One
of my favorite childhood traditions was gathering the family in the living room after
dinner and listening to my dad read aloud (who always knew the perfect voice to bring
a character to life). Many of the books I loved reading as a child were
introduced to me this way (including, multiple times, the Narnia series…we’ll
see if I get to that in this blog. I’d be tempted to write WAY too much about
them) and as a result of
hearing them, I still hear those voices in my mind when I read the book to
myself. One of these books was Mrs.
Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, a story about a family of field mice who, in
an emergency, turn to an extraordinary group of rats for help. This is another
Newberry award winner (that might be a theme in these reviews…), and one—yes,
of many—of my favorite kid’s books.
Robert C. O’Brien, Mrs.
Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Atheneum: 1971.
Mrs.
Frisby is a field mouse who lives, with her four children, under a cinderblock
in the corner of Mr. Fitzgibbon’s garden. Each year when it comes time for the farmer to
plow his garden, the Frisbys move to their summer home far from the humans, on
the edge of a stream. However, one year the youngest Frisby, Timothy, gets sick
with pneumonia just before plowing time, and cannot be moved out of bed. Mrs.
Frisby, in desperation, seeks advice from an old owl deep in the forest, who
tells her to solicit the help of a colony of rats who live under a giant
rosebush in the Fitzgibbons’ yard. Fearful, yet with a mother’s stoic heart,
she ventures into the rosebush, and finds that this is no ordinary rat pack.
These are the rats of NIMH: large, highly intelligent beings who have built an
underground home for themselves with running water and electricity who can also
read and write.
Mrs.
Frisby is directed to speak with Nicodemus, who tells her the story of the
colony’s beginnings. He, along with his family and friends, lived on the streets
and scavenged for garbage until he was captured by a team of scientists and
brought to a lab called NIMH. There he and many other test subjects were given
a series of injections, and put through many different kinds of intelligence
tests, including mazes and speech recognition. They soon surpassed the
scientists’ expectations, and were eventually able to escape from the lab.
After some wanderings, they found the Fitzgibbon’s yard, and have been living
there for many years. The rats agree to help Mrs. Frisby, and propose that
moving the cinderblock a few feet to place it behind a large rock will leave it
out of reach of Mr. Fitzgibbon’s plow. This plan succeeds, and the Frisbys are
all kept safe, thanks to the rats.
This
is a clever, engaging book that is just as interesting a read for adults
as it is for children. These characters are adults with adult problems, and O'Brien simply uses talking animals to tell their story. It’s not a fantasy story per
se, but has enough adventure to be as entertaining as if it did contain dragons
and princesses in addition to talking mice. Now I have nothing against a good fantasy; this story simply appeases my
“common-sense” side that I often have to put on hold while reading children’s
literature. This is a wonderful novel for all ages, and a
great book to read aloud (character voices required). As with The Whipping Boy, look for this one in
the kid’s section with other award-winners. Happy reading!**Side note: there are two sequels to this book, written by the author’s daughter (Jane Leslie Conly). Although they are not quite Mrs. Frisby’s equal, they are still great reads and very entertaining. They are: Rasco and the Rats of NIMH and R-T, Margaret, and the Rats of NIMH.
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