The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
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| Author | Ann Brashares |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Young adult novel |
| Publisher | Delacorte Books |
| Released | 2004 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Preceded by | The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants |
| Followed by | Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood |
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood is a novel written in 2004 by acclaimed author Ann Brashares. The story continues the adventures of four best friends who own a magical pair of jeans that fit all of them, even though they are different sizes. During the summer, the girls share the pants. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood is the second in a series of four books: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood, and Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Tibby, Lena, Carmen and Bridget are back for another summer with the magical pants from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The jeans from the resale shop that look great on all four best friends have been waiting for another summer. New decorations and words will be added to the remains of last year's events, as documented on the magical denim.
The girls have all grown up over the past year and find themselves changing as issues confront them. Bridget has not recovered from her relationship with Eric Richman last summer and decides to spend this summer in Alabama with her long-estranged maternal grandmother. She want to rediscover herself and her love of soccer. Carmen is dismayed to find that her mother is dating again, just as she herself is going on her very first date. Her mother even tries to wear the Pants! Tibby is spending the summer at film camp, where she wants to fit in and needs the Pants to help her determine who is sincere and who is phony. Lena is shocked when Kostos, her Greek boyfriend, comes to America and they fall in love all over again. She also learns that her mother experienced long-distance heartbreak when she was Lena's age, though she doesn't want to talk about it. Each girl needs the Pants and each other to continue growing their unique identities.
[edit] Characters
[edit] The Sisterhood
- Lena Kaligaris, whom they sometimes call Lenny, is a beautiful, quiet, and shy artist of Greek heritage. She has a sister, Effie, who is fifteen months younger. Lena and Effie spent last summer with their paternal grandparents in Santorini, Greece, where Lena met and fell in love with Kostos Dounas. They sent letters back and forth until January, when Lena ended their correspondence. She is shocked, then elated, when Kostos visits America during this summer.
- Tabitha Anastasia "Tibby" Tomko-Rollins is the rebellious daughter of former radicals. Her interest in filmmaking leads her to spend the summer taking a course at Williamston College. In her efforts to impress two jaded classmates, she makes a hurtful movie about her mother and ignores her friend Brian McBrian, but uses the memory of her friend Bailey Graffman, who died of leukemia last summer, to make things right.
- Bridget "Bee" Vreeland is a bold, energetic soccer star who is described as "single-minded to the point of recklessness." Still reeling from her mother's suicide six and a half years ago, she journeys to Alabama to meet her maternal grandmother, Greta Randolph, who tried to correspond with Bridget and her twin brother after her mother's death. Her father, who had a poor relationship with Greta, never gave her the letters.
- Carmen Lucille Lowell is the sensitive and caring half-Puerto Rican "with the bad temper." Her parents are divorced, and she lives with her mother, Christina. Last summer she struggled with her father's impending marriage to Lydia Rodman. This summer, she is angry and frightened when her mother's relationship with David, a coworker, seems to be going in the same direction.
[edit] From Santorini, Greece
- Valia and Bapi Kaligaris are Lena and Effie's grandparents. Valia is talkative and spirited, like Effie, while Bapi is quiet and introspective like Lena. Bapi dies of a heart attack at the end of the summer.
- Kostos Dounas lives with his paternal grandparents in Santorini. He and Lena fell in love at the end of last summer, but she broke off their correspondence because she wanted to feel like her life "belonged to just her again." They reunite briefly this summer, which ultimately ends in more heartbreak.
[edit] In Bethesda, Maryland
- Brian McBrian is a video game aficonado who spent hours every day playing Dragon Master at 7-Eleven, until he met Tibby last summer and began spending most of his time with her. He has an unhappy home life with his mother and stepfather, whom his mother married after his father died.
- David Breckman is Christina's 34-year-old boyfriend, a lawyer at the same firm where she works. Carmen is angry and dismayed when he begins dating her mother.
