The Indian in the Cupboard

Great fun book for kids.

This story is as relevant and enjoyable when read today as it was when it was first released. I tried reading it to my son and daughter together but they are seven years apart and she was too young to enjoy it. My son finished reading it himself and he liked it very much. I bought this copy to give to my grandson for Valentine's Day but ended up giving it to him for Easter! Of course, I had to read it first and finally gave it to his mother to give to him. I will be curious to see what he thought of it. He's in seventh grade and may be too old for it but time will tell. I liked reading it again! A great book that teaches a lesson without the reader knowing it!

I loved this book when I first read it as a young child. The movie doesn't do the story justice. It's a timeless classic. A lot of kiddie lit is written from the point of view of a young girl. This book is is told from the point of view from a young boy's perspective. This boy exhibits empathy and understanding of the issues faced by someone else from a different race, culture and time period. His blind desire to help his friend brings about unintended consequences from modern weapons technology. At the same time celebrating modern advances in medicine. This book will suck you into another time and place. The main character is a positive male figure that young boys can identify with. It's a wonderful story about the power of friendship. I purchased this for a friend's son to encourage and develope a love of reading. This book belongs among classics like Stuart Little, Charlot's Web, Harry Potter, Little Women, The Wizard of Oz, Nancy Drew, Tales of the 4th Grade Nothing, Treasure Island and Mr. Poppin's Penguins. It's a sure winner.0

This took me back. I remeber first reading this in 4th grade. Now I'm reading this to my grandchildren. It brought tears to my eyes.

Sometimes you revisit something from your childhood and find it better than before. Other times, the sense of nostalgia is not enough to show you how the item in question wasn't as good as you remembered it, and thus expected it, to be. I had both reactions when I picked up The Indian in the Cupboard to read for the first time in about twenty-three years. The story of the beloved children's classic is familiar to all. An English boy named Omri recieves an old cupboard and key from his brother and mom respectively for his birthday. While using the cupboard to display his tiny plastic figures, Omri discovers that something about the cupboard and/or key seems to bring them to life. What a discovery to make! He is stunned and thrilled to have his "own" little person, the Indian Little Bear. Eventually, Omri discovers that this is not magically turning plastic to life, but somehow snatching, by magic, real people and substituting them for the plastic figures in the cupboard. With this realization, Omri (and later, his best friend Patrick) come to understand the awesome responsibility for caring for very much real, however tiny, people. Overall, the book stood up well over time. Some of the behavior of the boys was understandable for their age group, but instead of just passing over it, I got aggravated with how silly they were acting. That and the plot being much shorter (or seeming that way now versus when I was eleven years old) made it not as much fun as it was when I first read it. Overall, though, the story was impressive since it was so much more than about the magic of bringing these figures to life as little people. Little Bear, Boone the Cowboy, other figures, Omri, Patrick, so on, all had real lives and cultural differences that had to be bridged to be understood. Forcing others to accept your culture, forcing cultures together, treating people as less than human, all are bad ideas, as Omri and Patrick learned. Despite some creative license to make the story more enjoyable for the reader, Lynne Reid Banks kept the historical information overall quite accurate, which was another good thing. This was a fun fantasy romp that also acted as a story on learning important lessons of responsibility and cultural awareness. I highly recommend it.

I read this book to my 6 and 9 year old sons during bedtime over a few days. It was a favorite classic of mine growing up, and I was happy to share it with them. They loved it and were so sad when the story finally ended (and are begging me to pick up the sequels). Children can easily relate to the main character, a boy named Omri who receives a magic key for an old cupboard that can turn his plastic figures to life. This story is not all fun and games. The "toys" are real people pulled from their lives into Omri's world. The story does not cover the how-and-why; it retains the magic. But the book does touch on weighty issues of responsibility (Omri needs to feed and almost cater to these toys-come-to-life), respect and learning about their culture, resolving a conflict with this best friend over the men, as well as injury and life-and-death. These lives, put into Omri's hands, are not to be taken lightly. I loved the drama and life lessons in this book. On the other hand, there are so many laughs in this book! My boys were imitating Little Bear's stubborn demands as well as Cowboy Boone's crying bouts. They laughed at the school adventure and almost cried when Little Bear was hurt. It was a wonderful read to share together (or for my older to read on his own), and we can't wait to revisit our friends.

For every little boy who has seemed to grow into a bigger boy over a span of very little time.

I read this as a child, and now I have read it to my children. What struck me is that it’s still great! I enjoyed it as much as an adult as I did as a little boy.

Fantastic story - my 7 year old is gripped, as am I. I am reading it to him as it's brilliant to understand more about Native American Indians and the cowboys and as my son is a history nut he is loving it. It has sparked long conversations between us at bedtime.

The content is really good. My child found it really good and adventurous.

Excellent

I read this every night for a week to my 5 year old daughter.. she laughed a lot and really enjoyed the story! Great book, stood the test of time! I remember my dad reading it to me!

Great book, kids loved it