The Key to the Indian (Indian in the Cupboard) - Softcover

Banks, Lynne Reid

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380803739 ISBN 13: 9780380803736

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1999

Synopsis

He felt a draft of cold air. Instinctively he put his arms around his body. Then he looked down at himself and got a shock. He was naked...His first instinct was to hid. he scrambled over the earth floor of the longhouse and ducked under the curtain. Beyond was deeper darkness, but he could make out a sort of room with a raised section against the wall. On this was a mountain range covered with fur, in the shape of a sleeping giant.

Omri stared all around, feeling the beginnings of panic. "Dad!" he whispered as loudly as he dared...

There was no answer. Omri felt intensely vulnerable with no clothes on. Cold air embraced his skin from head to foot. He felt a sudden longing to go home. He hadn't reckoned on this--being separated from his dad, it being so dark and cold, so strange, so lonely.

About this title

Review:

It all started with Lynne Reid Banks's The Indian in the Cupboard, the enchanting, suspenseful story of toy figures brought to life through the magic of a cupboard and a special key. Three sequels followed this popular novel--The Return of the Indian, The Secret of the Indian, and The Mystery of the Cupboard--and The Key to the Indian is next in line.

At first Omri was alone with his secret of the toy figures and the surprising appearance of the 18th-century Iroquois Little Bear. One day, however, his father finds the figures in his son's room and locks them in the special cupboard: "Of course they'd come to life inside, and his dad had put a lot of twos and twos from the past together, and realized. And later he'd seen them, been introduced to them. And accepted it ... It took a special kind of grownup not only to accept magic when he saw it but to promise and swear that he'd never, ever tell a living soul". What Omri and his father both now know about is the terrible plight of the Iroquois people during the 18th century--and that Omri's new friend Little Bear is in urgent need of help. Father and son attempt to travel back in time, but things go horribly wrong. They persist for the sake of Little Bear, but at great risk.

With history, magic, humour and all the surprising twists readers have come to expect from Banks, The Key to the Indian will absorb young readers through to the very last page. (Ages 9 and older). --Amazon.com

Review:

"This is really Little Bear's story, and Omri's adventures in his longhouse are fascinating and hair-raising. Readers will revel in all ofthe details of this book...A satisfying sequel."-- "School Library Journal

"Full of suspense, excitement, humor, and fantasy."-- "The Boston Globe

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0380803739
• ISBN 13: 9780380803736
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288
• Illustrator: Watling James