- Porter is Carmen's classmate with whom she goes on a few dates over the summer. Although he genuinely likes her, Carmen is too distracted by her mother's romance and her aspirations for an accessory-like "Boyfriend" to start much of a relationship with him.
[edit] At Williamston College
- Alex is a cynical film student from New York City. Tibby is drawn to him because he exudes an air of not needing any friends.
- Maura is Alex's friend and a film student from New York City. She wears pink glasses. Tibby describes her as a "yeah-girl," who goes along with the majority.
- Vanessa is the RA of the dorm where Tibby and Maura live for the summer. Maura makes fun of the number of stuffed animals in her room, but when Vanessa reveals that she makes and sews them herself, Tibby begins to consider Vanessa, not Maura, the artist.
[edit] Family members of the Sisterhood
- Georgos "George" Kaligaris is Lena's strict Greek father. Although his parents owned a restaurant in Greece, he is a lawyer. He has spent his adult life trying to repress his Greek heritage, until his father dies at the end oft he summer.
- Ariadne "Ari" Kaligaris is Lena's mother, an ambitious Greek woman who put herself through school to become a social worker. She had a lengthy, long-distance romance with a man called Eugene when she was younger. Shortly after they broke up, she met and married Lena's father.
- Effie Kaligaris is Lena's extroverted sister, fifteen months younger. Effie gives Lena courage and comfort at times when the Sisterhood isn't there.
- Franz Vreeland is Bridget's father, a former history professor and a teacher at a pivate high school. He isn't very close to Bridget.
- Marlene "Marly" Randolph Vreeland is Bridget's late mother, who committed suicide six and a half years ago.
- Perry Vreeland is Bridget's twin brother who shared a childhood with the Sisterhood but grew up to be a reclusive teenager. He was named for Marly's brother, Pervis Randolph.
- Christina Lowell is Carmen's 38-year-old mother. She is Puerto Rican and works as a secretary for a law firm. She has never seriously dated since her divorce almost ten years ago, until this summer.
- Mr. Rollins is Tibby's father. He is a lawyer who used to work as a public defender. He is not a major character. Although Tibby told Bailey in the first book that her parents were nineteen when she was born, in this book she says that his fortieth birthday has passed.
- Alice Tomko Rollins is Tibby's 35-year-old mother, who was a hippie and a sculptor while Tibby was young.
- Nicky and Katherine Rollins are Tibby's younger siblings. In the first book, Nicky is two and Katherine is one, meaning that they were born when Tibby was thirteen and fourteen respectively; however, in this book, she says that Nicky was born when she was thirteen and Katherine when she was fifteen.
[edit] In South Carolina
- Albert 'Al' Lowell is Carmen's father. He married Lydia Rodman last summer.
- Lydia Lowell is Al's wife and the mother of Carmen's stepsiblings, Paul and Krista.
- Paul Rodman is two years older than Carmen and has an alcoholic father. He attends the University of Pennsylvania, his father's alma mater. He is serious and quiet, although he does pledge a fraternity.
- Krista Rodman is Carmen's age. She and Carmen did not get along when they met last summer, but this summer Krista runs away to Bethesda in an effort to convince her mother that she wants to have her own identity.
[edit] In Alabama
- Greta Randolph is Bridget's grandmother who, like Bridget's mother, suffers from diabetes. Greta was cut off from Bridget because of her bad relationship with Bridget's father. Over the summer, Bridget takes the name Gilda Tomko to meet and work for Greta and glean information about her mother. Greta, who was never fooled by the alias, helps Bridget discover her mother's past.
- Billy Kline is Bridget's childhood friend, fellow soccer player, and summer romance. He used to be her best friend when she visited Alabama during summers when Marly was still alive.
[edit] External links
- Sisterhood Central from Random House
| Ann Brashares’s "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series | |
|---|---|
| 1: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants | |
| 2: The Second Summer of the Sisterhood | |
| 3: Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood | |
| 4: Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood | |
