Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Chapters 1-8

Reading Check

1. She needs medicine for Timothy, who is sick. (Chapter 1)

2. Go to the rats (Chapter 8)

3. Four children (Chapter 1)

4. Mr. Fitzgibbon will plow the garden. (Chapter 5)

5. She is Jonathan Frisby’s husband. (Chapter 7)

6. In a cinder block at the Fitzgibbon farm (Chapter 1)

7. Dragon the cat (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

1. Mrs. Frisby is worried that Timothy will die if he is exposed to the cold, and she does not know how to solve the problem since the plowing will happen in five days, so she must move her family or the plow will kill them when it destroys their home. (Chapter 4)

2. Mrs. Frisby sets Jeremy the crow free from some string, and he repays her by taking her to see the owl in the forest. (Chapters 3 and 6)

3. Mrs. Frisby rides on Jeremy’s back even though she is afraid of heights. (Chapters 6)

Chapters 9-18

Reading Check

1. Brutus the rat (Chapter 10)

2. Mr. Ages tells the rats she is Jonathan Frisby’s wife (Chapter 10)

3. The scientists from NIMH (Chapter 14)

4. Read (Chapter 17)

5. Justin (Chapter 17)

6. Give Dragon the sleeping powder (Chapter 13)

7. They are injected by the scientists (Chapter 15)

Short Answer

1. For Nicodemus, the cage is the worst part of living in the lab because he is not free. (Chapter 15)

2. The maze makes the rats think they will make it outside if they complete it, but they never actually make it outside. (Chapter 16)

3. Justin learns how to read the instructions to open the cages. The rats and mice go through the air ducts and Jonathan and Mr. Ages unbolt the wire covering at the end to escape the building. (Chapter 17)

Chapters 19-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. They find the Boniface Estate and stay until the owners return. (Chapter 19)

2. They read books at the Estate. (Chapter 19)

3. Small tools, metal, food (Chapter 21)

4. She is captured by Billy and put in a birdcage. (Chapter 23)

5. Jenner and his group (Chapter 24)

6. It is plowed down. (Chapter 27)

7. To their summer home by the brook (Epilogue)

Short Answer

1. The rats’ Plan is to move to their new home in Thorn Valley where they have prepared a location where they can be self-sufficient away from humans. They are bringing their machinery, plows, and a huge store of seeds. (Chapter 22)

2. When the group of rats are found dead after being electrocuted by the engine, the government and NIMH suspect that they might be some rats from the lab. NIMH comes to the farm to destroy the rat habitat and to kill all the rats. Most of the rats escape because Mrs. Frisby alerts them to the plan, but two of the rats who stayed behind to fool the humans do not survive. (Chapter 24)

3. Justin is suspected of staying behind to help the others because he is the bravest rat. He was also the first rat to volunteer for the rear guard. (Chapter 28 and Epilogue)