Carmen is hired to take care of Valia; and Lena must decide what dream to follow. What do you see in store for the Sisterhood in the last book? And will it truly be the last book?

A: That is a good question. I spend a lot of time asking it of myself. I know the girls will all have finished their first year of college. They will be at least eighteen. That's the part I'm sure about. Beyond that, I have so many possibilities wandering around my brain and stowed in my computer, I am not ready to pin myself (or the girls) down just yet.

As for the last book, I thought it would be book four, but now I find myself not wanting to write it for fear of having to say good-bye to these characters. I have loved writing about them, and I don't know if I'll be ready to stop. Then again, I don't want to wear out my welcome, either-with the characters or with readers. I think I'll wait and see how we all feel after book four.

READERS CIRCLE BOOKS.

Counting Stars * David Almond * 0-440-41826-7 With stories that s.h.i.+mmer and vibrate in the bright heat of memory, David Almond creates a glowing mosaic of his life growing up in a large, loving Catholic family in northeastern England.

Heaven Eyes * David Almond * 0-440-22910-3 Erin Law and her friends in the orphanage are labeled Damaged Children. They run away one night, traveling downriver on a raft. What they find on their journey is stranger than you can imagine.

Kit's Wilderness * David Almond * 0-440-41605-1 Kit Watson and John Askew look for the childhood ghosts of their long-gone ancestors in the mines of Stoneygate.

Secret Heart * David Almond * 0-440-41827-5 Joe's mind is always somewhere else. He doesn't fit in, and everybody laughs at him. And then a tattered circus comes to town, and a tiger comes for Joe. It leads him out into the night, and nothing in his world is ever the same again.

Skellig * David Almond * 0-440-22908-1 Michael feels helpless because of his baby sister's illness, until he meets a creature called Skellig.

Before We Were Free * Julia Alvarez * 0-440-23784-X Under a dictators.h.i.+p in the Dominican Republic in 1960, young Anita lives through a fight for freedom that changes her world forever.

Becoming Mary Mehan: Two Novels * Jennifer Armstrong * 0-440-22961-8 Set against the events of the American Civil War, The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan depicts an Irish immigrant girl and her family, struggling to find their place in the war-torn country. Mary Mehan Awake takes up Mary's story after the war, when she must begin a journey of renewal.

Forgotten Fire * Adam Bagdasarian * 0-440-22917-0 In 1915, Vahan Kenderian is living a life of privilege when his world is shattered by the Turkish-Armenian war.

The Chocolate War * Robert Cormier * 0-375-82987-3 Jerry Renault dares to disturb the universe in this groundbreaking and now cla.s.sic novel, an unflinching portrait of corruption and cruelty in a boys' prep school.

The Rag and Bone Shop * Robert Cormier * 0-440-22971-5 A seven-year-old girl is brutally murdered. A twelve-year-old boy named Jason was the last person to see her alive-except, of course, for the killer. Unless Jason is the killer.

Dr. Franklin's Island * Ann Halam * 0-440-23781-5 A plane crash leaves Semi, Miranda, and Arnie stranded on a tropical island, totally alone. Or so they think. Dr. Franklin is a mad scientist who has set up his laboratory on the island, and the three teens are perfect subjects for his frightening experiments in genetic engineering.

Keeper of the Night * Kimberly Willis Holt * 0-553-49441-4 Living on the island of Guam, a place lush with memories and tradition, young Isabel struggles to protect her family and cope with growing up after her mother's suicide.

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town * Kimberly Willis Holt * 0-440-23841-2 Toby's small, sleepy Texas town is about to get a jolt with the arrival of Zachary Beaver, billed as the fattest boy in the world. Toby is in for a summer unlike any other-a summer sure to change his life.

The Parallel Universe of Liars * Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson * 0-440-23852-8 Surrounded by superficiality, infidelity, and lies, Robin, a self-described chunk, isn't sure what to make of her hunky neighbor's s.e.xual advances, or of the attention paid her by a new boy in town who seems to notice more than her body.

