brilliant saga of educated rats

Such a sweet and easy read!

I thought this was the best book about rats and mice I have ever read!!! It was fun and the story line was great. I kind of feel bad for them now.... (not that bad where I want to save them or have one as a pet) Great characters and a mommy mouse that loves her family so much she will put her life in jeopardy to save them. Feel good book full of imagination.

I think it was my second-grade teacher who read this to us in class, like a chapter a day, or something.
I was so into this book, I made my mom take me to the library where I checked it out so I could read ahead to find out what was coming. But I didn't want the entire thing spoiled, so I only read a chapter ahead.
In fifth grade, this was available through RIF and I remember seeing the copy on the folding table among all the many other free books. I snatched it up so fast, grabbing up from under my taller classmates, swiping like Swiper has never swiped. It was the movie edition which means it was the same story but with pictures from the Don Bluth film adaptation in middle. I adored that movie ("A sparkly!"), my family and I had seen it at the Drive-In and have been quoting it ever since.
I loved this book as it was read and as I read ahead. I loved it when I got it from the RIF table. I loved it every time I read it. It's deeper and more nuanced than the animated film, of course. Scarier, too. It's a wonderful story with some science, some mystery, and a lot of bravery.

I never read this book as a kid. I think it's brilliant. Lab rats break free of their cages, hide out in a place where they can work collectively to gather all the knowledge and tools they'll need to start a new, free society, then go off to build that society -- all while practicing solidarity with other creatures. What's not to love?! It reminded me of this thing Assata Shakur said (I couldn't find the exact quote) about how incarcerating people foments the conditions for mass resistance to a carceral society.

Wow, what a great book! It wasn't exactly what I expected because I've seen the movie The Secret of NIMH several times. Therefore I'm going to do a movie/book comparison here because I want to.

The book and movie parallel each other at the beginning, and throughout as far as the main plot is concerned. Mrs. Frisby's son is sick, she gets medicine from Mr. Ages, moving day is upon them, she goes to the Great Owl, he says ask the rats to move the house, she does, they do, and there you go. So, what is the book missing that is prevalent throughout the entire movie? n  n    THE TERROR!!!n  n

Robert C. O'Brien gives us a lovely tale of a mouse trying to nurse her son back to health. She lives on a farm, and there's a barn cat named Dragon they need to steer clear of because it's a cat and she's a freaking mouse. Cats eat mice. That's just the way it is. There's nothing overly terrifying about Dragon in the book. Nor is there anything terrifying about the Great Owl in the book other than the fact that it's an owl, and owls also eat mice. The owl is wise, and the denizens of the forest get advice from him. Simple as that. There's nothing mean about the rats; in fact they're very helpful. There's even a moral in the book that's spelled out in greater detail than in the movie, and it's that stealing is wrong, and beasts of a civilized nature should be 100% self sufficient. It's really quite a charming story, and I give it 4.5 stars. (I really wanted to give it the 5th star, but I can't make myself call it "amazing)". Now back to some movie comparison nit-picks.

I credit 3.05 movies from my childhood for the years of therapy I endured later on in my early adulthood. Those are Return to Oz, The Watcher in the Woods, The Secret of NIMH, and the Large Marge scene from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. After having read the delightful Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, I now know that the movie version was needlessly traumatizing.

Here's what I think happened. Don Bluth, the producer, went into his office with a burr up his butt about his kids getting on his last nerve the night before, or something. Perhaps it was like a scene in Trick R Treat. He was probably in his backyard burying a body when his one of his little toe rags called out "Daaaaddyyyy. When are we going to..." do whatever? He yelled at them to shut up, and get back into the house. Then he started mimicking their whiny voices. "Daaaaddyyyy, when are we going to carve a pumpkin? Daaaaaddyyyyy, when are we going to the festival? Daaaaddyyyyy, I wish mommy was still alive. Spoiled brats."

With this attitude at the forefront of his psyche the next morning, he rolled into work musing on this question: "What can I do to fuck up the children of the very early 1980s in the head? I know. I'll take this cute little Newbery Medal winning tale about a mouse and some farm animals, and turn it into a fright feature! We'll change Nicodemus from just the wisest rat into something with the most withered and arthritic looking hands, and a visage so decrepit that the crypt keeper will look young by comparison. Then we'll murder him by dropping a fucking cinder block house on his head. And we'll have Jenner, his best friend in the book, do it!

