| Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O'Brien is the 1972 Newbery award winning book. It
is a story of a mother's love, the lengths she will go to help her
children and the friends that help her on her way. It is about love,
friendship, bravery and the effects of animal testing. The Characters  |
Mrs. Frisby: A courageous widowed mother mouse who takes on many struggles to ensure the safety of her youngest, ill son. |
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| Mr Ages: One of the mice that had been tested on at NIMH, and a friend of the Frisby's |
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| Nicodemus: The leader of the rats of NIMH |
The story takes place on a farm in spring. It begins with Mrs. Frisby, a recently widowed mouse whose son is sick. She goes to her friend, Mr Ages who gives her medicine to help heal her son but says he has to stay in bed. Their moving day to go to their summer home is approaching and they must leave before the farmer plows the garden where they live. She helps a crow who is in danger and he in turn does a favor for her; brings her to the Great Owl for advice on what to do about moving day approaching but her son being unable to move. After the Great Owl learned who her husband was, he advised her to go to the rats that live behind the rosebush and tell them to move her home to the lee side of the stone. The rats were known to keep to themselves but Mrs Frisby went down there to try to get help. She was denied entrance but on her way out ran into Mr Ages, who vouched for her and told them who her husband was and she was allowed to enter.
When she went inside their home, she saw it was not an ordinary rat-cave. There was an elevator, a library and electricity. The designated leader of the rats, Nicodemus, stated that they could help her move her house and told her their tale. They were 'normal' rats at one point, kidnapped and put into a laboratory where they were given injections that made their intelligence increase. They learned to read and reason which aided them in their escape. When they escaped the building, they took along some mice that were being experimented on as well, which included Mr Ages. and her husband, Mr. Jonathon Frisby. They agree to move her home but need someone to sedate the cat so they can work in peace. Mrs. Frisby agrees to do it. She successfully puts the sedation medication in the cat's bowl but gets caught by one of the children.
While she is in captivity she overhears about exterminators (or people related to NIMH?) who are going to come by to get rid of the rats. When one of the rats help with her release, she tells them the information. By this time, they had already moved her home and her family was safe from the plowing and her son could rest up until he was strong enough to move to their summer house. The next day, she watched and saw most of the rats escape but saw that not all of them made it. The remaining rats went to a valley where they could have their own society instead of always stealing from the farmer.
Although the rats appear to be the brains and muscle that help Mrs. Frisby to save her family, Mrs. Frisby is still the heroine of the novel, in my eyes. She goes to great lengths to do what she has to do as a mother. She befriends many different types of animals, while other creatures comment that they do not see why they would trust her. She is open about how afraid she is but that she cannot sit around. She flies on the back of a crow, goes into the Great Owl's nest, befriends the rats and sedates the cat. She does all of this without the extra intelligence or life longevity that the rats are given. The ending was happy enough but also ambiguous about what happened to the rats. Which rats died back when the gas was put in the cave? Did the rats succeed in creating their own self-sufficient society? I guess I will have to read the sequel (written by one of the author's daughters) to find out!
