This is the book for February in the 4D challenge.
9. Mrs Frisby and the rats of NIMH
Robert C. O'Brien
I had heard of this book, yet I had never seen the catoon adaptation (I hear it's pretty good) or ever picked it up, and if Kateri hadn't nominated it I suspect I would have gone my entire life never reading it. All that being said or done I'm glad that whatever thought process Kateri was going through during her selection is what we ended up with. This book was very readable, and this is often true of children's book but sadly it doesn't always transfer to adult readers. If (by some miracle) you don't know the story of Mrs Frisby then I really don't want to spoil it!
The plot wasn't hugely difficult to work out- after all it is about super clever rats in a children's book. But saying that the plot wasn't as straightforward as the usual children's book, it has some depth to the characters, there are heroes and villans- but even the heroes have flaws and the villains are not exactly evil. The events are entirely predictable but the what we learn through each of these events is more interesting.
I can see me reading this to the girls (or at least getting them to read it to themselves as our "to read" pile is ever growing. Since this is a book about some exceptionally clever rats I thought I'd share a picture of some rats of my personal acquaintance, although I'm sorry to say they are not on quite the same level as the rats from NIMH.
