Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
by Robert C. O'Brien

Robert Conly (his real name) always loved words and reading, but his first early love may have been music. He could sing before he could talk and as an adolescent he awakened each morning at 4 o'clock to practice the piano. Early in his life he dreamed of becoming a concert pianist.

He was born January 11, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York. Robert Conly was the middle child in a family of five. Whe he was still a baby, the family moved to Amityville, Long Island where Robert spent his growing-up years. As a middle child, perhaps he often needed to escape to a dream world where he was the hero. He was not a good student and was a college dropout. Yet, he continued a love and respect for language. He returned to school at The University of Rochester where he could study his music at Eastman School of Music and also get a B.A. in English at the university. Since 1943 he earned his living writing news stories, articles, poetry, and then fiction.

He worked for Newsweek Magazine in New York City, became a reporter covering Capitol Hill for the old Washington Times-Herald, and in 1951 joined the staff of the National Geographic Magazine. Perhaps he would never have entered the world of fiction if not for his worsening glaucoma.

The eye disease meant he could no longer drive long distances after dark from his National Geographic position to his home in the country. So, at age 45, he moved his family back to New York City. With his job only fifteen minutes from his office, he had more time available to explore a growing passion--writing a children's novel. His first book, The Silver Crown, was published in 1968. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH followed in 1971. Conly continued to maintain his full-time job with the National Geographic by maintaining a strict discipline of writing a few paragraphs every day.

Conly chose to write under a pen name because the National Geographic frowned on its staff writing outside of their professional positions. So, Conly became Robert C. O'Brien. He chose O'Brien because it was his mother's name.

O'Brien wrote Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH after visiting a sick friend who had been sent to the National Institues of Health for treatment. On the grounds were some research laboratories where animals were being tested. Supposedly the most intelligent animals at the research lab were the rats who were always trying to escape.

Robert C. O'Brien died in Washington DC in 1973 at the age of 55.

For more information about Mr. O'Brien, visit about Robert C. O'Brien by Sally M. O'Brien.