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| Powerful, Educational, Emotional, Inspiring, Heartwarming |
Book: A Corner of the Universe
by: Ann M. Martin, 2002
Hi
everyone, sorry it's taken so long for me to get this post up, I've been so
focused on actually reading books that I haven't taken the time to actually
post about them so there will likely be a few posts in the coming week as I
catch my blogs up with my reading and I plan to give reflections on each of my
readings from here on out.
The second book I read won the 2003 Newbery Honor Book Award for it's heartening portrayal of a 12 year old girl whose mentally ill uncle shows her the power to lift the corners of the universe. The book reminded me a lot of the movie "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" with the main character faced with the challenge of being a friend to their relative whose mentally ill and who the town sees as both a freak and a joke. The book did a really great job of setting the scene for the entrance of Adam and making the reader cherish the fragile moments where everything went right and get yanked in whenever Adam cracked. It felt like a flow of ups and downs and centered the piece well around the carnival, and the Ferris Wheel. I won't say too much more for fear of spoilers but I can very easily see why this book won the Newbery Honor award and I truly feel it's a great way to help children understand the challenges people who are mentally ill face every day, and the reason they just can't live a normal life.
Before the Reading
- Ask the students the following question, "would you lock something up if it meant it would stay safe" and have them write their response on a piece of paper that gets sealed in an envelope with their name on it. This will draw their interest into the book and will give them something to think about during the reading of the book that will call on their use of inferential comprehension
During the Reading:
- Have the students working in small groups of 3-4 people and every day when they get together give each group an envelope that they can open from Betsy (the main characters friend she sends letters to all summer) inside are 4 different questions Betsy has about what's happening to Hattie and how her summer is going (the questions will ask the group to tell Betsy what happened in the reading they did for Homework). Have the students write a letter that answer's all of Betsy's questions and that has one question of their own that the teacher can answer for Betsy in the next letter. This will encourage the students to use their direct and indirect comprehension while giving them the freedom of choice in how they answer the questions (if they work together one by one or split it up among the four of them and combining their work onto one paper) and in making their own question for the teacher each time.
After the Reading:
- Once they finish the reading have the students open the original envelope they made before they stated reading the book and have them read it over knowing what they now know about Hattie and Adam. Ask the students to now talk in the group about their opinions and to come up with a group decision for the question, "would you lock something up if it meant it would stay safe." Once all the groups have an answer have them say to the class what their opinion was and defend it in a class discussion. Make sure to emphasize that they me words like "I agree with..." "I respectively disagree with..." and "can you explain what you mean by...".
Great Electronic Resources:
-a discussion guide for the book with a list of questions about character, setting, and theme, and even with a list of similar books the children can read.
-The author's website, a great place for the students to learn more about the author as well as to find more books by her if they really enjoy the book.
Words you may need to define for the class or go over with the class:
- rational - what makes sense to do, logical
- scandalous - something that is disgraceful and causes a lot of outrage
- mentally ill - not able to function normal in society, the person has a variety of problems in their head that result in them acting weird and that they have very little control over.
- boardinghouse - a house that people can pay to stay in and be fed
- cotillion - a social dance
- brood - to think deeply on something negative
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