Ghost Boy * Iain Lawrence * 0-440-41668-X Fourteen-year-old Harold Kline is an albino-an outcast. When the circus comes to town, Harold runs off to join it in hopes of discovering who he is and what he wants in life. Is he a circus freak or just a normal guy?

The Lightkeeper's Daughter * Iain Lawrence * 0-385-73127-2 Imagine growing up on a tiny island with no one but your family. For Squid McCrae, returning to the island after three years away unleashes a storm of bittersweet memories, revelations, and accusations surrounding her brother's death.

Lord of the Nutcracker Men * Iain Lawrence * 0-440-41812-7 In 1914, Johnny's father leaves England to fight the Germans in France. With each carved wooden soldier he sends home, the brutality of war becomes more apparent. Soon Johnny fears that his war games foretell real battles and that he controls his father's fate.

Gathering Blue * Lois Lowry * 0-440-22949-9 Lamed and suddenly orphaned, Kira is mysteriously taken to live in the palatial Council Edifice, where she is expected to use her gifts as a weaver to do the bidding of the all-powerful Guardians.

The Giver * Lois Lowry * 0-440-23768-8 Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain.There are no choices, until Jonas is given an opportunity that will change his world forever.

The Silent Boy * Lois Lowry * 0-440-41980-8 When tragedy strikes a small turn-of-the-century town, only Katy realizes what the gentle, silent boy did for his family. He meant to help, not harm. It didn't turn out that way.

Shades of Simon Gray * Joyce McDonald * 0-440-22804-2 Simon is the ideal teenager-smart, reliable, hardworking, trustworthy. Or is he? After Simon's car crashes into a tree and he slips into a coma, another portrait of him begins to emerge.

Zipped * Laura and Tom McNeal * 0-375-83098-7 In a suspenseful novel of betrayal, forgiveness, and first love, fifteen-year-old Mick Nichols opens an e-mail he was never meant to see-and learns a terrible secret.

Harmony * Rita Murphy * 0-440-22923-5 Power is coursing through Harmony-the power to affect the universe with her energy. This is a frightening gift for a girl who has always hated being different, and Harmony must decide whether to hide her abilities or embrace the consequences-good and bad-of her full strength.

In My Hands * Irene Gut Opd.y.k.e with Jennifer Armstrong * 0-553-49411-2 Irene Gut was just seventeen when war broke out in her native Poland. Forced to work as a housekeeper for a n.a.z.i major, she successfully hid twelve Jews in the bas.e.m.e.nt of his home until the Germans' defeat.

Cuba 15 * Nancy Osa * 0-385-73233-3 Violet Paz's upcoming quinceanero, a girl's traditional fifteenth-birthday coming-of-age ceremony, awakens her interest in her Cuban roots-and sparks a fire of conflicting feelings about Cuba within her family.

Both Sides Now * Ruth Pennebaker * 0-440-22933-2 A compelling look at breast cancer through the eyes of a mother and daughter. Liza must learn a few life lessons from her mother, Rebecca, about the power of family.

Her Father's Daughter * Mollie Poupeney * 0-440-22879-4 As she matures from a feisty tomboy of seven to a spirited young woman of fourteen, Maggie discovers that the only constant in her life of endless new homes and new faces is her ever-emerging sense of herself.

Stargirl * Jerry Spinelli * 0-440-41677-9 Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of "Stargirl, Stargirl." Then they turn on her.

It's the third summer voyage of the Traveling Pants-and the summer before the Sisterhood heads off to college. This summer begins the time of their lives.

It's when they'll need their Pants the most.

Ann Brashares's next book, Girls in Pants The Third Summer of the Sisterhood, will be available everywhere January 2005.

Here's a preview....

If you are reading this, you may know about us. Or about our Pants, anyway. If not, you may say, I don't want to read a book about pants. And I can understand how you feel. (In England, when they say pants, they mean underwear. Did you know that?) But trust me, these are epic Pants. These Pants have the stunning power to transform four ordinary teenage girls into raving beauties living lives of astonis.h.i.+ng adventure.

