3 Willows: the Sisterhood Grows

3 Willows: the Sisterhood Grows
By Ann Brashares
Delacorte Press, 2009. 318 pgs. Young Adult

Set in the same town as the original Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, this is the story of Ama, Polly, and Jo who have been friends since their parents all forgot to pick them up on the first day of third grade. The girls who were given willow trees to plant and study in class that day are compared throughout the book to the nature of this tree.

Just like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the story takes place during the summer. The girls have slowly been drifting apart over the last year, and this summer Ama and Jo will be out of town. The story rotates among the girls and their experiences. Ama, a city-girl, is mistakenly sent to an outdoor adventure camp. Jo is staying the entire summer at her family’s beach house and gets a job at a local restaurant where she kisses a boy before she even learns his name. Polly joins a modeling camp after she discovers that her grandmother, who she has never met, was once a model.

The good and the bad is that this novel is pretty much an exact copy of the Traveling Pants series, sans pants. It’s good if you enjoyed reading the series and want to relive it. It’s bad if you were hoping for something new and fresh from Brashares.

AJ