Kid Lit Authors Quiz: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH | 10 Questions

Answer: a crow

The crow's name is Jeremy, and he likes shiny things. In a scene reminiscent of the Aesop fable about the mouse and the lion, Mrs. Frisby rescues Jeremy after he has been tangled in a shiny string. He promises to do her a favor in return, and later she calls him on it. He can't help her, but he suggests going to see the wise owl.

Answer: Dragon

Dragon 'was enormous, with a huge, broad head and a large mouth full of curving fangs, needle sharp.' But the rats of NIMH know how to deal with him...

Answer: killed by the cat

'Brutus wrinkled his brow. "Mr. Jonathan? You mean the one Dragon..."
"Yes," said Justin quickly. "And this is Mrs. Jonathan."'

Her husband, a friend of the rats, was putting sleeping potion in Dragon's food as a favor to them when he moved a bit too slow and was caught.

Answer: doctor

Mr. Ages, who was also experimented on at NIMH, knows all sorts of powders, plants and potions to help the sick (and to sedate predators). When we first see him, he has collected a bag of pipsissewa, "a very useful spring tonic." He breaks his leg during the course of the book giving Dragon the sleeping powder.

Answer: Nicodemus

Nicodemus has a scar across his left eye, covered by a an eye-patch. He and Justin were the ringleaders who orchestrated the escape from NIMH, but the other rats naturally turn toward Nicodemus as the leader since he's older.

Timothy is the name of Mrs. Frisby's son who falls sick at the beginning of the book. Jenner is the rat who forms a splinter group and wants to steal from the humans. Archimedes is the talking owl in T.H. White's "The Once And Future King".

Answer: The Toy Tinker

The Toy Tinker sold many kits, models and toys, and had tools to fix them. The rats are delighted to find actual electric tools small enough for them to use.

The rats do bury the poor guy, though.

Answer: through the air vents

The rats (and the mice) crawl through the air vent, using a stolen screwdriver to move the wire mesh over the ducts. Six of the poor mice are blown away by the fan during the escape, and the rats never see them again. They may have escaped, or they may have died down there. Just another one of the book's many ambiguities.

Answer: a farmer's market

The rats lived a very contented life at the farmer's market, because there was always enough food. But it is this very abundance and waste that makes Nicodemus later realize there must be more to life than living off the scraps of others.

Answer: Justin

All of the answers are names of the rats of NIMH, but it is the large, young and muscular guard Justin who climbs up to rescue her. He bends the door instead of opening it, so the humans won't be suspicious about the rats' intelligence.

Later, the mice speculate that it's Justin who dies in the final flight from the farm, but we're never told for sure.

Answer: No

No, the book ends with the rats fleeing from the doctor. It's presumed that they do get to the wilderness preserve in Thorn Mountain, but the doctor is still on their trail. And even if they remain hidden, we have no idea if the rats will succeed in growing their own crops. Heck, we don't even find out which rat dies at the end! Mrs. Frisby's children state their intention to go find the colony and see how the rats are doing "someday."

I suppose that's a deliberate approach on the part of O'Brien, in order to resemble the uncertainties of life and to allow the reader to construct his or her own ideas about what happened next. And the book did win the Newbery, so I can't really criticize. But obviously, I'm not the only one left wanting more: O'Brien's daughter wrote two sequels to this book!