Aladdin Paperbacks Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh

I read to my children every night for years now. They're 8 and 11, not native speakers (though quite fluent by now), and the three of us thoroughly enjoyed this book, absolutely loved it. It carried us away in the very sweet story of a loving mother mouse, her quest to save her children, and the extraordinary story of the rats that she came upon. It makes you think about how human we are or not, how clever we are or not, how important friendship is in our lives. And it filled us with warm feelings. And had its funny moments. And excitement. And at the end we couldn't put it down. Just brilliant

I read this book as possibly a 10 year old and have never forgotten the rats, in the story-within-the story in the middle, learning to read the instructions inside their cages that led to their *SPOILER ALERT! * escape. I got the book again later in life and this has culminated in reading it aloud to my 5 yr old son (*with only a few slight edits/explanations of the more complicated passages). He listened intently to chapters at bedtime, engaged with all the animal characters and wanted to talk about them and even act out some of the exciting bits. We have now read it twice in a year. Then, having had the book lying around our flat recently, my dad picked it up one visit and started reading ... and I now have to pass it on to him; he's 70. So all round, one of my favourite "children's" books. I only recently realised Robert C. O"Brien was an american author, as the story had to me a completely english feel - either way its extremely well-written in both structure and language. Mainly, it's very original. And there's an interesting snippet at the back as to how the seeds of the story were planted in the author's mind.

A classic American novel. Actually great literature in the guise of a children's book. Different from the film. Both magical. This is one of those rare special books that comes along far too infrequently in a lifetime. I was captivated, couldn't put it down.

Very pleased. One of the corners was a little damaged (see photo) but all in all very good quality. I first watched the film when I was younger a few years okay from my dad and i loved it.

One from my English lessons, now one for my daughters bedtime reading.