Robert C. O'Brien (1)Rezensionen

This book is appropriate for intermediate readers.
This book is about Mrs. Frisby's journey to protect her children and how Rats of NIMH are able to help her.
This book would be useful in teaching about story elements.

AR: 5.1

This book is about a mouse named Mrs. Frisby. Mrs. Frisby has four children that she takes care of all alone. The problem arises when Mrs. Frisby learns that the farmer is going to start plowing the field before Mrs. Frisby can move her family. Mrs. Frisby has a sick son named Timothy that surely won't make the trip to their summer home. This is where Mrs. Frisby looks for help from the owl. The owl advises her to seek out the "RATS OF NIMH". This is where the plot thickens, and we learn some very interesting things about the Rats of NIMH. Mrs. Frisby and Rats of NIMH is a great fantasy book that will spark the imagination. This is a great book for independent intermediate readers that are ready to start reading on their own.

Another fine example of current day reality mirroring fantasy story of 40 years ago. I am not a fan of fantasy but this grabbed me.

I never read this as a kid because I saw a cartoon version that scared the bejeezus out of me. It gave me plow nightmares. But I was ready to face it as an adult.

I love the audio book narrator, Barbara Caruso, who also performed [b:Tuck Everlasting|84981|Tuck Everlasting|Natalie Babbitt|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171058527s/84981.jpg|1955922]. She's classy.

Independent reading level: grades 3-7
Awards: John Newbery Medal 19972
Mark Twain award 1973

At the time of writing, about a month after finishing this children's novel, I suddenly realised I have forgotten to record it on Goodreads so my memories of it are already somewhat faded.

My recollections are that there are some interesting characters, especially the owl and a few of the rats, and that the story was quite entertaining. It begins when Mrs Frisby, a widowed mouse, has to find help because her young son Timothy is ill and she is warned by another mouse, who dispenses medicine, that if he moves too soon to their summer residence by the river bank, he is likely to catch a severe chest infection which could be fatal. But Mrs Frisby has overheard the farmer and his sons talking, and realises he is planning to plough the area where the mouse home resides. She has to overcome her natural reticence and, with the help of a crow she has rescued from the cat, visit the fearsome owl for advice. When he learns her name, he tells her to go to the rats who have a mysterious entrance under a rose bush and ask them for help. These rats are different from the normal type, but it is only when she goes to their burrow that she discovers how different. For they have adopted a lot of human ways, including lighting their burrow with electricity. The rats decide to help move the mouse home so that it will escape the ploughing, and the story mostly deals with this and the rats own plight.

Part of the book deals with the narration to Mrs Frisby of the rats origin - which is where NIMH comes into it. I do recall that I found that part of the story - where they are subjected to experiments which both enhance their intelligence and extend their lives - to be far more interesting than the rest of the story about Mrs Frisby and her family. I liked the book but don't think I found it merited more than a 3 star rating.

An interesting fantasy for children written in the late 1960s. Ellen wakes up on her tenth birthday and finds a silver crown on her pillow; a crown made of material which can be folded (which becomes relevant later when she has to carry it with her long distances and eventually hide it). An imaginative child, she decides to go for a walk to the local park and play at being a queen there as she often does. She thinks the crown might have come from her Aunt Sarah who is the only adult she knows who doesn't just pretend to believe Ellen is a queen: she says she is and means it.

While at the park, Sarah tries on the crown and it has the effect of making her calm and clear minded, something she needs shortly afterwards when she discovers that her family have apparently all died in a mysterious fire while she was out playing. And shortly afterwards, a robber in a green hood, who murders a shopkeeper and a policeman from whom she was trying to get help, seems to be implicated in the arson on her house. Meanwhile, Ellen sends a postcard to tell her aunt she is coming to see her because she is now on her own, and a series of men start to help Ellen in what, to a modern reader, seems rather creepy - even in the 1960s there were warnings about not to get into cars with strange men, for example.

