The Rescuers is a series of children's novels written by Margery Sharp and illustrated by Garth Williams.
It consists of:
- The Rescuers (1959)
- Miss Bianca (1962)
- The Turret (1963)
- Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines (1966)
- Miss Bianca in the Orient (1970)
- Miss Bianca in the Antarctic (1971)
- Miss Bianca and the Bridesmaid (1972)
- Bernard the Brave (1977)
- Bernard into Battle (1978)
The series inspired the Disney films The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under.
This series provides examples of:
- Big Fancy House: The Mouse World equivalent: in the books, Miss Bianca is a pampered pet whose cage is a porcelain pagoda.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Miss Bianca's owner is only ever referred to as the Boy. There's also the Boy's Tutor; his parents, the Ambassador and Ambassadress; and of course the Poet whose rescue forms the plot of the first book.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Bernard, of the "Low-Key Yearning" variety.
- Exact Words: The last sentence of Miss Bianca and the Bridesmaid informs us that it is "the last tale of Bernard and Miss Bianca and the M.P.A.S." The beginning of Bernard the Brave gets around this by saying that the story is just about Bernard, with Miss Bianca and the Society being relegated to the background.
- Guile Hero: In the first book, Miss Bianca manages to trick the cat Mamelouk into revealing vital information which helps them rescue the Poet.
- Nice Guy: Bernard is loyal, courageous, kind, and unassuming.
- Nice Mice: The Mouse Prisoners' Aid Society, an international organisation dedicated to comforting human prisoners.
- No Romantic Resolution: Despite their mutual attraction, Miss Bianca feels that the class difference between herself and Bernard is too great for them to ever be more than friends. As of the last book, it's still unclear how, if at all, this situation is finally resolved.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In the first book, Nils manages to navigate hundreds of miles to the Prisoners' Aid Society headquarters with nothing more than a toy boat and a picture of a lady's hat which he mistakenly thinks is a map.
- Polar Bears and Penguins: Miss Bianca in the Antarctic features polar bears — who explain that they're visiting from the Arctic on a cultural exchange program.
- Pretty in Mink: Miss Bianca has a fur cape in the books.
- Proper Lady: Miss Bianca is very refined and elegant. The first book compares he to a French noblewoman at the court of Louis XV.
- Robot Girl: The villain of the second book likes to tell the time with her maid-servants curtseying - but the girls she hires can't take the strain of standing in place for hours on end. So she has clockwork servants made instead.
- Spoiled Sweet: Miss Bianca is spoilt and vain, especially in the first book, but she's also kind, generous, and selfless to those in need.
- The Beautiful Elite: Miss Bianca is described as taking Bernard's breath away when he first sees her.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: In Miss Bianca, it is Bernard's desperate, last ditch throwing of his dagger that causes the villain to lose his grip on the ladder, leading to his ultimate defeat.
- Too Dumb to Live: Miss Bianca has her moments in the first book, due to the extremely sheltered life she's hitherto enjoyed. In particular, she leaves the safety of her mouse-hole to say hello to the cat Mamelouk, and only survives because he's too surprised at her idiocy to kill her then and there.
- Took a Level in Badass: Miss Bianca starts the first book as a pampered, timorous pet mouse who literally faints in terror after Bernard asks her to go on a mission for the Mouse Prisoners' Aid Society. By the beginning of the second book, she's become one of the bravest and most competent of the Society's operatives.
- You Dirty Rat!: The last book sees Bernard fight off a gang of rats who attempt to occupy the embassy where the mice all live.
