When it comes to animal phobias, mice and rats are definitely one of the most common, but I personally find these rodents to be delightful. Sure, I don’t necessarily want a large rat scurrying around my kitchen in the middle of the night, but I think they make wonderful pets, and if the almighty algorithm decides to serve me up a video of an adorable mouse eating a little block of cheese, then you best believe I’ll be watching.
There are, of course, plenty of rats and mice that pop up in sci-fi and fantasy stories, with children’s books in particular being particularly fond of the whiskered creatures, from Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH to the Redwall books to Stuart Little, and on and on. But this particular list is going to focus on five adult titles that feature rats and mice as characters…
Flowers for Algernon (1966) by Daniel Keyes
Despite being the titular character, little lab mouse Algernon doesn’t really get all that much page time in Flowers for Algernon, but his moments are undeniably impactful. Main character Charlie Gordon is chosen to be the first human test subject for an experimental surgery which seeks to increase intelligence. The surgery has already been successfully performed on Algernon, who Charlie initially dislikes for being smarter than him.
But it isn’t long before Charlie—who is now also becoming more intelligent—comes to see himself reflected in Algernon, and he develops a fondness for the tiny animal. While the scientists treat Algernon as nothing more than a living experiment, Charlie views him as so much more than that, and gives him a better life as soon as he’s able to.
Flowers for Algernon has a lot to say about how intelligence—high, low, and medium—functions and is treated in society, but the story’s message is really driven home by the heart-rending emotional connection the reader (or, at least, this reader) develops with both Charlie and Algernon.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (1979) by Douglas Adams
The mouse elements of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fall into spoiler territory, so if you haven’t read the book (nor listened to the radio show nor watched the movie), don’t read the paragraph below. All you need to know is that Arthur Dent is rescued from Earth right before the entire planet is destroyed and from there he’s forced to go on a comically absurd journey through space. There are mice present at certain points in the story, and they’re hilarious.
Spoiler section: Arthur understandably isn’t the biggest fan of mice Frankie and Benjy—who are actually members of an intelligent pan-dimensional alien race—on account of them wanting to dice up his brain to extract from it the Ultimate Question (the answer to which is, famously, 42). That the mice had Earth built and then pretended to be lowly lab animals—all while actually sneakily experimenting on humans themselves—for the sole purpose of figuring out this question is comedy gold. But I do think it’s a shame that their love of cheese was merely a front to dupe humanity. No more cheeses for these meeces, I guess.
The Green Mile (1996) by Stephen King
I would die for Mr Jingles. And I’m pretty sure every character in The Green Mile would too—that is, aside from cruel guard Percy Wetmore, who I hate just as strongly as I love the mouse. The story takes place on the death row block in Cold Mountain Penitentiary, with Mr Jingles being the pet—or maybe “friend” would be a more appropriate description—of prisoner Eduard “Del” Delacroix.
Although adored most of all by Del, the majority of people who know Mr Jingles have real affection for him—including Paul Edgecombe, the story’s narrator and block supervisor, and prisoner John Coffey, who uses his extraordinary gift to help the little mouse at a particularly crucial moment. And how could they not love him? He sleeps in a cotton-lined cigar box, loves to eat pink peppermint candies, and is smart enough to do little tricks.
Perhaps all of the characters are merely anthropomorphizing Mr Jingles, but maybe he’s actually just that special. With the supernaturally talented John Coffey around, the idea that Mr Jingles might be a cut above other mice doesn’t seem strange at all.
Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023) by Brandon Sanderson
Tress lives a simple life on a little island in the middle of an emerald green sea of spores. When her best friend, Charlie, is kidnapped by the wicked Sorceress, whose lair is in the deadly Midnight Sea, Tress throws herself head first into danger (and adventure!) in an attempt to rescue him.
Tress may not have the same developed skill-set as those used to sailing the spore seas, but she more than makes up for that with her can-do attitude and endearing personality. Plus, no matter what challenges she encounters, she always has at least one friend in her corner (or, rather, on her shoulder): a talking rat called Huck.
Even in this whimsical fantasy world where the seas aren’t made of water, talking rats are not common, but when Tress first meets Huck she’s not horrified by him, nor does she start plotting ways to exploit him. Instead, she treats him with the kindness and respect that all animals deserve and quickly makes her first real friend away from the safety of home.
