Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

I really enjoyed reading this book to my kids, and they enjoyed it too. They're 5 and 9 (I'd rate it 9+ for independent reading, 5 is fine for having it read to you). It's a great adventure that makes you want to keep reading. It's a bit old fashioned, with most of the characters with leadership roles being male. But I loved that Mrs Frisby is an unassuming house wife who ends up doing all kinds of brave things.

I read this for a book report in third grade after our school librarian told me how great it was and that it was being made in to a movie. I love this book, it was among my 3-4 favorites from elementary school. The mystery shrouding the rats, how they gained such great intelligence that they could build a scientific, technological society. Their is a great message about the ethical treatment of animals in there too. There are some tense and mildly violent scenes, but my daughter read this last year and she loved it. For kids/parents that have seen the movie: it is quite a bit different than the book. The movie posits that Nicodemus, the old, wise leader of the rayts, is some sort of magus and that the rats society is based on magic, including the climatic scene. This is not in the book. Also, the pricipal antagonist of the movie is not even a bad guy in the book. He wants to start his own colony but this is not really a source of animus. My daughter reacted the same when she saw it that i did as a kid, she hated it. From the movies opening her repeated line was, "why do they keep using magic, the have great technology and engineers, and that's the better story.

The first part of this fantasy is a wholesome depiction of Mrs. Frisby, a brave, widowed mother mouse with a nest of mice children, including a son who is sickly. The rats from NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) come to the aid of Mrs. Frisby later on. However, the reader has to be comfortable with the section of the book that describes how the rats became "trained" in the lab: shock treatments, injections, cyanide, etc.

This Book Really Shows How Someones Imagination Is More Than Just Running Around Acting Like You Are In Space. The Author Put A Lot Of Effort Toward This Book And It Is Easy To See!

"I really liked Mrs. Frisby. She teamed up with the Rats of Nimh to save her family. Her adventure was exciting, even when she met frightening characters like the Owl. If you like animals and adventure stories, you will like this book A LOT!"