The Indian in the Cupboard

I loooved this book growing up.  I couldn't get enough of this boy with his mini Indian story.  In addition to The Indian in the Cupboard, Lynne Reid Banks also wrote three sequels that I read, The Return of the Indian, The Secret of the Indian and The Mystery of the Cupboard.  I also just found out that she wrote another sequel that I did not read-- The Key to the Indian.  It must have come out after I had grown out of tween books.  Good thing I am experiencing a regression in my life right now.  

The book starts with Omri, a tween boy, getting a series of terrible birthday gifts -- a ratty old cupboard (think medicine cabinet) found in an alley by his older brother (that is some kind of gift), and a secondhand plastic figurine of an Indian from his friend Patrick, the kind of toy Omri outgrew about two years ago.  Polite Omri makes the best of these crappy presents-- he procures an old key from his mother, and the night of his birthday, he places the little Indian in the cupboard, locking it in with the key.  The next morning, Omri is stunned to see that the plastic Indian has actually come to life and is a living, breathing, three-inch person.

I'm not small, you are big!

The Indian, named Little Bear, seems to have been plucked from the time period he was alive and transplanted to Omri's cupboard.  I have to hand it to Little Bear, if I was randomly and mysteriously relocated and encountered a human being that was 5 feet taller than me, I would freak the F out, and potentially die on the spot from a heart attack (which actually later happened to a poor old Indian chief from whom Omri wanted to borrow a bow and arrow).  Little Bear, on the other hand, stands tall (small-tall) and stabs Omri with his mini dagger, which unfortunately for Little Bear, only has the effect of giving Omri a little prick.  (This scene actually reminded me of an old Disney cartoon I haven't thought about in probably nearly 20 years -- The Brave Little Tailor, where Mickey Mouse defeats a giant with his sewing needle.)  Little Bear eventually accepts this strange situation, learns to trust Omri as his friend and actually becomes quite demanding.  Little Bears demands from Omri a longhouse (he doesn't do teepees because that's just so Iroquois), a bow and arrow, animals to hunt, to be the chief, a horse, and he even demands a wife. Omri pretty much obliges to all of Little Bear's desires, only putting his foot down at providing Little Bear hunting prey, as he did not think it was wise to turn his bedroom into a miniature game reserve.  A lot of the fun of the book is to see how Omri deals with all the mini-ness -- feeding, bathing, sheltering and occupying Little Bear and his horse.  

Omri eventually brings his friend Patrick in on the secret.  Now I had a big problem with Patrick.  This boy's a damn fool.  Not only does he choose to bring to life a cowboy, the mortal enemy of an Indian of all people, but he insists on bringing the minis to school with him, and he doesn't actually get it that they are real people.  He throws them around, picks a fight at school which gets him tossed on his ass, practically crushing Boone (the cowboy) and Little Bear, and then, on top of that, when Patrick ends up in the principal's office, he pretty much has a complete blithering breakdown where he blows the cover off of the whole thing and shows Boone and Little Bear to the principal, to Omri's total horror.  It's a good thing the principal, in turn, lost his sh/t and decided to, pale-faced, take himself home instead of tell people what he was shown.  Omri, on the other hand, is very responsible, pragmatic and a good soul, realizing from the beginning that Little Bear and Boone are real human beings, and he tries to convey to Patrick that "They're people . . . You can't use people." Omri's good sense is what eventually motivates his decision at the end of the book to send Boone and Little Bear back to where they came from. 

In the beginning, Boone, the cowboy with a penchant for tears, and Little Bear's relationship is strained and they fight like--what else--cowboys and Indians. But in the end, they grow to be friends, even blood brothers.  The other mini people brought to life in this book include the dearly departed Indian chief, Little Bear's cupboard-order bride, Bright Stars, and my favorite, Tommy the WWI medic. Omri brings Tommy to life to provide medical attention to both Boone and Little Bear on two separate occasions.  Tommy is a delight, totally unshaken by the situation, (it helps that he believes Omri it's all a dream), and diligently does his duty. 

All in all, this was really fun to read again.  The only illuminations I really experienced on this read as an adult  were that I realized Omri lives in England (which I either never knew or had totally forgotten) and I also realized that Omri and his brothers, Adiel and Gillon have Hebrew names which led me to believe Omri's family is Israeli.  Which made Omri feel more like a kindred spirit as I am also a child of foreign parents.  Just as I had done as a child, I aligned myself with Omri and believed that faced with a magical mini-person situation, I would also act nobly and treat the little people with dignity and kindness.

Extra treat for the day: Scholastic Parent and Child magazine's new list of Top 100 Children's Books.  Charlotte's Web tops the list, which I 11237892902 percent agree with.  Do you?