Uploaded September 2014 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
This is a quick book summary and analysis of Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks.
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This is a story about a boy named Omri who lives in England. He receives a toy Indian from his best friend, Patrick, and discovers that the Indian can come to life if he places him in a magical cupboard.
The Indian’s name is Little Bear, an Iroquois Indian from the past. Omri begins to take care of Little Bear by providing him with food and shelter.
At first, Omri doesn’t tell anyone about Little Bear, but then decides to tell Patrick, who then wants a real life cowboy.
A toy cowboy is placed in the cupboard and he magically comes to life. Boone, the cowboy, and Little Bear don’t get along at first, but slowly learn to tolerate each other.
One day, Omri brings Little Bear and Boone to school. The two little figures are discovered by the schoolmaster, who thinks that they are figments of his imagination.
After Omri buys a toy Indian woman for Little Bear, Omni returns home to find that his brother hid the cupboard. Omri eventually gets the cupboard back, but the key is gone. They try searching for it, but can’t find it.
Later that evening, Little Bear shoots Boone in the chest with an arrow; things look bad for Boone.
Fortunately, Omri finds the key to the cupboard under the floorboards with the help of Little Bear and Omri is able to bring to life a tiny doctor.
The doctor tends to Boone’s wounds and Boone looks like he will recover.
Omri then turns the toy Indian woman, named Bright Stars, to real life and Little Bear is pleased with her.
In the end, Omri places Little Bear, Bright Stars, and Boone back in the cupboard and returns them to their own times by turning them back to plastic toys.
As always, a lot can be said about this story, but what draws my interest and attention is the idea that for something to be alive, it has to have a past. In this story, when the toys become living beings, they aren’t just toys, but people who are, in a way, transported from the past.
It’s established early on that Little Bear is actually an Iroquois Indian, not a toy who thinks he’s an Indian. Little Bear has a history and is able to remember things, like the French and British wars.
And so the magical cupboard doesn’t make toys into living beings, but it transports figures from other places and times and puts them into toy vessels in the now.
Even the tiny doctor who saves the life of Boone is from World War I, where he can recall the bombings and thinks he’s still in that time period.
So in a sense, the toys don’t really come to life, like we see in a movie like Toy Story. Rather, real people are being transported through time and space and are appearing as small figures.
So what does this all mean and why is it important? That’s really hard to say. But for me, it shows that for something to be truly living, it has to have a past; it has to have a history. So a toy that comes to life, although it may appear to be alive with movement and thought, isn’t necessarily living. It has no history. It was manufactured.
But these personalities or souls that seem to transport from the past to the present through the magic of the cupboard have histories and stories and so, to me, they matter.
More importantly, it’s important to recognize that everyone has a story and every story matters.
Music: "I Want to Destroy Something Beautiful" by Josh Woodward - joshwoodward.com
This is a quick book summary and analysis of Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks.
Facebook Page - facebook.com/pages/Minute-Book-Reports/1148331925195691
This is a story about a boy named Omri who lives in England. He receives a toy Indian from his best friend, Patrick, and discovers that the Indian can come to life if he places him in a magical cupboard.
The Indian’s name is Little Bear, an Iroquois Indian from the past. Omri begins to take care of Little Bear by providing him with food and shelter.
At first, Omri doesn’t tell anyone about Little Bear, but then decides to tell Patrick, who then wants a real life cowboy.
A toy cowboy is placed in the cupboard and he magically comes to life. Boone, the cowboy, and Little Bear don’t get along at first, but slowly learn to tolerate each other.
One day, Omri brings Little Bear and Boone to school. The two little figures are discovered by the schoolmaster, who thinks that they are figments of his imagination.
After Omri buys a toy Indian woman for Little Bear, Omni returns home to find that his brother hid the cupboard. Omri eventually gets the cupboard back, but the key is gone. They try searching for it, but can’t find it.
Later that evening, Little Bear shoots Boone in the chest with an arrow; things look bad for Boone.
Fortunately, Omri finds the key to the cupboard under the floorboards with the help of Little Bear and Omri is able to bring to life a tiny doctor.
The doctor tends to Boone’s wounds and Boone looks like he will recover.
Omri then turns the toy Indian woman, named Bright Stars, to real life and Little Bear is pleased with her.
In the end, Omri places Little Bear, Bright Stars, and Boone back in the cupboard and returns them to their own times by turning them back to plastic toys.
As always, a lot can be said about this story, but what draws my interest and attention is the idea that for something to be alive, it has to have a past. In this story, when the toys become living beings, they aren’t just toys, but people who are, in a way, transported from the past.
It’s established early on that Little Bear is actually an Iroquois Indian, not a toy who thinks he’s an Indian. Little Bear has a history and is able to remember things, like the French and British wars.
And so the magical cupboard doesn’t make toys into living beings, but it transports figures from other places and times and puts them into toy vessels in the now.
Even the tiny doctor who saves the life of Boone is from World War I, where he can recall the bombings and thinks he’s still in that time period.
So in a sense, the toys don’t really come to life, like we see in a movie like Toy Story. Rather, real people are being transported through time and space and are appearing as small figures.
So what does this all mean and why is it important? That’s really hard to say. But for me, it shows that for something to be truly living, it has to have a past; it has to have a history. So a toy that comes to life, although it may appear to be alive with movement and thought, isn’t necessarily living. It has no history. It was manufactured.
But these personalities or souls that seem to transport from the past to the present through the magic of the cupboard have histories and stories and so, to me, they matter.
More importantly, it’s important to recognize that everyone has a story and every story matters.
Music: "I Want to Destroy Something Beautiful" by Josh Woodward - joshwoodward.com
