The Law of Gravity

by Johanna Hurwitz

Margot's determination to get her obese mother to leave their fifth-floor walk-up takes her into emotionally deep waters.

Margot is expecting a boring, shut-in summer. Instead, her new friend Bernie shows her one wonderful face of New York City after another while they plot out Margot's ambitious summer project--to entice her mother out of their apartment for the first time in nine years.

(Originally written in 1978 as the Law of Gravity)

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Young Adult

96 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1978

About the author

Johanna Hurwitz is an American author of more than sixty children's books. She has sold millions of books in many different languages.

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eleven-year-old Margot is disappointed that she's not doing anything exciting for the summer before sixth grade. Her father is a flutist on tour, and her mother has not left their fifth-floor walk-up apartment since they moved in nine years before. (Except to tend her awesome rooftop garden.)

She decides her project will be to get her mother to come down. She meets a boy called Bernie who teaches her to ride a bike and discover all sorts of things about NYC.

This one gets points from me for referencing Dickens, Newton, Ms. Magazine, and From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Also for coming to the conclusion that we need to accept people and support them if/when they decide to change.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the hell out of this book when I was a kid. I couldn't tell you why now, but yeah.

[Beki Eikum · Rating 4 out of 5]

First edition of this book was written in the 80s, but this one has updated sections too, so there's a quirky and fun blend of pop cultures in it. The illustrations feel vintage but then Margot and her friend correspond through text message.

Light, playful, middle grade story of an 11-year-old girl who lives in NYC. I need to read something like this every once in a while just to remind me why I fell in love with reading in elementary school. You get to live in someone else's world for a while.

[stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting story about someone with social anxiety/agoraphobia. but the fact that it wasn't really looked into, or explained in more than a few sentences, kind of ticked me off.

i did like bernie a lot though. and new york. and the idea that in this city, you can spend an entire summer going to new places and seeing new things and being a new person. i love my city!!