A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin is a wonderful book. This book takes place in the 1960’s in a little town called Millerton. In this town everyone knows everyone and their business. The main character, Hattie, is a 12 year-old girl whose family runs a boarding house. She is an only child, has exactly one friend, and is very shy. Her summer usually consists of going to the library, painting with her father, watching movies, and going to little shops downtown. However, the summer of 1960 is not Hattie's typical summer.
One sunny day Hattie’s grandma comes over. Hattie’s grandma is not the usual sweet grandma. In fact, Hattie hates her. Hattie’s grandma, or nana as she calls her, is very very proper. She wants Hattie to wear dresses and white gloves and act like a young lady. Which Hattie absolutely hates. Nana wants the perfect family. Because of this, Hattie is shocked to find out that she actually has two uncles, instead of one like she always thought. Her other uncle has been living at a “special” school for mentally disabled people. However it was closing down, so he would be coming to live with Nana for a while until they could locate another school for him to go live. Hattie finds out that her Uncle Allen is mentally challenged, but her family doesn't know exactly what is wrong with him. The doctors thought that he was schizophrenic or autistic. However, they were never 100% satisfied with these answers. All they know for sure is that Allen is coming to live with Nana for a while and that he will need special attention. Hattie is estatic to find out that she has another uncle and that he would be living near by. However, Hattie has no idea what is headed her way.
Allen is a twenty-two year old man who acts like a child. He loves "I Love Lucy" and quotes it all the time. He talks so fast that Hattie and others can barely understand him. However Hattie loves him. Allen comes over to Hattie's house often and they sit on the porch and visit. Hattie realizes that even though Allen has some problems, he understands everything and is a normal person that lives life to the fullest. Hattie thinks he is amazing and can't see why he has to go away to school.

Midsummer the carnival comes to town. Hattie and her mom and dad visit the carnival and Hattie immediately loves it. She visits the carnival every day and eventually meets Leila. Leila is niece of the owner of the carivial. Her whole family works there and runs it. Hattie and Leila have many adventures riding all of the rides and eating all the food at the carvial. Hattie tells Leila about Allen and arranges to bring him to the carnival. Hattie takes Allen and he loves it. Allen never rides the rides, but loves to watch Hattie and Leila ride them.

One day Hattie, Allen, and Leila are all at the carnival, and out of the blue Allen decides to ride a ride. Hattie doesn't think anything of it and they go on the Ferris wheel. At the very top, the wheel gets stuck. Finally Hattie experiences one of Allens freak-outs. He turns into a different person at the top of the wheel. He starts screaming, kicking, and trying to climb out of the Ferris wheel seat. Hattie gets worried. Finally the wheel gets fixed and Hattie's family takes Allen to the hospital to take care of him.

This book is amazing. It teaches us that we need to respect others that have mental problems and realize that they are people just like us. Often people like Allen are able to "lift the corners of the universe" and make our lives better. This book was so good. It really taught me alot and I would definitely suggest reading it!