help id-ing older sci fi novel about supercooling and multiple universes

[Morgan]

Hi there! I'm trying to remember the title of a sci-fi novel I read in middle school. It's definitely at least 20 years old, probably much more. I thought the title was something like "The Universe Around the Corner," but I'm not finding anything. The premise is that scientists have been able to supercool some substance to almost absolute zero, and they start observing some really strange properties in the substance - I think the substance starts to glow. And then somehow this leads the protagonist to being able to sort of 'turn the corner' into another universe with extra spatial dimensions. It has inhabitants that are friendly, I think. *Maybe* the cover tried to portray the extra spatial dimensions - like a normal scene that someone had cut up and rearranged. Thanks for your help!

[Mark]

This is probably wrong, but it isn't The Gods Themselves? There are some similarities ...

[Morgan]

No, but thanks for the suggestion! I think it was quite a small book, and pretty kid-friendly.