Identify that children's book: about an agoraphobic mom?

August 2, 2013 8:41 AM

I read a book as a kid, some time in the 90s. Not sure when the book was published but it was for a pre-teen/young adolescent audience. It was a chapter book, but a light read; I think it was about a young girl who lives in New York, and has a mother who never leaves their home (possibly the mom is obese, but she is also happy to never leave the apartment). I think she also has a crush on an older boy from her neighbourhood, and at some point, they work together to sort of try to help her mother? Thinking back it seems like kind of a weird book for a kid, so I might be getting it all wrong or remembering it completely wrong.
posted by spicytunaroll to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

Probably not, but is there any chance you're remembering bits of a book and bits of the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape and they're getting conflated in your head? (I've done that a few times, it's confounding.)
posted by phunniemee at 8:56 AM on August 2, 2013

Best answer: The Law of Gravity. I can't find a link to it, which is weird, but basically it revolves around a daughter who is trying to convince her Mom, who has not left their top floor apartment in something like a year, to leave the house.

When I google for this, I come up with the Laws of Gravity, not the same book at all.
posted by instead of three wishes at 9:10 AM on August 2, 2013

Best answer: The Law of Gravity by Johanna Hurwitz.
posted by instead of three wishes at 9:11 AM on August 2, 2013

Response by poster: Yes, that's it! Thank you!!! I remembered the part about NYC, and the walk-up, and even it being a summer project for the two of them. Did you just Google that?

Interesting- published in 1978.
posted by spicytunaroll at 9:18 AM on August 2, 2013

No, I actually read it, once upon a time, probably when it came out in 1978, because the library didn't even hold enough books for me back then, and they only let you take out 10 books a day, which was bullshit from my point of view.

I remembered the title, just not the author.
posted by instead of three wishes at 9:21 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

It was also at one time published under the title What Goes Up Must Come Down.
posted by jeudi at 10:02 AM on August 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

Jeudi - yes! I loved that book, and got it out of the library multiple times when I was a kid. I recognized the description immediately. In Australia, it was definitely published under the title What Goes Up Must Come Down.
posted by Salamander at 3:07 AM on August 3, 2013