Okay, I exaggerate. The Pants don't actually do that. But they do hold us together when we're apart. They make us feel secure and loved. They walk us to places we wouldn't otherwise dare to go. They make us better people and better friends. All this, I swear, is true.

And they look good along the way.

Who are we? We are we. We have always been we. Sometimes we are us (grammatically, it's just a fact). It's all thanks to Gilda's gym in Bethesda, Maryland, for offering a prenatal aerobics cla.s.s roughly eighteen years ago. My mom, Carmen's mom, Lena's mom, and Bee's mom bounded and sweated through a long, pregnant summer and then they each gave birth to a baby girl (plus a baby boy, in Bee's mom's case) in September. As far as I can tell, in those first few years our mothers raised us more like a litter of puppies than as actual individual children. It was later that our mothers started to grow apart.

How can I describe the four of us? Let's use the metaphor of cars. Carmen would be a torqued-up cherry red gas-guzzler with a V-8 engine and four-wheel drive. She can make a mess of things, but she's a lot of fun, she sticks to the road, and she's got mad acceleration.

Lena would get good gas mileage. Like one of those hybrid cars. She would be easy on the environment and, of course, easy on the eyes. She would have state-of-the-art GPS, but it would be wrong sometimes. She would have air bags.

Bee would have no air bags. She might not have b.u.mpers. She might not even have brakes. She would go a million miles an hour. She would be an ocean blue Ferrari minus the brakes.

And I, Tibby, would be a ... bike. No, just kidding. (I am old enough to drive, d.a.m.n it!) Hmmm. What would I be? I would be a muscular Plymouth Duster, dark green, with a picky transmission. Okay, maybe that's just what I'd want to be. But I'm the one writing this, so I get to decide.

The Pants came to us at the perfect moment. That is, when we were splitting up for the first time. It was two summers ago when they first worked their magic, and last summer when they shook up our lives once again. You see, we don't wear the Pants year-round. We let them rest during the year, so they are extra powerful when summer comes. (There was the time this winter when Carmen wore them to her mom's wedding, but that was a special case.) We thought it was a big deal two years ago, our first summer apart. Now we're facing our last summer together. Tomorrow we graduate from high school. In September we go to college. And it's not like one of those TV shows where all of us magically turn up at the same college. We're going to four different colleges in four different cities (but all within four hours of one another-that was our one rule).

This is really really, big. If you're my dad, you say, "Hey. You'll see each other at Thanksgiving." But if you're me, you realize that life as we've known it is over. Our shared childhood is ending. Maybe we'll never live at home again. Maybe we'll never all live in the same place again. We're headed off to start our real lives. To me that is awe-inspiring, but it is also the single scariest thought in the world.

Tomorrow night at Gilda's we'll launch the Pants on their third summer voyage. Tomorrow begins the time of our lives. It's when we'll need our Pants the most.

O"kay, Bee with Greta and Valia and Lena," Carmen ordered, shepherding a wandering grandmother with her hand. Bee and Lena intertwined their legs, trying to tip each other over, as Carmen clicked her digital camera.

"Okay, um. Effie and ... um, Perry. And Katherine and Nicky. With Tibby and Lena and Bee."

Lena cast her a look. Lena hated pictures. "Are you getting paid or something?" she asked grumpily.

Carmen pushed her hair off her sweaty neck. The s.h.i.+ny black gown permitted no flow of air. She shook off the mortarboard (who ever thought of that name?) and pressed it under her arm. "Squeeze together, would you? I'm losing Perry." Tibby's three-year-old sister, Katherine, bleated angrily as her older brother, Nicky, stomped on her foot.

It wasn't Carmen's fault her friends had large families. But it was graduation, for G.o.d's sake. This was a big day. She wasn't going to miss anybody. She didn't have any official brothers or sisters. She had to make the most of her unofficial ones.

"There is no shade," Valia, Lena's grandmother, noted bitterly.

It was a football field. Carmen briefly imagined the trouble with an elm or oak planted at the fifty-yard line. This thought made her turn toward the raucous bunch of graduating football players, their families and admirers. It was one of the many clumps and cliques spread out over the hot field-a last stand for social order.