“The Year of the Rat” (2009) by Chen Qiufan (translated by Ken Liu)
Unlike the other stories on this list, “The Year of the Rat” doesn’t feature one or two standout rodents who have big personalities. Instead, it features hordes of genetically engineered rats with which China is now at war. Our unnamed narrator is fresh out of college with a degree in Chinese Literature and has basically no job prospects, so he joins the Rodent-Control Force. Although he isn’t thrilled to be spending his days killing rats and being yelled at by his Drill Instructor, he’s guaranteed a job afterwards.
However, as the story goes on, our narrator comes to realize that not only have the rats developed beyond their initial modifications, but also that they may have been unfairly categorized as the antagonists in this conflict.
Have I overlooked any of your favorite sci-fi/fantasy rats or mice? Feel free to take to the comments to declare your love for the rodents that I’ve missed…
These are both aimed more toward kids, but The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (Terry Pratchett) and The Tale of Despereaux (Kate DiCamillo) both come to mind.
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents may be child sounding but children would find it’s deaths and violence troubling. It is written for adults with adult themes and is pure Pratchett Discworld and recommended.
It may be disturbing but it won the Carnegie Medal in its year of publication, an award voted on by UK librarians. I assume that they might know a thing or two about what kids enjoy in a book.
Mutters to self about such children’s fiction as Old Yeller and Watership Down (the animated movie).
Not to mention the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
Which brings to mind a rodent from that touching children’s story in which one special pig is saved from being killed and eaten but millions of off-stage pigs are not. Charlotte’s Web includes in its cast Templeton the rat, who is almost perfectly self-serving and does not suffer at all for it.
There was a pair of horror novels from the long ago: Willard, which was followed by Ben. Both centre on recluses who befriend a rat named Ben. Ben seems to have human-level intelligence, and more importantly, enormous talent at attracting large hordes of hungry, man-eating rats. Complications ensue.
Crispin Glover portrayed Willard in a 2003 remake. Glover created, IIRC, a more frightening character than any of the rats.
The film version of Willard has a very popular Michael Jackson theme song about friendship, which seemed to outlast any association in people’s memories with rats attacking folks (including Earnest Borgnine). Maybe helped by it not mentioning Willard or rodents, only a friend named “Ben”.
I’m quite fond of Despereaux and their very large ears. Roscuro is an interesting character too.
I think little rodents fascinate us with their curiosity and determination.
We do need more fictional capybaras though.
Reepicheep of Narnia (in _Prince Caspian_ and _The Dawn-Treader_ is hilarious and exquisite.
Absolutely. And Eddie Izzard kills it as Reepicheep in the big screen adaptation.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. And Redwall.
Do not read any Redwall books if you’re trying to lose weight. Seriously.
X Minus One adapted Chain of Command by Stephen Rynas (writing as Stephen Orr), which focuses on the effort of a mutant mouse to convince the humans running the top secret facility that created, then lost track of, the mutant mice to stop putting traps out. Negotiations go poorly.
It’s a metaphorical mouse, but _The Mouse that Roared_ and its sequels delighted younger me 40 years ago…
“The Star Mouse” (1942) by Fredric Brown.
There is a rather important mouse army that features fairly prominently in The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson.
Sidenote: Flowers for Algernon is the most heart-tearing book I have ever read.
Yes, that might be the case. (Although I found “All quiet on the Western Front” my most disturbing read ever, but in quite another way).
I read “Flowers for Algernon” while on manouver during night shifts on a telephone exchange truck that would relocate most every day. It left me with a deep, warm feeling and sympathies for these inmates and their bond. My team mate Jörg had borrowed it to me and it had impressed him in quite a similar way.
It’s been nearly 40 years since then, and there are a lot of SF books I only vaguely remember having read. But Charlie and Algernon have left a deep imprint in my memory.
Eric Flint did Rats, Bats, and Vats, about uplifted gengineered rodentoids called rats, along with likewise altered bats and human conscripts from the lower classes fight aliens on a poorly planned planet.
The Conspirators by James White. The experimental mice and guinea pigs on the first interstellar expedition have developed intelligence, as has Felix the ship’s cat, and are working out a way to escape by hijacking the planetary probes and colonising the first livable planet they find without the human crew finding out…
A. Bertram Chandler’s Giant Killer similarly (though that’s technically a spoiler, I guess).
And Will Stanton’s Barney. He was a wonderful ratt and life without him is knot worth livving.
