Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95750 in Books
• Published on: 1975-02-27
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
There's something very strange about the rats living under the rosebush in the Fitzgibbon farm. But Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with a sick child, is in dire straits and must turn to these exceptional creatures for assistance. Soon she finds herself flying on the back of a crow, slipping sleeping powder into a ferocious cat's dinner dish, and helping 108 brilliant, laboratory-enhanced rats escape to a utopian civilisation of their own design, no longer to live "on the edge of somebody else's, like fleas on a dog's back."

This unusual novel, winner of the Newbery Medal (among a host of other accolades) grabs the reader on page one and reels in steadily all the way through to the exhilarating conclusion. Robert O'Brien has created a small but complete world in which a mother's concern for her son overpowers her fear of all her natural enemies and allows her to make some extraordinary discoveries along the way. O'Brien's incredible tale, along with Zena Bernstein's appealing ink drawings, ensures that readers will never look at alley rats and field mice the same way again. (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

Synopsis
They are not like other rats. They work at night, in secret...Time is running out for Mrs Frisby. She must move her family of mice before the farmer destroys their home. But her youngest son, Timothy, is too ill to survive the move. Help comes in the unexpected form of a group of mysterious, super-intelligent rats. But the rats are in danger too, and little by little Mrs Frisby discovers their extraordinary past.

Customer Reviews

Nostalgic
I read this book when I was very young or it was read to me I could never remember but I always held it in my mind as such a magical, mysterious barn storming adventure. Just thinking about it filled me with nostalgia and who would have thought a world populated by super intelligent rats could seem so real but as a child this was the case. I recently purchased this book as my copy from childhood was long lost and I am glad to say it is as I remember it, a tremendous and exciting adventure. It it is more obvious to me now that it is clearly written for children but it will still appeal to adults and it moves at a cracking pace throughout. I recommend this to old and young and I have started reading it to my 4 year old, who is fascinated by the premise.. Next up is Z for Zachariah by the same author, this book in my memory is alot darker with more adult themes but I remember it as a very strange and stark book and I look forward to seeing how it stands up to my adult scrutiny...

An enduring classic.
I remember this book from when I was about ten years old in 1982. I came across it recently in an old box and read it again. I loved in back in the 80s and I love it now - it is an absolute classic of children's literature, well up there with the Willy Wonkas and the Harry Potters.

I've re-read some of my old books from the 80s and many of them are dated and irrelevant to todays child. However O'Brien's rats have an enduring appeal that deserve to be read by any child.

Mrs Frisby is a field mouse who finds her home (a stone block in a field) in the way of the farmer's plough. With a sick child she cannot contemplate moving, but maybe the rats can help. The mysterious rats under the rosebush, friends of her dead husband. But what secrets do the rats keep, and how much will Mrs Frisby do for her sick child?????

If you have kids, do them a favour and buy them this book. Read it to them yourself if you have to. It's a spell binding story, beautifully written with a magnificient plot and heart-wrenching ending. It's people like O'Brien that made me into the reader I am, and I recommend this whole-heartedly.

For ages *4 - 70 ...
I read this book as possibly a 10 year old and have never forgotten the rats, in the story-within-the story, learning to read the instructions inside their cages that led to their escape. I got the book again later in life and this has culminated in reading it aloud to my 5 yr old son (*with only a few slight edits/explanations of the more complicated passages). He listened intently to chapters at bedtime, engaged with all the animal characters and wanted to talk about them and even act out some of the exciting bits. We have now read it twice in a year. Then, having had the book lying around our flat recently, my dad picked it up one visit and started reading ... and I now have to pass it on to him; he's 70. So all round, one of my favourite "children's" books. I only recently realised Robert C. O"Brien was an american author, as the story had to me a completely english feel - either way its extremely well-written in both structure and language. Mainly, it's very original. And there's an interesting snippet at the back as to how the seeds of the story were planted in the author's mind.