"National Institute of Mental Health!" Rebecca yelled. She was so pleased to have figured this out early in the book, but we never found out if Robert O'Brien agreed.
I had grown up watching the Don Bluth animated video, but I don't think I had ever read this book. We got a copy on cd and listened to it on our trip to Oregon and really enjoyed this book. I only vaguely remembered the plot of this book from the movie, but couldn't remember any details. However, the few details I remember must be the only similarities between the two. This is definitely a case where the book is much better than the movie.
Mrs. Frisby is a field mouse who has a problem. The early spring means that the farmer will be plowing his fields soon and her current home is in the middle of the field. Easy enough, she's supposed to move, right? Except that one of her sons is recovering from pneumonia and if he leaves the home, he's toast for sure. So her task is simple: figure out how to save her son without letting him leave the cinder block they call home.
The interesting thing about this book is that it's one of those classic stories which can be enjoyed by the age group it was written for, but they probably won't pick up on the philosophical overtones this book has in its discussions of sustainability and evolution. I'm sure none of that was in the movie (it's a real kids movie after all), but the discussions with the rats on community viability and human civilization development were my favorite parts. Without being dogmatic, this book did a great job of presenting some very interesting ideas while still tending to a good storyline.
It had everything we could want: good storyline, things to think about and talk about after reading the book, and especially moments where Rebecca and I just had to squeeze each other's hand and hope that things turned out okay in the end.
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