Module 4- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh and The Tale of Despereaux

Summary
After the death of her husband, Mrs. Frisby is left on her own to care for her family, including her ailing son Timothy.  While looking for a way to move the family to a safer home, Mrs. Frisby endures a series of adventures and dangers, finding strength and courage she never knew she had.  She also finds that both help and friends can be found in the most unexpected places.

Brien, R., & Bernstein, Z. (1971). Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH. New York, NY: Atheneum.

My impressions
Mrs. Frisby is a wonderful tale of courage, persistence, loyalty, empathy, and so many other things that we want our kids to learn.  It was also beautifully written, and the few illustrations that were included were quite charming.  This book goes down as one of my all time favorites.

Reviews
Bird, Elizabeth. Top 100 Children’s Novels #33: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien. (2012). School Library Journal, 5028. Retrieved from http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2012/05/31/top-100-childrens-novels-33-mrs-frisby-and-the-rats-of-nimh-by-robert-c-obrien/# 

All right!  One of my favorite science fiction books out there (or is it fantasy since Mrs. Frisby can talk too?).  You’ve got your rats.  Your lee.  Your stone.  What else do you need?
The plot, according to the publisher, reads, “Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma.”
According to Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book, Anita Silvey says of the author that, “He wrote Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH while on staff at National Geographic.  Since the magazine frowned on their writers developing projects for others, Robert Leslie Conly adopted a pseudonym based on his mother’s name and published this novel covertly.”  As a kid, I always wondered why the sequels (Racso and the Rats of NIMH, R-T, Margaret, and the Rats of NIMH, etc.) were written by a Jane Leslie Conly and not Mr. O’Brien.  It makes a lot more sense once you know it was a pseudonym.  Jane was actually his daughter.  Nice when they keep it in the family like that, eh?
In the end, the man didn’t do that many books.  Just The Silver Crown, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH,  A Report From Group 17 and Z is for Zachariah.  I’ve read two of those four.  Now I’m mighty curious about The Silver Crown (which gets republished every once in a while) and A Report From Group 17 (which I have NEVER heard of!).

Suggestion for library use
After reading Mrs. Frisby, the librarian could lead students in a discussion about how our perception shapes the way we view others.  In the book, the rats were viewed by the other animals as outsiders, and even as dangerous.  It would be interesting to help students notice similarities between this perception and the ones that we make about each other in society.

Summary
Despereaux is a small mouse destined for great things.  Despite continuous discouragement from his family and community, he pursues very un-mouselike interests, including talking with humans.  The tale of his pursuit of a princess is interwoven with the tragic tales of other characters such as Miggery Sow and Roscuro.  In the end, the various problems are resolved as a result of the bravery and resilience of Despereaux.

DiCamillo, K., & Ering, T. (2003). The tale of Despereaux: Being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press.

My impressions
This was the most recent of the books that I read this week, (2003), and it was a great updated slant on the traditional fairytale.  I loved the narrator's voice and the little asides to the reader. True to more modern fairytales, I thought that Despereaux did a great job of explaining the characters' complexities instead of oversimplifying things by painting some as "good" and others as "bad."  For example, at one point when the princess is being described, the author ticks off all of her good attributes and then her not so great ones. I loved this!  She wasn't assumed to be inherently "good" just because she was a princess-- it was more complicated than that.  The author did the same thing with the villians of the story, helping you to emphathize with them, (she even beautifully explained what it means to empathize with others).  What a great read and such a promising book for teaching students all sorts of things!

Reviews
Sieruta, P. D. (2003). The Tale of Despereaux. Horn Book Magazine, 79(5), 609-610.

Despereaux Tilling is not like the other mice in the castle. He's smaller than average, with larger than average ears. He'd rather read books than eat them. And he's in love with a human being--Princess Pea. Because he dares to consort with humans, the Mouse Council votes to send him to the dungeon. Book the First ends with Despereaux befriending a jailer who resides there. Books two and three introduce Roscuro, a rat with a vendetta against Princess Pea, and Miggery Sow, a young castle servant who longs to become a princess. Despereaux disappears from the story for too long during this lengthy middle section, but all the characters unite in the final book when Roscuro and Miggery kidnap Princess Pea at knifepoint and Despereaux, armed with a needle and a spool of thread, makes a daring rescue. Framing the book with the conventions of a Victorian novel ("Reader, do you believe that there is such a thing as happily ever after?"), DiCamillo tells an engaging tale. The novel also makes good use of metaphor, with the major characters evoked in images of light and illumination; Ering's black-and-white illustrations also emphasize the interplay of light and shadow. The metaphor becomes heavy-handed only in the author's brief, self-serving coda. Many readers will be enchanted by this story of mice and princesses, brave deeds, hearts "shaded with dark and dappled with light," and forgiveness.

 

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread (Book). (2004). School Library Journal, 5028.

Gr 3 Up--In this delightful novel, a tiny mouse risks all to save the princess he loves from the clutches of a devious rat and a slow-witted serving girl. With memorable characters, brief chapters, and inventive plot twists, this fast-paced romp is perfect for reading alone or sharing aloud. Winner of the 2004 Newbery Medal

Suggestion for library useStudents could do a comparison between this current fairytale and more traditional ones.  They might explore the differences in the way the main characters are depicted now versus then.