King Rat, by China Mieville, and The Coachman Rat, by David Henry Wilson.
The Anatole books, by Eve Tutus, from my distant childhood, about an eponymous mouse who lives in a Paris cheese factory, inspecting the cheeses and leaving little notes (“Needs more dill.”)
Algernon kills me, everytime I read it, but of course I reread it. Now the Smartness goes away, and Algernon is dead…
Eve Titus also wrote the Basil of Baker Street books, which were the basis for the animated movie The Great Mouse Detective.
Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?
Yes Brain, but once we get the elephants into the coveralls, what are we going to do with all the coleslaw?
Mouse Guard graphic novel series
I was scrolling to see if anyone put MG on here. Good to see.
And FYI – there’s a brand new 2025 series just started. “Dawn of the Black Axe’
Thank you for the mention of Mouse Guard! It’s a lovely comic, and one that I would like to get back to…
Fritz Leiber’s The Swords of Lankhmar features intelligent rats in a very prominent role.
With lots of nipples. Lord, how that squicked me out.
Came here to suggest this. THe main story involving the rats just oozes quality.
The Princess Bride has some rather unusually-sized ones, if I recall correctly….
There’s also an animated movie called Ratatouille.
The only place I’ve ever seen a proper illustration of how flavors mix and become *better*.
Nick and Fetcher are the two resourceful rats in Chicken Run.
I recommend William Kotzwinkle’s novel Doctor Rat: https://www.kotzwinkle.com/doctor-rat.
Brief summary quoted here from SFE.com: ‘The tale is mostly narrated by an animal narrator, an elderly laboratory Rat whose mind has been jumbled by too much maze-running (see Labyrinths), and who sees himself as an active collaborator with the humans experimenting on him and his kin (see Zoo); the destiny of the animal world, he feels, is that it be subjected to such experiments for the ultimate good. Crises in the Ecology, however, drive the brutalized animals to form a global consciousness, and war ensues between Man and animals; Doctor Rat heroically quells revolt in the lab, until eventually he is the only animal left alive.’ (source: https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/kotzwinkle_william)
Ben Farthing’s new novel The Twitching House is a haunted house tale told from the POV of a family of mice.
One title I would recommend is “The Walking Dead” a mystery by Peter Dickinson. Dickinson, for those unfamiliar with his work, was a British author who wrote mysteries and YA novels often with SFF elements. In “The Walking Dead” the protagonist is a scientist working for a major international pharmaceutical company. He is sent to Hog’s Kay (a fictional Caribbean island) to run a series of experiments on rats. His work catches the attention of Dr. Trotter, the local tyrant, one of the foundations of his power is the local voodoo cult. The rats are marked with letters to distinguish them. The rat mired with a “Q” becomes an object of fear and power. Because the “Q” when looked at upside down is a symbol of a powerful death god. The protagonist becomes the subject of experiments by Dr. Trotter and his rat proves to be a key to his survival.
The Aeslin mice of Seanan McGuire’s “InCryptid” novels! These rodents have human-level intelligence, and worship the narrating family as gods & goddesses. Aeslin observe all aspects of their deities lives (unless bribed with food), have the ability to turn any moment into Holy Scripture, and can repeat whole conversations for their deities at the drop of a hat.
Also, the titular rodents from “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH”.
Years ago there was a book called The Rats of Acomar by Paul Kidd. Sadly the series, which was to have books written by different authors, stopped there. (Early 2000s publishing was harsh I guess.) He also wote Mus of Kerbridge. Fantastic books, I wish he was still writing/publishing.
And wasn’t there a whole kids’ series featuring a mouse? The author was Jacques something…
A novel I loved when I was young was House of Tribes, by Garry Kilworth
There are also Margery Sharp’s wonderful Miss Bianca stories, featuring the delicate Miss Bianca and her stalwart companion Bernard.
Rats and Gargoyles by Mary Gentle features a strange land were anthropomorphic rats rule the humans
One of my desert island books. As someone once said (here in Reactor, I think), the city of Rats and Gargoyles makes China Miéville’s New Crobuzon look positively run-of-the-mill.