I won't say much more about the plot, but other characters do appear, especially Otto an eight year old child prodigy who is an expert tracker, animal trapper, knife thrower and tree climber, having apparently taught himself those things. There is also a rather entertaining talking crow called Richard who is Otto's pet. Otto has been raised by a resourceful older woman who he now persists in believing is his mother although she has tried to tell him otherwise, after she found him wandering in the woods near her house when he was a toddler. She wants Otto to go with Ellen on her journey to Aunt Sarah's, as she thinks Sarah will adopt him and wean him off this idea about his mother and also break a rather destructive habit - he has been causing trucks on the nearby highway to crash so that he can scavenge their contents. The two children are menaced on their journey by the force behind the robber and other sinister men.

Probably because of the age of the children, and the period when this was written, the relationship between them is just simple uncomplicated friendship. Although Ellen is quite forward thinking and a planner, the story does conform in some ways to 1960s ideas of appropriate roles for boys and girls: the boy is the active one who is more capable physically and the girl is the one who injures herself and holds them up. However, she also can't be controlled in the way that most other people, including Otto, turn out to be later in the story.

I enjoyed the book on the whole but unanswered questions piled up by the ending, such as, if the crown has the effect it is shown to have at the end of the story on the evil force behind everything, then why was that force not affected whenever Ellen wore her crown - which at one point, left on her own with a sprained ankle for days, she does for hours at a time. At the very least, those whom she meets later (avoiding spoilers) should perhaps comment in puzzlement that this force has been zoning out and not giving orders for long periods of time recently. Also, I expected that there would be an explanation for Otto's origin, and that we might find out that Ellen's family somehow survived - she seems to get over her multiple bereavement very rapidly. The denoument of the story, which requires a third character to somehow evade hot pursuit and return to the very heart of the villains' hideout - when access to that was shown to involve authorised personnel touching a handplate and there were other perils as well - was a bit weak.

I've also read, since finishing the book, that there were apparently two endings in the American edition. The version I read was published in the UK and involves only a short postscript which explains who sent the crown to Ellen, but the whole issue of how the villains found out she had it is left open. On the whole, the build up to the story is stronger than the actual resolution and for that reason my rating balances out at 3 stars.

Independent Reading Level: Grade 3-5
Awards:Newberry Award

A teen girl lives on her own on her family’s farm in a protected valley, and in fact thinks she’s possibly the only person left alive after the nuclear attacks until a man in a radiation suit enters the valley. She had both hoped for and feared this event, and it soon becomes clear to her that fear is the proper response…

An interesting little thriller, although the main character’s choices sometimes irked me, and that says, probably, a lot more about me than about the book; she yielded way too much ground to the dangerous and violent macho bullshit of Radiation Suit Man. So while it’s a good read in most respects, I was too frustrated by her actions and the resolution to love it.

Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a great service.

2023 - ’70’s Immersion Reading Challenge

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Rats of NIMH #1) by Robert C. O’Brien (1971; 1986 ed.) 233 pages.

READING LEVEL 5.1 AR POINTS 8.0 (if read along with book 2: The Secret of NIMH)

4.5 stars rounded up to 5 - A GREAT little rat story! The only way this could have been better is if the author had spent 5 or 6 short little chapters in action instead of having the head rat, Nicodemus, ‘telling’ the story of how the rats of NIMH came to be at the farm. Although, still very good storytelling, there is a difference in how ‘action’ reads and how the ‘telling’ of a story by someone reads. Just this would have brought my rating of the whole story, overall, right up there with Watership Down by Richard Adams.

The rats were captured by NIMH for rat experiments, which actually made them smarter and younger. When they had escaped their captivity, the rats wanted to live a more sustainable life instead of their usual thieving for food from farmers and other households. This is the lead up story to how they ended up at Thorn Valley, to live away from man and work hard at building their own community of rats who farmed and lived sustainable lives.

