Excerpt from The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Fine," Tibby said, glad to be huffy again.

Tibby pulled off her dilapidated brown cargo pants, revealing lavender cotton underwear. She turned her back to her friends for the sake of drama as she pulled on the pants. She zipped, buttoned, and turned around. "Ta-da!"

Lena studied her. "Wow."

"Tibs, you're such a babe," Bridget proclaimed.

Tibby tried not to let her smile get loose. She went over to the mirror and turned to the side. "You think they're good?"

"Are those really my pants?" Carmen asked.

Tibby had narrow hips and long legs for her small frame. The pants fell below her waist, hugging her hips intimately. They revealed a white strip of flat stomach, a nice inny belly button.

"You look like a girl," Bridget added.

Tibby didn't quarrel. She knew as well as anyone that she looked skinny and shapeless in the oversized pants she usually wore.

The pants bagged a little at her feet, but that worked for Tibby.

Suddenly Tibby looked unsure. "I don't know. Maybe somebody else should try them." Slowly she unbuttoned and unzipped.

"Tibby, you are crazy," Carmen said. "Those pants are in love with you. They want you for your body and your mind." She couldn't help seeing the pants in a completely new way.

Tibby threw them at Lena. "Here. You go."

"Why? They're meant to be yours, " Lena argued.

Tibby shrugged. "Just try them."

Carmen could see Lena glancing at the pants with a certain amount of interest. "Why not? Lena, try 'em."

Lena looked at the pants warily. She shed her own khakis and pulled them on. She made sure they were buttoned and sitting straight on her hips before she glanced in the mirror.

Bridget considered.

"Lenny, you make me sick," Tibby offered.

"Jesus, Lena," Carmen said. Sorry, Jesus, she added to herself reflexively.

"They're nice pants," Lena said reverently, almost whispering.

They were used to Lena, but Carmen knew that to the rest of the world she was fairly stunning. She had Mediterranean skin that tanned well, straight, shiny dark hair, and wide eyes roughly the color of celery. Her face was so lovely, so delicately structured, it kind of gave Carmen a stomachache. Carmen once confessed her worry to Tibby that some movie director was going to spot Lena and take her away, and Tibby admitted she had worried the exact same thing. Particularly beautiful people were like particularly funny-looking people, though. Once you knew them you mostly forgot about it.

The pants clung to Lena's waist and followed the line of her hips. They held close to the shape of her thighs and fell exactly to the tops of her feet. When she took two steps forward, they appeared to hug each of her muscles as they shifted and moved. Carmen gazed in wonder at how different was their effect from Lena's bland uniform of J. Crew khakis.

"Very sexy," Bridget said.

Lena snatched another peek at the mirror. She always held herself in a slightly awkward way, with her neck pushed forward, when she looked in a mirror. She winced. "I think maybe they're too tight," she said.

"Are you joking?" Tibby barked. "They are beautiful. They look a million times better than those lame-o pants you usually wear."

Lena turned to Tibby. "Was that a compliment somewhere in there?"

"Seriously, you have to have them," Tibby said. "They're like . . . transforming."

Lena fiddled with the waistband. She was never comfortable talking about the way she looked.

"You are always beautiful," Carmen added. "But Tibby's right . . .you look . . . just . . . different."

Lena slid the pants off her hips. "Bee has to try them."

"I do?"

"You do," Lena confirmed.

"She's too tall for them," Tibby said.

"Just try," Lena said.

"I don't need any more jeans," Bridget said. "I have, like, nine pairs."

Excerpted from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares Copyright 2001 by 17th Street Productions, an Alloy Online, Inc. company, and Ann Brashares.. Excerpted by permission of Delacorte Books for Young Readers, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.