Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien

 

This timeless classic is a wonderful read for the young mind exploring science- possibly their first real book of fiction with elements of hard science woven throughout the theme. But- definitely still fantasy and very fictional. Copyright 1971. I remember this on the shelves of my elementary school and remember liking it as a child.

The book begins with the story of a widowed field mouse, Mrs. Frisby, and the tale of her sick son Timothy. The Frisby family, minus the father who died the year before, is currently living in their winter home which is a cinderblock in the middle of a dormant vegetable patch. The leftover vegetables and scraps are enough to feed the family until plowing time again when they must move further away from the farm to their summer home. Unfortunately, Timothy is too sick to move and when Mrs. Frisby hears Farmer Fitzgibbons plow, she knows she is running out of time.  With the help of a crow who owes her a favor and a wise owl in the forest, Mrs. Frisby learns that her late husband's deeds earned her enough respect in the community to warrant a visit to the rats. 

Who are the rats? All that Mrs. Frisby knows at that point is that a large group of rats live in a nearby rosebush, but she never knew that her husband had any dealings with them. 

Her introduction to the rats opens the story of their origin, what happened to her husband and why, their plan for the future- and most importantly to her, a way to move her house away from the danger of the plow so her son can survive without a move that will surely cause his death.

It turns out that the rats came from a lab focused on improving the intelligence of animals. Little did the researcher know that he was training his rats to escape and survive on their own with the use of electricity and other sophistication. 

Upon escape, the rats used their enhanced brains and knowledge from the lab to create their own sophisticated society living within the protection of the thorns of a rosebush near a farm.  From this farm they were able to steal what they needed to create quite a beautiful home complete with decor, an elevator and modern conveniences traditionally used by humans. But they know their time is limited in the rosebush- rumor has it their home is in danger.

When Mrs. Frisby goes to sedate the farm cat so the rats can move her house from the dangers of the plow she overhears conversations about the arrival of exterminator for the rats in the rosebush. All plans are accelerated, and the rats must leave immediately.

This is a fast-moving tale with excitement and suspense and well-worth reading during the school year as a required fictional book or during the summer. Highly recommended.

Survivors: A Hidden Enemy (Book 2) by Erin Hunter

 

In my job as a guest teacher I am often assigned the task of shelving books in the school library. It is in this role that I first found this book- or rather its sister series called “Warriors.” In my other role as library mom (to my own children) I peruse the shelves of the used books at our local library. These are sold for 1$ each generally and sometimes there are real gems on the shelf (like the hard copy of Williams Sonoma Slow Cooker cookbook- I told my family someone got that for Christmas years ago and finally donated it to the library after using it once at most) This book was purchased for 1$ from our library “recycled” books. That is why I am reading book #2 before book #1. And- in this series that seems to work. There is some of the back story I am missing but it isn’t critical to understanding the major plot and theme of this book.

This book follows mainly two packs of dogs- the leashed dogs and the wild dogs. Both packs are trying to forge for food and water in a part of the forest infected by some contaminant. Lucky is a dog with ties to both packs- he considers himself a lone dog. His litter mate is part of the leashed dogs- former city dogs who have come together in the wild. This group of dogs doesn’t have a strict hierarchy and they seem to live together in harmony without much structure. 

In the opening scenes of the book the two packs of dogs are fighting over clean water. The wild dogs attack the leashed dogs who are drinking in what they deem their territory. It is in this fight that Lucky and Sweet reunite. Their connection was a “Trap house” in which they both escaped as lone dogs- and Lucky states he thought Sweet would never find a pack. But yet there she is fighting with one of the toughest and wildest packs around- and they are winning.

The plot of the book moves fast and would seem appealing to a young reader- Lucky is enticed into spying for his litter mate Bella of the leashed dogs. He joins the wild dogs and becomes part of their hierarchical structure.   All seems well until Lucky is blackmailed about his double role by a wild dog at the bottom of the hierarchy and Sweet betrays him by using the information he supplied to attack the wild dogs in retaliation for their previous defeat. 

Especially at the end the plot is grippingly a page turner and ends with Lucky’s ultimate betrayal to the alpha member of the wild dogs- and surely death. But…..we end on a cliffhanger not really knowing what happens to Lucky and wanting to purchase the third book in the series.