Carmen's grandma, Carmen senior (Seniora, as Tibby called her), cast searing looks at Albert, Carmen's father, as though blaming him for the merciless heat. Carmen could practically read her grandmother's mind: If Albert could leave Christina, Carmen's mother, what couldn't he be capable of?

"Now's the big one, okay, everybody?" It had been a long morning. Carmen knew she was wearing everyone thin. She was irritating herself, at this point. But who else looked out for posterity? Huh? "Last one, I swear."

She arranged the dads and full-grown boys in the back. Even Lena's dad-not because he was tall (Bee had a good four inches on him) but because Carmen was a generally thoughtful person, if she did think so herself.

Grandmothers and mothers took the next row. Valia; Carmen senior; Tibby's ancient great-grandma Felicia, who didn't know where she was; Greta nervously patting her perm. Then there was Ari in her handsome beige suit; Christina constantly looking over her shoulder at her new husband, David; Tibby's mom with the lipstick on her teeth. And there was Albert's wife, Lydia, looking eager but also anxious that she might be taking up an extra square inch of s.p.a.ce.

Lastly, Carmen ordered the remaining siblings into place. Effie pulled a dire face about having to kneel on a level with Nicky and Katherine. Tibby coaxed Brian from his spot on the sidelines and arranged him in the back row.

And now it was the Septembers' turn. Sitting in the front, they clutched each other in a ma.s.s of hot black polyester, leaving a s.p.a.ce in the middle for Carmen. "Okay! Great!" Carmen shouted at them all in encouragement. "Just hold on one second."

Carmen nearly wrestled Ms. Collings from the dais. Ms. Collings was the teacher who'd sent Carmen out to the hallway the greatest number of times, but she was also the teacher who loved her best.

"We're all set," Carmen said. "Here." She demonstrated to Ms. Collings the camera placement she wanted. For a moment Carmen studied the viewfinder. She saw them all, encompa.s.sed in the little frame-her beloved friends, her mom, stepmom, stepdad, actual dad, grandma. Her friends' moms, dads, families who felt as close as if they were her own. This was her whole life, right here. Her tribe. Everything that mattered.

And this moment. This was it, somehow. All of them celebrating a day and an accomplishment that belonged to all four of them equally. This was the culmination of a shared life.

Carmen threw herself into her pile of friends. She screamed out of pure emotion, which got them all screaming. She felt the heave of flesh as every layer of their group seemed to sink into the whole more fully-arms wrapped around shoulders and waists, cheeks pressed together, wrinkly and smooth. Then Carmen burst into tears, knowing that in the picture her eyes would look very puffy indeed.

Tibby had a dream about taxidermy. In it, her crazy great-grandma Felicia had stuffed the Traveling Pants as her graduation gift. "It's just what you wanted!" Felicia shouted at her.

The stuffing job looked totally professional. The Pants were mounted on a polished marble pedestal and inhabited by fake legs to look as if they were jauntily midstep. As animated as they looked, you had to notice there was no body or head or even any feet. They were connected to the marble base by a bra.s.s pipe sticking out of one leg.

"But they can't go anywhere," Tibby pointed out timidly.

"That's the point!" Felicia thundered. "It's just what you wanted!"

"I did?" Tibby asked, confused and guilty for having maybe wanted it. She found herself wondering if the Pants were too heavy to be circulated among their various dorm rooms.

Now we really won't have to worry about was.h.i.+ng them, she consoled herself in her dream-reality.

When Tibby awoke, Katherine was at her side. "Brian's visiting." Katherine loved trying out words. She was happy with herself that she'd said visiting as opposed to just here.

Tibby groggily sat up. "What time is it?"

Katherine moved in front of Tibby's clock radio and studied it hopefully.

"G.o.d, it's almost eleven," Tibby answered herself.

She was about to head directly down the stairs, but then she decided to brush her teeth first. When she arrived in the kitchen, Brian was at the table setting up dominoes with Nicky.

"Let's try to set up a few at once," Brian counseled patiently, arranging them in a snaking row.

Nicky only wanted to knock them over.