Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

It's also one of seoman's favorite books. Go to your local library and check it out.

A movie entitled The Secret of NIMH has been based on this book.

In the book, the rats accomplish the moving through hard work and good engineering. In the movie, the rats' block and tackle are sabotaged by a villain, and "Mrs. Brisby" uses a magical amulet to levitate the house to its new location.

It seems to me that this leaves the movie viewer with a much different message than the reader gets. In the movie, "love is the key": love itself -- Mrs. Brisby's love for her children and the late Jonathan Brisby's love for his wife -- has the mystical power to overcome insurmountable physical obstacles. In the book, it is the dedication, skill, loyalty and practicality of Frisby and the rats which accomplish what love and respect motivate.

An interesting fact about this, seemingly childish, novel is that it was intended as commentary on the abuse of lab animals. He really believed that lab rats could be that intelligent. At least this is how my mom introduced it to me. Seeing as Robert C. O'Brien is my cousin, and she knew him, I trusted her. This makes Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH fit well with O'Brien's other works, which were largely social commentary on what continue to be 'hot' topics.