Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

"Mrs. Frisby" redirects here. Not to be confused with Mrs. Brisby.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
First-edition cover with Zina Bernstein's artwork
AuthorRobert C. O'Brien
IllustratorZena Bernstein
SeriesRats of NIMH[1]
GenreScience fiction, children, fantasy novel
Published1971 Atheneum Books[2]
Media typePrint
Pages233
ISBN0-689-86220-2 (second Aladdin paperback edition, 1999)
OCLC52814814
LC ClassPZ10.3 O19 Mi[2]
Followed byRacso and the Rats of NIMH 

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is a 1971 children's science fiction/fantasy book by Robert C. O'Brien, with illustrations by Zena Bernstein. The novel was published by the Los Angeles publishing house Atheneum Books.

This book was the winner of numerous awards including the 1972 Newbery Medal.[3] Ten years following its publication, the story was adapted for film as The Secret of NIMH (1982).[4]

The novel centers around a colony of escaped lab rats—the rats of NIMH—who live in a technologically sophisticated and literate society mimicking that of humans. They come to the aid of Mrs. Frisby, a widowed field mouse who seeks to protect her children and home from destruction by a farmer's plow.[5]

The rats of NIMH were inspired by the research of John B. Calhoun on mouse and rat population dynamics at the National Institute of Mental Health from the 1940s to the 1960s.[6]

After O'Brien's death in 1973, his daughter Jane Leslie Conly wrote two sequels to Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.[7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference isfdb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "Mrs. Frisby and the rats of Nimh". LC Online Catalog. Library of Congress (lccn.loc.gov). Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  3. ^ "Robert C. O'Brien". Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors, Gale, 2012. Gale Literature Resource Center.
  4. ^ Cawley, John (October 1991). "The Secret of N.I.M.H.". The Animated Films of Don Bluth. Image Pub of New York. ISBN 0-685-50334-8.
  5. ^ "SuperSummary".
  6. ^ Henry, Fountain. "J.B. Calhoun, 78, Researcher on Effects of Overpopulation". New York Times (1923-), Sep 29, 1995, pp. 1. ProQuest
  7. ^ Vidor, Constance. "Conly, Jane Leslie 1947-" The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English, edited by Victor Watson, Cambridge University Press, 1st edition, 2001. Credo Reference