Dragon... Nah, he's not just a barn cat. He is a beast unleashed from the 7th level of hell, and would cause a Balrog to extinguish himself and flee.

That chat with the Great Owl? Nah. That's too tame. She needs to go into his lair, and watch him do some Linda Blair shit with his head while he's covered in cobwebs, and he crushes the guts out of a spider dripping venom from his fangs who is following Mrs. Frisby who is tripping over bones looking for the Great Owl. Yeah... That's the ticket.

And Brutus, the guard at the rosebush. He doesn't simply tell Mrs. Frisby that she can't come in, and to go away, no. The book is way too calm about that. Instead, lets have him try to murder her with the most heinous looking electric barbed halberd ever designed, and chase her to boot. And he won't say a word. And we'll give him a cape. And we'll take away his eyes.

As for the rosebush, let's put some glowing skulls in it, and make the thorny vines move on their own like tentacles because that's what really goes on at the inner levels of rosebushes.

What about Jenner? Nah, he doesn't just have a disagreement with Nicodemus on how the society should be run, and then take a couple of followers and move to another place. We'll give him the heart of a psychopathic megalomaniac, have him plot to kill the humans in the farm house just so they can keep stealing their electricity. And let him murder Nicodemus.

And we'll take Timmy, who just has pneumonia, and make him look like he's in the final stages of lung cancer with COPD, emphysema, bronchitis, pulmonary embolism... the works!

And instead of just the threat of moving day looming over head, let's make it actually happen, and draw a bunch of animals scared to the point of leaving multiple bowel movements behind as they flee.

And NIMH itself. Instead of just a lab that injects rats with smart serum which the rats themselves say didn't hurt more than your average shot, let's make it look like they're in the throes of death whenever they get injected. And we'll show sad monkeys with baby monkeys, and puppies, and rabbits while we're at it, and have Nicodemus say that unspeakable tortures and cruelties were inflicted upon them all.

And let's drive this book into incoherency. It makes perfect sense from a scientific standpoint as portrayed in the lengthy back-story in the book which explains everything, but we'll cut all that out, and introduce a magic amulet, give Nicodemus telekinesis and telepathy, and what the hell, let's make him a rat Jedi but also have him be dumb enough to stand under a hoisted cinder block, and make his telekinesis weak enough that he can't hold the block up himself, or jump out of the way when it falls. It's apparent that the amulet could just move the house anyway, but no, let's make Nicodemus an asshole while we're at it. We'll get all the rats out in the mud to move this house instead of just using the stone to whoopsie-daisy it to its new home, and have him just standing there watching, and probably sniggering to himself at the idiots working so hard when they don't have to. You know, I think I get it now. No wonder Jenner wanted to kill him.

And the moving itself. In the book, the family steps outside while the work is done, which makes way too much sense for where I plan to take this movie. Let's keep them in the house, and not even have the rats tell them "Hey, we're here to move your house. Nothing to worry about." No. Let's just move it with no notice, then drop it in the mud, and watch all the little mice children and Auntie Shrew drown in the muck before Mrs. Frisby saves them with an amulet that sets her on fire!

Also, let's make all the characters Mrs. Frisby comes in contact with curmudgeony (Mr. Ages) or stupid (Jeremy), and we'll make the hero, Justin, a complete dick by having him leave her the second she gets captured by the Fitzgibbon kid, and simply say to the audience, and not even to Mrs. Frisby, "I'll come back for you later." (Yes, instead of rescuing her, which he does in the book, he just leaves her the second she gets in trouble. What the hell was he there for in the first place)?

Thank you Mr. Bluth for your Stephen King interpretation of Judy Blume material.

Anyway, enjoy the book. And the movie. I love them both, but for completely different reasons.

Cleanliness

Children's Bad Words
Name Calling - 2 Incidents: Birdbrain, idiots

Religious & Supernatural - None

Romance Related - 1 Incident: A young girl rat has a crush on an older/teenager rat. She mentions he's not married and blushes at his name (all brief).