This is such a feel good story of animals helping animals, especially from the Fitzgibbon’s cat, Dragon. Mrs. Frisby saves the crow. The crow helps Mrs. Frisby by flying her to the owl’s nest for advice on how to save her children and home from the farmer’s plow. The rats help Mrs. Frisby move her home, while Mrs. Frisby helps the rats by putting sleeping powder in the cat’s food and warns them of an exterminator coming out to take care of them. It’s a surprise ending, and I’m not sure if my love, Justin, the sweet, handsome rat survived. I think it might be covered in book #2, which I will definitely be reading next year to find out. Unfortunately, this year, I have to stick to my 1970’s Immersion Reading Challenge. But, I’ll be back to this series.

Rats of NIMH Trilogy
1. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971) by Robert O’Brien
2. Rasco and the Rats of NIMH (1986) by Jane Leslie Conly (Robert’s daughter)
3. R-T, Margaret, and the Rats of NIMH (1990) by Jane Leslie Conly (Robert’s daughter)

READ FREE at Internet Archive

https://archive.org/search.php?query=Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Still magical. Interesting difference between childhood and adult readings: as a child, I wanted the mice to go off with the rats on their new adventure; as an adult, I'd prefer they stay in their safe, comfortable home.

I don’t think that I read this as a child. Its publication date is too late, but I certainly remember the atmosphere of this book. I always liked to see kids managing on their own. The central character was intelligent, thoughtful and resourceful. Sad ending, but hopeful, too. I think this would still appeal to modern young people. I would recommend it.

good - Ruthie

What a delightful book

Intermediate
Mrs. Frisby needs to get her family moved out of the garden, so she gets the help of a secret society of intelligent rats.
I'd love to have this book in my classroom, it is so engaging, the word choice makes you feel like you are really there, and the characters are all written so that they seem warm and friendly. The book takes a hard left turn from pleasant Beatrix Potter type mouse stuff into secret society genetically modified maze runner stuff, and I am here for it- that stuff is the most interesting part of the story. This'd be a great book to have in a fourth or fifth grade classroom to talk about characters, setting, conflict, new vocab words, and other fun ELA things. 10/10.

I remember the movie of this book when I was quite young and being very into the first one and the direct-to-video sequel (which I probably loved more than the original). What I particularly liked about this book, though, is that it doesn't rely on any elements of magic like the movie did, but is purely based on science (well, as scientific as humanly intelligent rats can be). It's a great book for kids who are starting to understand and get into the animal liberation movement while also just being a fun read in general.

CW: Man attempts to sexually assault a girl.

La señora Frisby, una ratoncita viuda con cuatro hijos pequeños, tiene que trasladar a su familia a su casa de verano inmediatamente, o enfrentarse a una muerte segura. Pero su hijo menor, Timothy, yace en cama con neumonía y no puede moverse… Un encuentro afortunado con las ratas de NIMH, un extraordinario grupo de criaturas de inteligencia muy desarrollada, le planteará una brillante solución a su dilema.

This book is a reflection of human nature in end times. Even what seems like an untouchable paradise can be ruined by one person.

I read this quite a while ago and was entertained by the rats who became smart. NIMH is the National Institute of Mental Health.

One of my favorite books when I was a kid... still is...

Summary: A mother mouse has a great adventure and discovers a big secret while trying to save the life of her sick child.

Things I liked:

Protagonists: I like books which are written from the perspective of anthropomorphised animals. I especially like it when they don't sugar coat the whole 'animals eat animals' thing, but still find a way for the whole 'society make sense'. I also thought that each of the main characters had a good motivation for what they did and everything basically made sense in a nice way.

The secret: hyper intelligent rats escaping from the lab and building their own secret society was a pretty good idea and I found myself eager to find out how this was all realised.

Things I thought could be improved:

I think a lot of the language was heavily peppered with very human concepts (for example the use of 'feet' as a unit of measure. I think it would have been better if there had been more 'animal based' culture and language.


Highlight: I think my favourite bit was when Frisby met the owl. That was when I first got a tingle that their was some greater mystery to be found.

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