A Corner of the Universe (Scholastic Gold)

Ann M. Martin has written, to my knowledge, three books now involving autistic characters - a stand-alone novel in the 80s, that BSC book, and now this one.

I like to be complete, so I thought I'd check this one out and compare it against my memories of the others. This review WILL contain spoilers, I'm sorry, because there are a few issues I have with the book at the end.

First, you should note that Adam's characterization clearly reflects increased knowledge of autism. This is as it should be - the other two books are painfully outdated... but it wouldn't be fair to judge her for writing a book in the 80s that uses the knowledge we had in the 80s. Adam is never officially diagnosed, but it's fairly clear from the speculation ("some thought it was autism, some thought it was schizophrenia") and a few specific details of Adam's behavior (he engages in scripted speech, he has the savant skill of calendar counting, he is totally lacking in the social awareness that says do NOT stare at women's chests) that he's intended to be on the spectrum.

How accurate is this depiction? I don't know. I have a hard time believing that you COULD memorize many - much less all! - full episodes of I Love Lucy in the days before VCRs, but then, I didn't live in the 60s. The calendar counting did annoy me. Most autistics are not savants (and only about half of all savants are autistic - Kim Peek, the inspiration for Rain Man, was not autistic, for example).

I was happy to see that Adam is a real character. He has interests and feelings and a life. You get the feeling that he has some greater purpose than to simply provide character development for his niece. This is in contrast to disabled (particularly autistic) characters in many other books, who really are just there so the people they come in contact with can have a renewed appreciation for life or be kinder or I don't know what. Some commenters has mentioned that his behavior is "inconsistent" - he's "sometimes childish, and sometimes adult". This is accurate, though. Adults with developmental disabilities are still *adults*. They still have adult feelings, even if in some ways their understanding isn't up there.

Which brings me to another point, there are some mildly adult situations in this book. Adam stares at his crush's chest, and accidentally walks in on her with her boyfriend. It's not really that bad, but of course every family will have to make its own judgments about appropriateness.

And now we get to the end of the book, and the reason I gave it such a low rating. THIS IS WHERE THE REAL SPOILERS COME IN.

After seeing that he really doesn't have a chance with the pretty young woman who works at the bank (and after a trying few days where he had it made clear to him, again, that his family doesn't really want him to act the way he is), Adam goes and kills himself. And Hattie (who considers herself to be like her uncle in some way, although the reasons why are never given) thinks it over and calls this brave in her mind. Not the sort of braveness she'd like, but brave all the same.

It's not the suicide or the lackluster condemnation of the act that concerns me - actually, it's very clear that suicide has major repercussions for the people you leave behind.

It's the context. And this might be unfair, but I think the context is important. We're not living in a world where people love and accept the disabled. We're not living in a world where this is ONE voice about autism and suicide.

We are living in a world where prominent autism organizations can make videos where mothers say - in front of their verbal autistic children! - that the only thing that has stopped them from killing those same children and themselves is thinking of their *normal* child. And when called on it, these same organizations can then claim that every parent of an autistic child really wants them dead. (Alison Singer, in the short film Autism Every Day.) We are living in a world where parents who locked their autistic son in a room and set the house on fire aren't convicted of murder. (Christopher DeGroot.) We are living in a world where it is common for people who kill their autistic children, in fact, to be praised for their "courage" and their "love". We're living in a world where there are parents of autistic children who feel no compunction about saying that autism is worse than cancer because at least the children with cancer die. ([...] - actually, the autism - cancer comparison is all over the place, along with the autism - AIDS comparison and the autism - kidnapped children comparison. But at least most of these people don't go out and say that those other kids are lucky enough to die faster than the autistic kids!)

In short, we're living in a world where the lives of autistic individuals (and disabled individuals in general) are not considered as valuable as those of "normal" people.

The suicide in this book could have been handled differently. Our main character could have reasoned that if his family loved him they could have accepted him better instead of hiding him away - remember, she had only found out about him that summer! She could have suggested that if he wasn't so ostracized and patronized, he might never have taken that drastic step. In fact, there is a real suicide risk among autistics, similar to the recently publicized risk among gays.

Or, the "oh, it was brave not to want to live in this world he doesn't fit into" bit could have been made in isolation from a culture which says that all the time.

