The Key to the Indian

The Key to the Indian is the fifth book in Lynne Reid Banks' popular Indian in the Cupboard series, and probably my least favorite. I don't care for the time-travel with Omri, Gillon, and their father going back to the times of the people in the cupboard. It is too contrived. The whole charm of the series is the idea that a young boy turns the key in a cupboard and out comes a real live person three inches high. I think Banks tried to get too humanitarian in this book, tying the whole plot to the idea of "saving" the Indians from the awful events of history, at the expense of everything that made the stories compelling up until this point.

One thing I did like about this story was that Omri's father is now in on the secret — and show more eventually his mother too. Those relationships are interesting. But Patrick was odious in this book and too different from how he had been presented in the previous books. I also would have liked to have seen more of Emma and Tamsin, as I always found them to be fascinating characters, but unfortunately they didn't make this story.

The plot wasn't very tight and the story seemed to drag on and on. I still enjoyed parts of it very much and will certainly buy it to complete my Indian in the Cupboard series, but it's the weakest of the five. show less

Depending how you want to reflect on this series, the final book could be an accomplished overview of history, adventure and family (maybe a 3½ ★-star read) or it was a bumpy, downhill ride from Book 1. I think the younger aged-reader will enjoy the adventure, but whether Book 5 has the same feel, is hard to predict. The story is rather boring and has a teacher-ish feel. LRB is an excellent writer, but I think this series petered out quite badly.

This is a good book about Indians that talk to people that are so small that they can stand in the palm of someone's hand.This book is the fifth book in the series of the "Indian in the cupboard" books. At first the mini people thought that the Indians were giants and the mini people were scared.The Indians had to explain to them that they weren't giants and they shouldn't be scared.

PLEASE use this book as an opportunity to talk about stereotypes of "grunting indians" and point out that First People are certainly hurt by that. The premise of a story can be quite attractive and we do all feel that (this story is beloved by those who grew up with it for good reason), and children need to know that it is make-believe and unfair to others in their society to assume otherwise.

Level:4.8
Pts: 8.0

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