Summer is arguably the best time of the year.  There are no teachers or homework assignments (except for lousy summer reading) no early mornings, and no crazy schedules.  In place of all of these school related topics is the promise of adventure, friendship, and fun.  The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants encompasses the true meaning of summer adventures.  The reader is whisked into four best friends’ lives during their first summer apart.

Hot headed Carmen is on a trip to visit her father in South Carolina.  Upon her arrival she is faced with a surprise she definitely was not ready for.

Bold Bridget is on her way to a soccer camp in Baja California, New Mexico.  She manages to fall for an off limits coach and seems to lose herself in the process.

Shy Lena is flying to Oia, Greece with her sister to stay with her grandparents.  Lena undergoes humiliation followed by love.

Rebellious Tibby is left at home.  Even if she is only working a painfully boring job at a grocery store the people she meets manage to change her life forever.

And who can forget about the Traveling Pants?  These pair of consignment shop jeans are considered magic by the four friends, somehow they all fit the pair of worn pants, defying all laws of fabric.  They are dubbed the Traveling Pants and are mailed to the girls throughout the summer so that they are always together.

The Sisterhood is a heartwarming story about four girls tied together by their strong friendship.  A bit of unrealistic, spur of the moment traveling occurs throughout the girls’ summers, this tends to spark a bit of jealousy and comparison to your own low-key summer (well at least compared to my summer!).

The writing style is very easy to read and the story is down-to-Earth.  I consider it more of a girly book, covering common teenage problems, yet still managing to work in life lessons without being too in your face about the morals.  The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a great book to kick start your summer vacation.

Spanning hardly more than one-hundred pages, I had little hope for “We the Animals” by Justin Torres, for surely how much power may be inscribed upon such a limited number of pages? And yet, as I stood in the comfort of the library holding this thin book between my hands, its glossy cover so smooth and inviting at the very touch, I could not bear to depart. Rather, I placed it atop my ever-increasing pile of novels and scurried home to begin my reading.

And in doing so, “We the Animals” somehow reaching the first of my to-be-read list, I have come to discover the quiet brilliance of its story. It tells the tale of three brothers, growing up in a race of their own, for so young they have learned that they may not depend on any but themselves. So young these boys realize the danger of their parents’ relationship—a mother so frail, so fragile, so easily broken, hopelessly intertwined with a father so brutal, so unforgiving, so quick to break another. The brothers are defenseless in watching the hurt he inflicts upon his wife, of the burdens he carelessly tosses upon her back.

And in growing, the brothers’ bond begins to loosen as they become more exposed to the ways of their father, of the ways of the world around them. And in the three, each individual brother struggles with the rut of a broken home—of repeating the mistakes of their parents, in essence becoming them.

In seeing the thinness of this book, I knew I would find disappointment. Yet, this disappointment was not in the content but rather in the length itself. As the end drew nearer, I found myself reading slower and slower, wishing for anything but that final page. I found myself so wishing to be proven that a mold may not always fit, a cycle may not always repeat.

Despite its small size, “We the Animals” delivers a larger than life burst of power. It does tug but tear at the walls of your heart, holding you captive until the very end. In reading Justin Torres’ “We the Animals,” you will find a brilliance that promises never to dull. Undoubtedly, the book’s only disappointment is that it too soon comes to an end.