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. ( )

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.