Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Product Information

The exec added that it expects to keep the likes of The Simpsons, which was handed a two-season renewal in March, taking it up to its 34th season, Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers, which similarly got two-season renewals last fall, for some time and said these shows were still operating at the “top of their game.” This is the Newberry Award winning book for 1973, and this was there main reason I wanted to read it. Normally it's a mixed bag with books that win this award for me, but this time I can say this book deserved the award. This is a really good book. In Mrs. Brisby we have a totally unique and a truly delightful heroine. She isn't some young boy getting ready to go on a fantastic adventure or some sort of great, brave hero. She's just a mother, a mother whose first concern is her family. And she makes a fantastic hero, showing that courage isn't just involved in facing down fierce monsters (though when she has to do that she finds the courage). She never stops pushing herself and though she might be a very small mouse, she has a very big heart. In fifth grade, this was available through RIF and I remember seeing the copy on the folding table among all the many other free books. I snatched it up so fast, grabbing up from under my taller classmates, swiping like Swiper has never swiped. It was the movie edition which means it was the same story but with pictures from the Don Bluth film adaptation in middle. I adored that movie ("A sparkly!"), my family and I had seen it at the Drive-In and have been quoting it ever since.

When this happens, when a mouse runs past my foot while out in the yard, or, Heaven forbid, comes anywhere near the structure of our house, my screams often sound like the sound effects from the famous shower scene from Psycho. In 1947, to keep a close eye on his charges, Calhoun constructed a quarter-acre “rat city” behind his house, and filled it with breeding pairs. He expected to be able to house 5,000 rats there, but over the two years he observed the city, the population never exceeded 150. At that point, the rats became too stressed to reproduce. They started acting weirdly, rolling dirt into balls rather than digging normal tunnels. They hissed and fought. This book was the winner of numerous awards including the 1972 Newbery Medal. [3] Ten years following its publication, the story was adapted for film as The Secret of NIMH (1982). [4] In a retrospective essay about the Newbery Medal-winning books from 1966 to 1975, children's author John Rowe Townsend wrote: "It seems to me that the fact that all the animals talk and behave intelligently from the beginning of the story detracts from the spectacular development of the laboratory rats... Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is a pleasing book, but I find it mildly frustrating; it might have been something more than it is". [10]In a paper titled "The Critical Reader in Children's Metafiction", literary scholar Joe Sanders wrote that the book's emphasis on the rats' abilities to read mirrors the "growing reading abilities of the novel's own target audience". Sanders argues that the book portrays "the act of reading" as "clearly liberatory". [9] Reading allows the rats to create a thriving human-like society once escaping from NIMH. Furthermore, reading serves as a gateway for the rats to discover that humans dislike them because they steal. [9] Sanders added that "scientific and philosophical treatises help the rats understand what their role is in the world and that if they are to be anything more than thieves, they must become a self-sustaining community". [9] In essence, Sanders finds that O'Brien promotes reading as an empowering tool which is an important lesson that children learn through reading this book. [9] A review from the University of Chicago's Center for Children's books states that "Conly has completely mastered the bucolic tone of the first book", and that "characterizations all around are more detailed than in O'Brien's book". [1] Story [ edit ] Another subject in which more information was brought to light was that of Jenner. In the first book it was hinted that Jenner had died, but in an event prior to those of the book. Jenner had disagreed with Nicodemus over leaving the city, and took a group of separatists to start a new colony. In the end of the first book, it is revealed that NIMH had found a number of unusual rats dead, and it is assumed that this is Jenner's group.

a b "Mrs. Frisby and the rats of Nimh". LC Online Catalog. Library of Congress (lccn.loc.gov). Retrieved 2016-02-16. Mrs. Frisby is the head of a family of field mice. Her son Timothy is ill with pneumonia just as the farmer Mr. Fitzgibbon begins preparation for spring plowing in the garden where the Frisby family lives. I only have 3 small complaints. The first complaint is that the pacing of the story can be a bit slow. Still that could be due to the fact books were written at a slower pace in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The second complaint is that I'm not super happy that we don't know what happened to Justin the Rat either. I like the idea of him and Mrs. Frisby getting to know each other better. Lastly, what happened to Jenner!? Were 6 or 7 rats killed? Is he alive or dead? There are so many unanswered questions that we'll never know because Mr. O'Brien died before he could write a sequel. His daughter did continue the series but as her own writings, which I'm not counting as a true continuation since Mr. O'Brien didn't have any say for those books.Chapters 14-17: Mrs. Frisby learns that her husband died putting powder in Dragon’s food. Nicodemus also tells her about NIMH. He explains how the rats were caught and taken to a laboratory and given injections to speed up the training process. He tells the story of how Justin, a young rat, tried to escape one day.