A Corner of the Universe (Scholastic Gold)

by Ann M. Martin

Book Overview

Ann Martin's phenomenal Newbery Honor book, now in paperback.

The summer Hattie turns 12, her predictable small-town life is turned on end when her uncle Adam returns home for the first time in over 10 years. Hattie has never met him, never known about him. He's been institutionalized; his condition involves schizophrenia and autism.

Hattie, a shy girl who prefers the company of adults, takes immediately to her excitable uncle,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1546146857
• ISBN13: 9781546146858
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
• Length: 224 Pages
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

A must read!

This book is so touching. It grabs you from the start & keeps you wondering what’s next right up to the very end. One of my top 20 favorites. My daughter (11) and I have both read it twice.

BEST BOOK

my friends and i agree that this book rocks!! we all agree that this book is very fun to read and can not be put down easy. this book does not drag on and does not hve to much or to little detail. READ THIS BOOK!!!

Descriptive story with great characters

I give this book a great review because the author does a great job describing the setting and characters so it makes the reader feel as if they are a part of the story. I would recommend this book because the author makes you want to keep reading because of all the suspensful events. I thought the relationship between Adam and Hattie was very heart-warming because they shared secrets and enjoyed each other for the people that they were. I also liked it when Hattie learned to make new friends by the end of the story.

A Heart Tearing Story and A Life Long Lesson For All

In the Newbery Honor Novel, A Corner of the Universe, by Ann M. Martin, a heart tearing story comes to life. The novel starts off in October with Hattie, a twelve year old girl looking at home movies taken over the place of the last summer. From the movies, the Author takes us into Hattie's life at the begging of the summer, in the form of a flash back. Hattie is a girl that likes things the familiar way and doesn't want or like change. She doesn't want to think of the big unpredictable world out there, she likes things better in the protection of the families boarding house and its familiar routines. She likes the summer they way it is. Because of that, she was caught off guard when she was told her uncle, that no one has talked about or even told her about, is coming home because his "school" (an institution for mentally disabled) has shut down. Hattie's family must learn to cope with a 21 year old man, coming into their lives, which they have tried to forget about for many years. Her uncle, named Adam, is a guy who has a rollercoaster of moods, child like behavior, and is very unpredictable. What Hattie doesn't know, is that this uncle of hers has the power in him to change the way she looks and accepts life. During the summer, Ann M. Martin takes you on a journey of friendship, trial, and heartache. At the end of this book I was crying, it touched me in a way I never expected it to. We should all learn from Adam and live our lives the way he did by lifting the corners of our universe. Although Adam had a hard life, he was called a Freak, laughed at, had a lot of things he couldn't understand, and would never have the chance to live a normal life. But he learned to change what life has handed to him, to poke around a little, lift the corners, seeing what is underneath, poking that. Sometimes things would work out for him, sometimes they didn't, but he was always exploring. Life is more interesting and fun that way. We should all learn to live our lives like Adam. I think that everyone who reads this book will finish looking at life in a different perspective, live life to its fullest, and not take little things for granted.

5 tissues for 5 stars

The summer when 12 year old Hattie Owen first meets her uncle, Adam, he seems a little unusual. Not the quiet freaky unusual, but he's always happy and cheerful. Reciting lines from "I Love Lucy", speaking a mile every second, and constantly saying "Oh, ho ho ho!" Hattie thinks he's great and feels like she's made a new friend. The rest of the town, however, doesn't seem to think so. Adam, who is 21, seems to have a mind of a 6 year old although he can read and speak just fine. Hattie's grandparents are embarrassed of Adam and think he's a circus trick. One of the morals in this book is that you should never be embarrassed of what your child can or cannot do, which is a lesson that Hattie's grandparents eventually learn. Hattie doesn't understand why people stare at Adam, call him names, and hate him when they haven't even gotten to know him. Most of all, she doesn't understand why she has never heard of Adam for the last 12 years. She constantly asks herself: Why is her family hiding Adam from the town and their lives? What is there to hide? A Corner of the Universe, by Ann M. Martin is about prejudice that is put towards the mentally disabled, and how discriminating against others just because they're different can lead to unfortunate consequences. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever felt like they were superior to someone else or anyone who has been a victim of that. This book is also about Hattie and her family's dark secret. It is that very secret that changes Hattie's life forever and allows her to lift her own corner of the universe. I think anyone who doesn't give this book 5 stars obviously hasn't figured that out.

This book changes your universe...

Hattie lives in a typical small town in the 1950s and 60s United States--everyone knows all the gossip by sundown. And when Hattie's unknown Uncle Adam comes to stay for a while, the news spreads quickly, as usual. Adam is different--they aren't sure what is wrong with him, other than he has a mental disability. Hattie finds she really likes her young uncle (he's 21, she's 12), and wishes she could help him more. Ann M. Martin has created a realistic world in this book. Throughout, Hattie goes through a range of emotions when dealing with her family. The reader is able to understand where Hattie is coming from, and why she acts and reacts the way she does. Martin also captures history in this book--from the carnival, to the grandparents' idea of what is proper, to the everyday activities of Hattie's life--without making the reader feeling disconnected. Martin also manages to convey that families should talk about issues, instead of ignoring them, without sounding preachy. Overall, this book will move you, if you let it.