# Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

**Author:** Robert C. O'Brien
**Lexile:** 790L
**Grade range:** Grades 4–6
**Age range:** 9–12
**First published:** 1971
**Page count:** 233
**Genre:** Middle Grade Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780689710681`
**ISBN-10:** `0689710682`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/mrs-frisby-and-the-rats-of-nimh
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

A widowed field mouse must move her family before the farmer plows over her home, and turns for help to a colony of intelligent rats who escaped a laboratory. O'Brien's Newbery Medal novel is a 4th-6th grade staple with strong thematic depth.

## Themes

- family
- courage
- science and ethics
- intelligence
- legacy

## Content notes

- animal testing
- peril

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 9+

## Where this book is assigned

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **required** · 5th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 4-5 Newbery Medal](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 6-8 exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)

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