All Alone in the Universe [Hardcover]

Lynne Rae Perkins (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up

"Before last summer Maureen and I were best friends....At least I think we were. I don't know what happened exactly. As some people who get hit by trucks sometimes say,'I didn't see anything coming.'"

When her best friend since the third grade starts acting as though Debbie doesn't exist, Debbie finds out the hard way that life can be a lonesome place. But in the end the heroine of this wryly funny coming-of-age story--a girl who lives in a house covered with stuff that is supposed to look like bricks but is just a fake brick pattern--discovers that even the hourly tragedies of junior high school can have silver linings, just as a house covered with Insul-Brick can protect a real home. This first novel shines--fun, engrossing, bittersweet, and wonderfully unpredictable.01-02 Young Hoosier Book Award Masterlist (Gr 6-8)
01-02 William Allen White Children's Book Award Masterlist
00-01 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Bk Award Masterlist
2000 Notable Children's Books (ALA)
00 Riverbank Review Magazine's Children's Books of Distinction Award Nominations

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Perkins's (Home Lovely) first novel is a lively coming-of-age story filled with touching moments. The penciled illustrations, scribbled in between the narrative, resemble classic doodles of the junior high English notebook variety, and give 13-year-old narrator Debbie immediate credibility. The book chronicles eight months from the time when Debbie's best friend since third grade, Maureen, starts spending all her time with another classmate, Glenna. Debbie is devastated by the loss ("I felt off-balance, as if someone kept borrowing my right foot for a few minutes"). But as she gets to know a neglected neighbor girl, she realizes how many people love her: her parents, teachers and eventually, a few new friends. And she learns that as a person who is cared for, she must watch out for others who are not so fortunate. While there's not a lot of plot here, it's Debbie's fresh voice, perceptive observations and occasionally mean-spirited asides that will win readers over. Recalling Glenna's hold on Maureen, for instance, Debbie says, "I guess I hoped that she would evaporate.... But she seems to have congealed, like cold gravy and then cement." Readers will be caught up in Debbie's thoughts from the first page and cheer her hard-won breakthroughs. Ages 10-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Grade 5-8-Debbie and Maureen are in middle school; they've been best friends since third grade. At least they were until Glenna Flaiber arrives on the scene and becomes a major threat to their relationship. Debbie is comfortable being "Frick and Frack," as her father calls them, and becoming like the Three Musketeers is not appealing to her. When Maureen and Glenna vacation together and begin to share secrets that exclude her, Debbie begins to feel "all alone in the universe." In truth, Maureen likes both girls, but Glenna's constant presence is hard for the jealous friend to take and Debbie is gradually pushed out of the picture. With the help of a caring teacher and some new adult friends, she realizes that Maureen, not Glenna, is ultimately responsible for ending their friendship, and that's what hurts the most. Debbie is gently guided along to reach out to some new girls, and finds that she can be friends with many different types of people. The ending is realistic. There are no magical solutions or potions that bring the former friends back together. As in real life, growth occurs, relationships change, and the girls move on. A poignant story written with sensitivity and tenderness.
Roxanne Burg, Thousand Oaks Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (October 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688168817
• ISBN-13: 978-0688168810
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,436,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A heartbreakingly funny, moving, beautifully written book, November 19, 1999

By 

Michael Stearns - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Alone in the Universe (Hardcover)

There's not a whole lot that happens in this book--it's basically an account of how one girl gets dumped by her best friend and then gets over the heartbreak of being cast aside.

But the book is an amazing little gem, both funny and sad and full of casual profound moments that the narrator comes upon in really natural ways. The prose is sharp and funny and nicely complemented by the author's hilarious pictures.

The best compliment I can pay to the work is to say that I wish I'd read this book when *I* was thirteen and coping with the painful fact that my best friend and I had grown apart. It would have made a world of difference to me. A great book. Enough said.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A surprising find, April 27, 2001

By 

Ivy (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Alone in the Universe (Hardcover)

All Alone in the Universe is for anyone who remembers middle school as torture, often at the hands of peers. It's also for people living through middle school right now. (To whom I say: survive. Things will get better.)

The basic story line isn't much. Debbie and Maureen have been best friends since third grade, and now Maureen is moving on, leaving Debbie behind - and alone. Debbie records this with a great deal of insight and wisdom, and almost painful honesty. She also throws in nifty illustrations and a lot of small vignettes, some of which are very funny, all of which demonstrate the way people, sometimes strangers, can change your life.

Debbie is helped through her crisis by lots of unexpected people - a gardener and his employer, her English teacher, a girl her own age even more outcast than herself - and learns that some small acts of kindness can have an effect out of proportion to the effort required to make them. The message is twofold: you can live through change and loss. And we can all help others sometimes - and we all need help sometimes.

This is a small book with surprising depth. Buy it for the middle-schooler in your life, but be sure to read it for yourself, too.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All Alone in the Universe, April 29, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: All Alone in the Universe (Paperback)

All Alone in the Universe was a book almost everyone could relate to because it could really happen. It is a realistic fiction story about a girl who loses her best friend to another best. When Debbie, the friendless girl, is left in the dust, she realizes how lucky she was to have friends. It is about how she has to start over and finds out ther ARE other peole who care about her. While she is going through this, Debbie feel all alone in the universe, hence the title. I would recommend this book to kids who are having troubles. It really helps people realize how lucky they really are and realize that it isn't the end of the world have an obstacle gets in the way. It shows how to overcome that obstacle, even if it's not easy. It was a good book and once I started I couldn't stop. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, because it was an easy read. To find out the end of this book, read it for yourself.