The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
March 12, 2009 at 6:08 pm 3 comments
Banks, Lynne Reid, and Brock Cole. The Indian in the Cupboard. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980.
Omri has found a magical cupboard that will bring his plastic toy figures to life, but can Omri and his pal Patrick keep their miniature friends a secret? And keep them safe?
AWARDS
Rebecca Caudill Young Reader’s Book Award
California Young Reader Medal
Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award
Virginia Young Readers Award
REVIEW
Omri sometimes finds his best friend Patrick a little tiresome, but he shows nothing but loyalty to his best friend. When Omri is given a cupboard for his birthday, he’s happy because he likes things that lock with special keys, but he’s overjoyed when the cupboard turns Little Bear, his plastic figurine, into a real live Indian brave. When Patrick finds out, he wants a little man too, and without thinking of the consequences he uses the cupboard on his plastic cowboy. Now the cowboy and the Indian are really trying to kill each other, and the boys have their hands full keeping them a secret.
Read the rest of the books in the series to find out what’s really behind the magic of the cupboard, and see the amazing turns taken in Omri’s and Patrick’s friendship.
Entry filed under: Fantasy. Tags: .
1.
Vanessa Morris | March 22, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Check out oyate.org for their review of this book. It adds more texture to this book’s reputation throughout the years.
Indian in the Cupboard Review
2.
youthreads | March 22, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Yes, like many books, The Indian in the Cupboard is anachronistic. The oyate.org reviewer is right to point out that Little Bear is presented without regard for how Native Americans of his (or any!) time period actually behaved and talked.
Unfortunately, that’s the only merit to the oyate.org review. Rather than adding texture to the book’s reputation, it excerpts a passage and misreads it. The review mistakes a description of the horrors of war for a racist indictment of Native Americans. The passage, as the reviewer points out, is of a war scene: it’s the exposure to rage and violence that Omri is disgusted and terrified by. Similarly, though Omri admires and loves Little Bear, he is dismayed when Little Bear and when Boon, the white, racist cowboy, engage in warlike behavior. It is simply a mistake to read this passage as a racist dehumanization of the Algonquins. Let’s also consider whom Omri is in this scene: a terrified child. Specifically, he’s an English, 20th Century, suburban child, who finds himself in a terrifying historical battle and is seized by fear of the approaching army. The attacking Native Americans in their unfamiliar attire seem awful to him, but so do the reckless, violent cowboys.
The oyate.org reviewer asks, “How could a white child fail to believe that he is far superior to the bloodthirsty, sub-human monsters portrayed here?”
Because to do so would go against the very, very obvious ideology of the books. When we first meet Boon, the cowboy, we find him to be 1) a jerk and 2) racist against Little Bear and all Native Americans. By the end of the first book, Boon and Little Bear become blood brothers. Anachronisms of Little Bear aside, the point of the series is that violence and racism are to be confronted and rejected. Would it have been better if this was done using a historically legit Native American character? I think it would. But I also think young people can be entrusted to read this excellent series and decide for themselves.
3.
Taylor | November 20, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Dear Lynne Banks,
My Class is reading The Indian In The Cupboard. My school is “Robey Elementary School” the book is great so far.
Please Reply, Taylor Stark