Retro Friday: Rats of NIMH

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted here at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc. Everyone is welcome to join in at any time! I include roundups from participating bloggers in my post every week. - From Angieville

There's something very strange about the rats living under the rosebush at the Fitzgibbon farm. But Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with a sick child, is in dire straits and must turn to these exceptional creatures for assistance. Soon she finds herself flying on the back of a crow, slipping sleeping powder into a ferocious cat's dinner dish, and helping 108 brilliant, laboratory-enhanced rats escape to a utopian civilization of their own design, no longer to live "on the edge of somebody else's, like fleas on a dog's back."

This unusual novel, winner of the Newbery Medal (among a host of other accolades) snags the reader on page one and reels in steadily all the way through to the exhilarating conclusion. Robert O'Brien has created a small but complete world in which a mother's concern for her son overpowers her fear of all her natural enemies and allows her to make some extraordinary discoveries along the way. O'Brien's incredible tale, along with Zena Bernstein's appealing ink drawings, ensures that readers will never again look at alley rats and field mice in the same way. Synopsis from GoodReads.

I have to admit that I was a huge fan (and still am!) of the 1982 movie based on this children's novel, The Secret of NIMH which played up a magical element of the story not seen in the original novel. I didn't even know it was a book until I was around 10 or 12, and found it among some old novels left in my older cousins room. I loved this story, and I loved Mrs. Frisby who if you didn't notice, is an adult protagonist in a children's fiction. Yet, I love that Mrs. Frisby worries about her children, and talks about her husband whose intelligence she mentions was passed on her children.

When the farmer's plow threatens the safety of her sick son, Timothy, Mrs. Frisby turns to her husbands friend, Mr. Ages, for help. She is told to visit the Great Owl for advice, and does so despite danger to her life for her son. (She is a field mouse after all!) Mrs. Frisby may not have a genetically altered ability to learn, like Justin or Mr. Ages, but she's a smart and fearless character despite her timid nature. I'm not sure if I love this book because I loved the movie so much or not. I just don't have that kind of perspective on the book away from the movie. I watched it so many times I'm pretty stuck on it, but this is definitely one of those books I want to read to my children one day and pass it on.

Despite it's fantasy elements in the movie, and the fact that there are talking mice and rats, this really is more of a science fiction book.

Retro Friday: The Last Unicorn

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc

This weeks entry: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (1968)

Hidden away in her own sanctuary, Beagle's unicorn has little cares for the world due to her magic and immortality. However, when she hears that she might be the only unicorn left in the world, she sets out on a journey to see if there is any of her kind left. After being captured by a freak show she meets up with a bumbling magician, Schmendrick, and later, a middle aged maiden, Molly Grue. Together these three head on a quest that will take them into the dangerous realm of King Haggard. It will be here that the last unicorn will have to face her nemesis, the Red Bull, in order to free the rest of her kind.

(Summary from SFFWorld.com)

Okay, not one person who lived through the 80's hasn't at least heard of the cartoon movie The Last Unicorn which starred Mia Farrow, Jeff Bridges and Angela Lansbury. (You can watch the intro here.) The story itself is an amazing tale about the loss of magic in the human world that both embraces and shuns it. The unicorn, believing that she may very well be the last of her kind, sets out on a journey to find out what has happened to her fellow unicorns. She has no idea what she will come across but she is determined to find out.

The Last Unicorn is a classic tale of circumstances. The Unicorn becomes an unintended champion of her species. Because of her travels she is forever changed from who she was before they started. She meets humans she would never have known of and creates lasting bonds with them. The King is a villain because of selfishness rather then maliciousness towards the Unicorn herself. The King set out to collect something he found beautiful, but in his greed he became the unintended villain to the unintended hero. He no more sought out the Unicorn then she did him.

Now in it's 40th anniversary edition (2008) The Last Unicorn (Conlan Press) is considered a classic among Fantasy books. I'm currently reading this book.

Retro Friday: The Angels Trilogy

Angie, over at Angieville, does something really fun called Retro-Friday. I think it's a really great idea and a really neat way to relive some books that aren't just published but deserve a little recognition. I asked, and Angie said it was fine if I took her idea. So here goes the first Retro Friday! Button courtesy of Angie.


The Angels Triology by Lurlene McDaniel

(Amazon) (Author Website)

Compiles indivisual titles:
Angels Watching Over Me
Lifted Up By Angels
Until Angels Close My Eyes

Leah is not happy about being stuck in the hospital for the holidays while her mother is thousands of miles away on a honeymoon with husband number five. Until she meets her hospital roommate, Rebekah, and her big family. Cynical 16-year-old Leah has never known people like this before. From Rebekah’s handsome brother, Ethan, who can barely look Leah in the eye, to her kind older sister, Charity, the Amish family captivates Leah with its simple, loving ways. When Leah receives frightening information about her condition, her new friends show her that miracles can happen. And that sometimes angels appear in the most unexpected places.

This trilogy was one that I loved way back in high school when they were originally released sometime in the 90's. One day a few years ago I found the compilation and had to buy it, and re-read it. I loved the love story between Leah and Ethan. Somehow McDaniel found a way to write two characters so in love, and yet so far apart from each other that I am still invested in them to this day. The way that Leah would describe Ethan as smelling like cinnamon, and how she grew to love both his sisters Charity and Rebekah. The whole family dynamic between all of them really made you want Leah and Ethan to have a happily ever after.

McDaniel's books really struck a chord with me when I was a teenager. (Man, that makes me old. Snicker.) I guess I always loved to read the sometimes sadder love stories along with all those horror novels. You know to balance the scales a bit between the two. Once I really think about it Lurlene McDaniel is like the Nicolas Sparks of the teen girl crowds. Strange, sometimes tragic love stories that make you want to cry. When I was reading the Angels Trilogy it was as each book came out so each year I had something to look forward to, and out of all McDaniel's books that I read (And I read a LOT.) this book is the one that sticks with me the most.

I'm not gonna say whether Leah and Ethan did get their happily ever after either. You'll have to read the novels to learn that. But if you want to dip your toe into this book then check out a limited preview on Google books. Which is what I do for a lot of books. Especially when I have a hard time finding a book in a library or book store.