Attitudes/Disobedience - None
Violence - None

Conversation Topics - 6 Incidents: Mentions a little girl mouse was fond of dancing. [Spoiler Alert]: Several rats in the story were once lab rats, used for experimental research for mental enhancement. As a result of these experiments and the injections they received, they learned how to read and reason and eventually escaped. Because of their intelligence, they knew they could never live among other rats, so wished to develop their own colony, their own civilization. Some wondered, if given time, if they would be as brilliant as humans and might coexist, even dominate the world. Also, they wished to change human's opinions of rats by no longer stealing but producing everything for themselves. Mentions briefly how rats acted "millions of years ago" and how their descendants are prairie dogs. A man trespasses onto property and camps there. Discussions such as living a simple life, avoiding the "rat race of life" are topics in the book. Rats have a discussion on stealing: "Is it stealing when farmers take milk from cows or eggs from chickens? They're just smarter than the cows and chickens, that's all. Well, people are our cows. If we're smart enough, why shouldn't we get food from them?" "It's not the same. Farmers feed the cows and chickens and take care of them. We don't do anything for what we take."

Parent Takeaway
A great page-turner to read aloud with the family. References to character, right and wrong and some good ethical questions are raised. Story could be a little intense for very young children.

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[Book #38 for my grad school Children's Lit class]

This one was delightful. The age difference between myself and the target audience was not at all an issue for enjoyment. It felt like the Secret of Nimh movie I loved in my childhood, followed along with the main story.

Mrs. Frisby made me realize how many strong single mother figures I had in stories and entertainment as a child. I guess it helped shape my high view of them in my life now as a single mother.

I loved getting more details about the time Jonathan and the rats spent at NIMH, and I will continue to read the other accounts in the series. This is such an interesting take on animal testing and turning it into a sci-fi/fantasy account.

4 stars.

This is the Newberry Award winning book for 1973, and this was there main reason I wanted to read it. Normally it's a mixed bag with books that win this award for me, but this time I can say this book deserved the award. This is a really good book.

This is an interesting introduction to science-fiction for young readers. I mean rats and a few mice with special intellectual properties that want to build their own successful community... What's not to be interested in? The story has aged really well because there isn't anything to date it, like mentioning popular fashion choices of the time, so really anyone can read it.

I only have 3 small complaints. The first complaint is that the pacing of the story can be a bit slow. Still that could be due to the fact books were written at a slower pace in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The second complaint is that I'm not super happy that we don't know what happened to Justin the Rat either. I like the idea of him and Mrs. Frisby getting to know each other better. Lastly, what happened to Jenner!? Were 6 or 7 rats killed? Is he alive or dead? There are so many unanswered questions that we'll never know because Mr. O'Brien died before he could write a sequel. His daughter did continue the series but as her own writings, which I'm not counting as a true continuation since Mr. O'Brien didn't have any say for those books.

Back to this book... In my opinion, it might be better to read this book by oneself instead of in a group. As this book is a pretty easy read to breeze through. Personally I listened to the audiobook with my fiance for our reading dates. The narrator was quite nice to listen to and seemed to match the story well. However you choose to read this story you'll be happy.

I picked this book up for a Middle Grade March book that has been made into a movie. I wasn't sure whether or not a middle grade book written in 1971 would hold up so I didn't go into this book with a lot of enthusiasm but in the end I was pleasantly surprised.

A story in which all of the main characters are animals did something to pull on my heartstrings in a way that human characters wouldn't. I loved how all of the characters in this book worked together to help each other without expecting anything in return. This book has a positive message about humanity that transcends the passage of the time in which it was written. This book has HEART, something I look for in all middle grade books but don't always find.

This story has themes of friendship, courage, selflessness, fidelity, loss, and love. I will recommend this to anyone.

Mrs. Frisby's son is sick in bed, and cannot be moved. But the farmer is coming to plow up the field where they live as soon as the frost has left the ground. Mrs. Frisby goes to the rats to ask for help, and discovers the secret past of the rats of NIMH.

I just love this book more and more every time I read it. It's so interesting to find out about the rats and how they live and their past history. The whole world-building of the society of all the animals who live around the farm and in the woods is fascinating. I love stories about mice because they are so little. Who doesn't love a good under-dog story?

Mrs. Frisby is such a wonderful main character, because she is timid and frightened, but can also be incredibly brave when she has to be. She does amazing things, and takes risks in order to save her children. She is intelligent and warm-hearted. I just love her personality and her sweetness!

There is something so charming about the writing style. It really draws you in and pulls you into the suspense. With just a few sentences, you truly care about each of the characters, and it really matters to you what happens to them. No wonder this book won a Newberry award!