Tibby, Lena, Carmen and Bridget have been friends forever. Their mothers were before them, even if they are currently less close, but they all gave birth in the same period, between the end of August and the beginning of September, thus sharing many experiences. The daughters, now teenagers, have spent a lot of time together so far and are inseparable. They have also always spent holidays together and this is the first year that they are separated: Lena goes to her grandparents in Greece, Bridget has enrolled in a football course in Baja California, Carmen spends the summer with her father, while Tibby is the only one who stays home alone. Until a moment before parting, still sharing thoughts and promises, the four meet at Carmen’s house for the final recommendations to tell each other everything that will happen to each of her on holiday. It is Tibby who suddenly discovers a pair of jeans that Carmen bought in a thrift store on the far outskirts of Georgetown, while out with Lena, her younger sister, Effie and her mother. Indeed, Carmen buys the jeans precisely to spite Lena’s mother who hates second-hand shops, thinking that they sell dirty and ragged clothes. And suddenly these jeans, found by Tibby under a pile of clothes, become highly coveted. The young girl loves them and wants to try them. Indeed, in reality they all try them on, discovering that, despite having completely different physiques, the trousers fit all of them, as if they were magical. Or maybe yes? This is what the young friends who decide to wear them all this summer think. So, they promise to write to each other and also establish the shifts, sending them to their respective holiday locations…
This is the story of a pair of jeans and four friends who willingly exchange them for the most important moments, linked to a decalogue that ended with the comparison “Pants = Love” for themselves and for others. And not just for one summer! Jeans become a symbol, a lucky charm, they are companions in their adventures, in their first relationships with boys, in fights, in the first important events to face even if they are still very young. And so also for the following years. Ann Brashares’ latest release, in fact, brings together all four novels born around the same story and therefore Four friends and a pair of jeans, The second summer, Forever in blue And The time of choices. The four friends, Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bridget are growing up year after year, they always have new and different experiences, but they never stop their rituals which consist of taking out the pair of jeans at the end of school, deciding the shifts and send them to each other, so that all four can wear them within the same summer, possibly at special moments, until then putting them back in Carmen’s wardrobe the following autumn. And after four years, now all at university with different fields of study, they continue to believe that they are magical enough to bring luck to their lives. For all four books the triumph of friendship continues, the real one, without reservations, with jeans which are considered magical, but also a way to always feel close, so much so that one of the rules says to never wash them. Beyond this, they are experiences that make you think and that are told in a light-hearted and sometimes funny way. Reading the books one by one, you have the impression of being faced with the modern version of Little Women. Of course times are different and experiences are different, there is another type of freedom, there are studies, summer camps, courses, travel, but the sensations, emotions, feelings of adolescents are the same, from the discovery of love when losing someone very dear, from feeling imperfect, unsuitable, too shy, to being reckless, courageous, capable of facing any situation. At least in words. There are all the experiences that a contemporary girl can live, there is even the envy of her peers, never feeling enough, the fear of being waiting after the first time you made love and the condom is is broken. Perhaps it is precisely because of this truthfulness that the books were highly appreciated in the USA and in 2005, some time after the release of the first novel in the series, the director Ken Kwapis made a film out of them, while the prestigious magazine “Time” placed among the hundred best books for young adults of all time.