But it wasn't. Instead, you read the book and her thoughts, and it's hard not to hear it saying yet another variation of "those people are better off dead". This is a message that society does need to hear again. In particular, it's a message that autistic children do not need to hear again. Yes, I said autistic children. In this day and age, we have to accept that you can't assume the only people reading a book with an autistic character are NTs with no idea about autism. Many of them instead will be on the spectrum somewhere. Or they'll be siblings of autistic children - they don't need that message either.

I'm sure the underlying message was not Ann M. Martin's intent. However, unfortunately, intent isn't some magical glitter that removes all wrong. The message is there whether she intended it or not, and it's one that is actively harmful. "Their lives have less worth" is a contributing factor in the murder and suicide of autistics. I really can't advise this book for anybody, unfortunately.

I am giving this one star based on the audience it is marketed to. I don't know if this is the author's intention or the reviewers/amazon's decision. It is NOT recommended in my opinion, to anyone under the age of 12, but possibly older. Even at 12, it's not ok to think about suicide as a "decision that was brave," even if caveated as it was by Hattie. (In the book, she states that the decision took courage, even if it wasn't the type of courage she would have done." There is a lot of darkness in the book, other deaths discussed in passing, etc. There is also a scene where the young girl and her uncle walks in on a couple in a bedroom half dressed and discussion about his excitement in seeing her bare chest. While this book is well written, it should not be read by young readers. PARENTAL CAUTION!

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.

I read this book for the first time when I was in sixth grade. It was the very first book that I enjoyed reading. I've read it plenty of times since then and decided to order it so I can read it again and again! I'm 23 now and even though the font is big and the book is fairly simple to read, I still consider it my favorite book. I'm trying to find more adult versions of this kind of book, and just ordered The Girl With All the Gifts. This is still my favorite genre of fiction!

This book was one of the books in the list of highest reading group in my daughter's 3rd grade class and her friend recommended this book to her. I bought it online. After my daughter completed reading this book, I asked her to write a book report on it and she wasn't able to. So, I read the book and found it to be very inappropriate for kids in 3rd grade. I don't know what my daughter's friend understood about the book but I don't think she understood it at all.

If you ignore the storyline, the book is well written with many enigmatic references, making kids think beyond what is printed on the page. But the story line is very inappropriate for elementary school kids. It has sexual references and suicide in the main plot of the story.

One of the main characters of the story, Adam, is mentally ill and has a crush on a girl Angel. When he sees Angel with another man in her bed, he gets upset and hangs himself. To show that the girl has spent her night with her boyfriend, the author describes it as they are partly dressed. Her fingers are fumbling buttoning her blouse. She came to close the door with her unevenly buttoned blouse.

A 8/9 year old can't understand these references and it really confuses their young minds. [They may understand explicit sexual description but these references will confuse them.] In my opinion, this book should be recommended for high school students but the lexile level of this book might be too low for them.

I am going to send a note to my daughter's teacher to remove it from the recommended books. I will appreciate if the publishers change the intended audience age.

Update: I just checked the scholastic website for this book and the recommended age is 11,12,13 and Interested level is Grades 6-8. I still think it should be a PG-13 book but at least there it says it is not for grades 3-5. Amazon should update their product description too.

I loved this book. For an adult it is a 5-star book. But this book was marketed for youth aged 12 and up, and there is such a heart-wrenching event at the end of the book that I could not recommend a child to read it.

Hattie lives in a small town where live goes on in predictable patterns every day -- until her uncle arrives. No one has ever talked about Adam, who is now in his 20s. He has been kept in an institution because of his bizarre behavior, and Hattie finds herself alternately amused and alarmed by Adam's words and actions.

The author helps us feel compassion and kindness towards Adam, so when Adam's heart is broken, and (Warning: spoiler ahead!) he kills himself, our hearts break along with Hattie's. In the end, this is not a book for children. It certainly could have been. The sex scene that Adam witnessed, and the manner of his death could have been changed or muffled. But there is a strength in the book as it stands. The shocking end has power, increasing our compassion for the man who didn't understand his world. I suggest instead that the age recommendation for this book be raised to 15.

