Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four children 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.

Mrs. Frisby's son is sick, and can't be moved. But it's spring, and she knows that Farmer Fitzgibbon will plow the garden where her home is in just a few days. She approaches other animals for help, and learns of a very unusual group of rats living on the farm with her. ( )

A wonderful story of Mrs Frisby, a widow mouse who must move her family to their summer house to ensure their safely, but her youngest son is very ill and unable to travel. While on her way home from visiting the local wise white mouse, she saves the life of a young crow and he repays her kindness by taking her to see the wise owl. All animals in the area are extremely respectful and helpful to her once they realise who she is....she has no idea that her husband was once a lab rat who was experimented on and along with the local rat colony managed to escape and create an extraordinary high tech underground city. A fascinating and entertaining story. ( )

in a sentence: a widowed mouse has to move her sick child before the farmer tills up her home...lucky for her there are some super-intelligent and mysterious rats that live under the rosebush.

Mrs. Frisby (whom is always referred to as such, or as Jonathon Frisby's wife) is faring pretty well with her four children since her husband's mysterious death. she sees a lot of the mouse Jonathon was in her children, especially Timothy (the youngest) - so it is especially tough when he is taken violently ill with pneumonia. her journey to make Timothy well, and to move her family safely away from the impending doom of the tractor, is her motivation throughout this story. she finds help from several sources, but most interesting and crucial is the help from the rats that she receives. not only this, but we learn the history of these mysterious rats, what they're up to, and where they came from (hint - NIMH).

i LOVED the movie as a kid, and probably averaged watching it 5-8 times a week. however, the book was refreshingly different from the movie (though i won't get into that here). the intelligence that Mrs. Frisby possesses is common sense with a deep love and devotion to her former husband and children - and is not looked down upon or scoffed at by the rats who have a "superior" intellegence. very interesting social commentary going on, but not above the level of reader that this book is intended for. her journey is a wonderful read and includes the real fruits of a journey such as sadness, frustration, success, joy, and indecision.

the characters are not sensationalized (which was a very good thing), but still match what i felt an owl's personality might be like, or a crow's personality might be like. i was most impressed by the ending of the novel, and the somewhat inconclusive nature of it that left it open...but it felt like the right thing to do from the literary standpoint and from characters standpoint as well. and i'll admit it, i was in LOVE with Justin, one of the rats with a super smooth coat, intellegence, kind heart, and an obvious crush on mrs. frisby!

fave quotes: while i was riveted by everything nicodemus said (one of the rats of nimh), there are two specific quotes that popped out at me while i was reading...
- (after Jeremy the crow is discovered by mrs. frisby) "Birdbrain, thought Mrs. Frisby, and then recalled what her husband used to say: The size of the brain is no measure of it's capacity. And well she might recall it, for the crow's head was double the size of her own"
- (when the rats are planning their escape) "'And then what? What will happen when he announces that there's a group of civilized rats roaming loose - rats that can read, and think, and figure things out?' I said: 'Let's wait until we're free before we worry about that.' But Jenner was right. It was a thing to worry about, and maybe still is."

fix er up: i had a hard time visualizing of what life under the rosebush looked like from the description...but then again i had the movie to fall back on so it wasn't all bad. ( )

To help her ailing son, a mouse named Mrs. Frisby must enlist the help of various woodland animals to help her move her house. To accomplish this she puts herself in a number of dangerous situations and learns some information about her deceased husband.

“Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh” is an unusual children’s book in that the protagonist is an adult female. Yet the mouse, Mrs. Frisby is still relatable and demonstrates the lengths a mother will go to protect her children. Well written and touching this book is a must read. I will admit it was one of my childhood favorites. I can recall running around my parents’ basement, carrying an envelope, trying to deliver medicine to an imaginary mouse son. I also recommend the cartoon version of the story.