Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien

1972 Newbery Winner

Mrs. Frisby the mouse is faced with a real dilemma. Her youngest son is sick with pneumonia and is too weak to move from the house. Yet Mrs. Frisby must find a way to move him, for very soon the farmer will plow up the field in which her family is living. Desperate for help, she visits the owl for advice. He tells her that there is just a chance that the rats might help her. Her deceased husband did them a service once.

Mrs. Frisby is quite surprised to hear this. What connection could her husband have had with rats? Nevertheless, she goes to visit the rats’ headquarters. And it is then that she hears a very surprising story, about her husband, and the rats of NIMH.

The biggest problem I had with this book was the balance between the stories of Mrs. Frisby’s dilemma with her son and the rats of NIMH. I wished the author had focused more on either one or the other of the stories, rather than balancing pretty much equally between the two. That part just didn’t work so swell for me.

However, the writing was good, and I wouldn’t be one to deny that this was a very exciting book. I wouldn’t hesitate to hand it over to a kid.

There were some unsatisfactory loose ends, but I understand that the author’s daughter, Jane Leslie Conly, wrote a sequel called Rasco and the Rats of NIMH. If someone was really dying to find out what happened, and wasn’t a real purist, that could be read in conjunction with this book.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

Mrs. Frisby’s son, Timothy, is ill and cannot be moved. But it is time for the family to move. It is time for farmers to start planting their crops and, to do so, they must first till up the land, including the spot where Mrs. Frisby’s house is located. Mrs. Frisby consults a wise owl who introduces her to a brilliant tribe of rats. The rats, Mrs. Frisby learns, are friends of her late husband. She hears their fascinating story and the rats are able to come up with a way to save Timothy and Mrs. Frisby’s home.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH- 1972

Mrs. Frisby was a mouse whose husband, Jonathan, was dead. And so, when she had a serious problem, she had no one to turn to for help. That is she had no one until a friendly crow took her to a wise old owl, a frightening creature for a mouse to visit. Then at the owl’s suggestion, she went to visit the rats who lived under the rosebush. This, too, was a daring undertaking. The rats were an odd and unknown lot. Everyone on Mr. Fitzgibbon’s farm knew the rats did strange things.

Yet nothing Mrs. Frisby had heard of the rats was as strange as the truths she discovered about them, and also about her dead husband. Neither these rats nor her husband were ordinary creatures. All had been imprisoned for several years in a laboratory known as NIMH, where various injections had made them wise, long-lived, and inventive. The rats were indeed able to help Mrs. Frisby. And she in turn rendered them a great service.

As to the end of the story: Mrs. Frisby had her problem solved. But the rats, well that’s something else again.

In 1972, a John Newbery Medal (prestigious award for children’s books) winner was chosen and it was Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH written by Robert C. O’Brien and illustrated by Zena Bernstein. I’ve never had an affinity for rats or mice (hamsters are another story) but O’Brien makes you look past the fact that you’re reading about some of the most hated and feared creatures on our planet. Maybe because they are anthropomorphized or maybe just because they are animals, either way, I still enjoyed the book and its amazing little characters.

This fabulous children’s book went on to be made into the animated feature The Secret of NIMH which; although a spectacular movie in its own right, only vaguely follows the basic storyline. For example: in the movie Jennar is an evil, conniving rat who doesn’t want to move to Thorn Valley but in the book he is Nicodemus’ childhood friend who refuses to move to Thorn Valley and sets off with his own followers. The reader never even meets him except through others memories.

~ After Mr. O’Brien died, his daughter Jane Leslie Conly continued the Rats of NIMH series with Rasco and the Rats of NIMH & R-T, Margaret, and the Rats of NIMH.

Articles on Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (including Robert O’ Brien’s Newbery acceptance speech)

Wikipedia Entry

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