It is irresponsible for the author and the publisher to not mention the mature content of the ending in every description of the book. My daughter has read other books by Martin and when I read the synopsis it seemed to be very much in a similar vein. Her other books have dealt with the emotional loss of loved ones and social concerns of tweens. My daughter, who is an avid reader, was shocked the by the suicide--as was I! An inconceivable omission of information!

This book holds a very special place in my heart. It should hold a special place in yours once you are done reading it. The characters were so well rounded that I did not want the book to end. I highly recommend this book. It is so touching and well written. I continue to think about this book and it has been weeks since I have read it. That is a true sign of a classic piece of writing! Absolutely touching to the heart and to the soul!

Set in the small town of Millerton in the 1950s, Ann M. Martin's A Corner of the Universe focuses on mental illness and family secrets as seen through the eyes of eleven-going-on-twelve Hattie Owen.

At the beginning, Hattie looks forward to a typical summer of reading, taking walks, and helping take care of the boarders living in her parents' home. Instead, she learns that her family-parents and maternal grandparents-have been harboring a secret embodied in the mentally Adam, who returns home from a mental hospital.

Hattie immediately takes to her child-like uncle, but is amazed that the family never mentioned Adam, and is even disturbed by the way her grandparents treat him. Adam's behavior-even his existence-immediately upsets the delicate balance of the universe Hattie's grandmother Nana has worked so hard to create. Most of the conflicts in the novel arise from Adam's conduct in contradiction to the rules prescribed by Nana.

Soon Hattie comes to realize that everything she thought she knew about herself, her family, and the Millerton itself is wrong-or at least grossly inaccurate. Her feelings of confusion soon turn to anger, and Hattie too finds herself at odds with her family.

Following Adam's sudden suicide and funeral-and a great deal of other changes in her life-Hattie begins to come to grips with the lessons learned from the brief time she had with her uncle, especially about lifting up the corners of the universe and poking around to see what's under there.

This novel does a pretty good job of capturing the sudden feelings of isolation and disconnection in early teens regarding friends and family. It would also make a good early connection for later novels which deal with mental illness or with characters who create trouble because they are different and/or misunderstood in some way. (I am thinking in particular of the book Of Mice and Men; A Corner of the Universe even has a character named "Cookie"!).

A Corner of the Universe, by Ann. M Martin addresses a young man named Adam. The story is based off of the point of view of Hattie, a twelve year old. Hattie lives in a boarding house owned by her parents. It is the summer of her 12th birthday that Hattie meets her uncle Adam, who is her mother's brother, for the first time. Adam is twenty-one years old and has an intellectual disability. An important part in the story happens when Hattie and a friend takes Adam to the carnival and allow him to ride the Ferris wheel. Their cart gets stuck at the top and Adam becomes unmanageable. He loses control and almost plunges from the cart. This is the first outbreak by Adam in the story. Adam is normal in appearance. However, he gets very excited about things and always seems to be in a higher gear. Hattie really likes Adam. She enjoys being around him and he becomes one of her best friends. She often keeps an eye on him. She also sticks up for Adam when others make fun of him. Nancy and Janet, two girls that live down the street from Hattie, make fun of Adam as they walk by. They are both surprised when Hattie yells at them because Hattie is normally extremely shy.
This book is appropriate for the middle school grade level. It is a chapter book and is not difficult to read for this grade level. However, I think anyone who has to chance to read this book should read it. It has great themes in it. This book gives an inside look into a girl's life that sees greatness in a person with a disability. It provides examples of the way Adam acted. The book quoted Adam often so that the reader can have a feel for what Adam's disability was like. Hattie thought he was an enjoyable person to be around and she learned an important lesson from him. When Adam said to "lift a corner of the universe", it means to chance what is handed to you, lift up the corners, and find what is underneath.
I would use this book in my classroom as a way of showing students that even students with a disability can teach us lessons. Students can also learn from this book that it is okay to stick up for someone with a disability. This book provides great examples of showing students how a person with an intellectual may talk differently. It is also important to know that not everyone with an intellectual disability looks different from other people. The Ferris wheel scene is a great example for showing students how someone with this kind of disability can get out of hand. It showed how a twelve year old, a middle school grade level student, could include a person with a mental disability into society.