Here we have the next young adult book written by Ann Brashares, coming in right on the tail end of the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” timeline. “3 Willows” follows Ama, Jo, and Polly, who are about to start high school together and used to be besties but aren’t really close anymore. They have separate lives now, but they still creep into each others’ stories.
Ama is going on some kind of wilderness high for high school credit, and she hates it. Jo is staying at the beach, working as a bus girl at a restaurant where she has some boy drama. And Polly is obsessed with losing weight and going to modeling camp.
The name of the book comes from three tiny willow trees that the girls had to take care of when they were in third grade. They met each other the day the trees were handed out as part of a science project. Once the year was over, they planted the trees together in the woods. They used to visit them everyday and take care of them, but at this point they haven’t been there in about two years.
Throughout the book, they realize that the friendships they had with each other were true and that their new friends kinda suck.
The original sisterhood is actually mentioned somewhat frequently in the book. Their story is described and the new characters tell how many friend groups tried to recreate the famed *Traveling Pants.* The characters themselves show up too. Jo went to the soccer camp that Bridget was a counselor at, Polly babysits for Tibby’s mom, Polly knows Tibby’s boyfriend, Jo works with Lena’s sister and meets Lena on the fly. Ama doesn’t get any of those connections though. Probably for the best. It wouldn’t be as good if they were thrown in too much.
I think this book was supposed to be the first in a new series, but as far as I know it doesn’t have a sequel. Part of the title of the book is something like “The New Sisterhood: Book 1,” which would imply that there should at least be a book 2 but so far there is nothing. Maybe Ann Brashares is saving it to surprise us one day.
We’ll see,
Maegan
