Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
Reviewed by EllenRatings
Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content
LANGUAGE
VIOLENCE
SEXUAL CONTENT
ADULT THEMES
1972 Newbery Medal Winner
Ratings Explanation
Violence: Mrs. Frisby’s husband, Jonathan, was killed by a cat. Exterminators come to the farm to fumigate the rats’ underground burrow and one rat dies.
Synopsis
Mrs. Frisby is a timid field mouse and widow raising four small children. Spring is coming and the farmland where she lives will soon be plowed, meaning she must move immediately or face certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lays gravely ill with a fever and she fears that the move will surely kill him. On the advice of a wise old owl, she seeks out the rats of NIMH, an unusual breed of highly intelligent creatures who live nearby. Once they learn that she is Jonathan Frisby’s widow, an old friend of theirs, they readily agree to help her. They hatch a plan which includes temporarily drugging the farmer’s cat, Dragon, in order to carry out. It’s a dangerous job, but feeling greatly indebted to their kindness, Mrs. Frisby volunteers. She then learns the secret to their exceptional intelligence: once living on garbage in the city streets, they were captured and taken to a laboratory called NIMH (National Institute for Mental Health) where lab scientists experimented with them and gave them mysterious injections. This gave the rats extraordinary mental capabilities and reasoning. Eventually they escaped from the laboratory (along with a few mice, including Mr. Frisby) and moved to the country, where they have created an elaborate maze of tunnels and modern living quarters under the farmer’s rosebush, complete with running water and electricity. The time comes to execute their plan, but when Mrs. Frisby is unexpectedly trapped on her dangerous mission by the farmer’s son, she overhears a plan that will threaten the lives of all the rats of NIMH unless she can escape and warn them, and save their lives in return for saving her family’s.
This is a remarkable book that I can’t believe I left unread for so many years! (It was the word “rats” in the title, I am embarrassed to admit, that hindered me.) But when my daughter chose this at the bookstore and we began reading it together, I was hooked. A deftly told story that is both fantastical and yet utterly believable. I may never look at a rat the same way again!