After some personal struggles during his time at Williams College, Robert C. O’Brien overcame his demons and became a renowned contributor to National Geographic Magazine, until glaucoma rendered him unable to continue as a journalist. Instead, he turned to writing children’s stories, and won the Newbery Medal in 1972 for his novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.
Young Adult Mag: What inspired you to write a story about rats?
Robert C. O’Brien: Mice and rats. I traveled all over the world during my time with National Geographic, and one thing that every place I visited had in common was the presence of rats. Rats are everywhere. They’re almost like the humans of the animal world, in that they occupy all of the same areas as we do.
YA: And that’s sort of what The Rats of NIMH is about, correct?
RO: Correct. The story is about a group of rats who have become literate and technologically advanced after having been experimented upon by scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health, who are enlisted to help a widowed field mouse move her family’s home before it is run over by a farmer’s plough.
YA: It sounds like there are some very current themes in your novel, which was written in the early 1970s.
RO: Yes, I’ve noticed that much of today’s literature for younger readers revolves around utopia and dystopia, technology running rampant, humans meddling with nature, etc.
YA: And how exactly are those themes included in your novel?
RO: The rats plan to leave their home on the property of humans and create their own, perfect society. This, of course, causes conflict, because there will never be a consensus about what will make life perfect. And, of course, we see the themes of humans using technology they can’t control with the presence of rats who have become self aware and are thinking independently.
YA: What do you think of the 1982 animated film adaptation of your work, The Secret of NIMH?
RO: I think it’s overall very well done, but the film adds a supernatural element that is not part of my original story.