If you were like me as a child, a "lazy reader," you watched the movie The Secret of NIMH and loved it, but you never bothered to read the book it was based of off... until now!
Module 4 was about the Newbery Award. In 1972, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O'Brien and illustrated by Zena Bernstein, won the Newbery. Named for 18th-century British bookseller John Newbery, this American Library Association (ALA) award, the first official award for children's literature in the world, is awarded "to encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field" ("About the Newbery medal," para. 3).
Book Summary
Mrs. Frisby, a field mouse, is a widow with three young children, one very sickly. The family, who during the winter lives in a brick on a farm, must move to their warm-weather home before the farmer plows the land, which their winter home is on. However, it is too risky for Timmy, the youngest who has been very ill. Mrs. Frisby risks her life on several occasions figuring out how to move her family to safety in time. Eventually she enlists the help of the rats, the mysterious farm neighbors who live under the rose bush.
My Impressions
I love this book. When I was little, my siblings and I watched the movie a lot, but it wasn't until taking this class (I am now in my 30s) that I actually read the book. So, now I love the book and have deemed it one of my favorites.
Mrs. Fisby is considered a fantasy and science fiction book, but since the fantastical elements are animals--they talk and do things humans do (not to mention the rats' laboratory-generated ability to read)--it doesn't feel like what I usually think of when I think of fantasy and sci-fi books. Perhaps this is where I have limited myself in my reading life. I tend to think of fantasy and sci-fi as books as books like Twilight (which, in all honesty, I have not read [yet!] and I'm not here to pass judgement on the series made wildly popular by teen girls), with vampires or aliens--supernatural beings, and stories about outer space to which I can't relate. Turns out that fantasy and sci-fi are big umbrella genres, with subgenres I actually do like (many that I probably read as a child without explicitly knowing [or caring] about the genre) and books that I would like now if I gave them the chance. So, what I'm trying to say here is thank you, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and Robert C. O'Brien for showing me that I'm a jerk and a dummy for having brushed off fantasy and sci-fi for so long!
The book is such a good adventure story. I really like how there are several heroes. The rats are heroes and I like that they are portrayed in a positive way. Usually in stories with rats they are portrayed as the villains. The main protagonist of the book is a single mom, Mrs. Frisby. The choice to have a single-mom protagonist is a feminist statement in the simple fact that even though the widowed Mrs. Frisby seeks help, in doing so she actively participates in solving her family's problem and ends up helping the rats, too. Also, the rats are not depicted as typical heroes saving the helpless little lady (she's little, but not helpless!). Subtle political elements like this can enhance the message of a story more than if they were explicitly stated. However, the prominent rat characters are all male; the wives and female rats (who also possess special abilities) are mentioned, but they are mostly in their homes, focused on the domestic (albeit not unimportant) duties.
Another, more known political subplot in this book is the issue of animal testing. O'Brien (nom de plume of Robert Conly) was a National Geographic reporter in the 1960s where it is assumed that he could have had access to the work of a particular scientist from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), John B. Calhoun, who at the time had been conducting experiments on rodents to test the effects of population density. Calhoun thinks his work had an influence on Conly's (O'Brien) book, but Conly remained silent about there ever being any connection (Ramsden & Adams, 2008, 41-44). It is also interesting to note that the animal rights movement started gaining momentum in the 70s, when Mrs. Frisby was published (1971) (Finsen & Finsen, 1994). Regardless of how the plot came to O'Brien and whether he was intentional about it or not, I still think it was brilliant to clandestinely weave political issues into the story.
Professional Review
(Click on book review image for a clearer view.)
Use this book as part of a theme on collaboration, teamwork, working together, socialism! (j/k... am I?).
References
Burns, M. M. (1971). [Review of the book Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH, by R. C. O'Brien]. The Horn Book Magazine, 47(4), 385.
Finsen, L., & Finsen, S. (1994). The animal rights movement in America: From compassion to respect. Woodbridge, CT: Twayne Publishers.
O'Brien, R. C. (1971). Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH. New York, NY: Atheneum
Ramsden, E., & Adams, J. (2009). Escaping the laboratory: The rodent experiments of John B. Calhoun & their cultural influence. Journal of Social History, 42(3), 761-792.
No comments:
Post a Comment