Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

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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. We live just three houses down from a farm, so we frequently have the pleasure of hearing a goat bleat or having a curious horse reach their head over the fence for a quick nuzzle. He only lingers in the mind of Nicodemus but lingers enough to make an impact on Nicodemus's decisions. Frisby, travels from his family's home to Thorn Valley (although his mother is an ordinary mouse, Timothy has inherited the extremely high intellect and long lifespan of his father, NIMH escapee Jonathan). Life in Thorn Valley is suddenly threatened when humans begin planning to build a dam there, which will flood most of Thorn Valley and destroy the rats' colony.

From them we learned that we were about the most hated animals on earth, except maybe snakes and germs. The film adds a mystical element completely absent from the novel, with Nicodemus portrayed as a wise, bearded old wizard with magic powers and an enchanted amulet, rather than an equal of the other rats. The rats of NIMH come up with a brilliant solution to Mrs Frisby's problem but the rats are in danger too, and little by little Mrs Frisby discovers their extraordinary past . I loved getting more details about the time Jonathan and the rats spent at NIMH, and I will continue to read the other accounts in the series. The successful house move allows the mouse family to remain so that Timothy has time to recover before moving to their summer home.

Two of the key planks of this plan is ownership and expanding its animated slate to include more adult fare. She discovers that the farmer plans to start plowing in five days (earlier than she expected), and she doesn’t know what to do. Why do I always prefer small colonies of animals in fiction and wish for them to take over the world? I don't think it really mattered to me too much as a kid, though; mostly I think I had a huge crush on Justin. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death.

I adored the 1982 movie and the book when I was little but hadn't read or watched it in over a decade or more.Frisby "a combination of science fiction and animal fantasy" that described "fantastic situations with scientific accuracy". Unraveling as a story within a story, there are a lot of really interesting characters presented who each provide missing pieces for the “secret” storyline, and/or serve to better contextualize the greater world of sentient animals living on the farm. A culture of fear began to grow surrounding unethical medical and scientific practices, which are heavily reflected in the book.