Book #51: "The Indian in the Cupboard"

A word about the book cover images: I am doing my very best to post a picture of the edition I actually read. The two issues that arise with that are: 1) Some of the ARCs I have look different once they are officially published, so I can't find an image online; and 2) I have a really great memory, but even so, I can't always remember what edition of some books I own, and I'm not always at home to check when I am doing this. I am hoping to be better about writing the entries right away, so I don't have such a backlog of titles to get through (counting this one, I have nine more before I'm caught up) but I also know that I l lack both discipline and follow-through. Moving on.

This was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, and it still is. Lots of children's books and movies pose the question: what happens to my toys when I am not there? As adults, sadly, we know the answer is: nothing. They stay where you left them. But here and again here and, oh my childhood, especially here, we are allowed to forget what we know and imagine not what is, but what could be.

And so we have the epic story of Omri and his birthday presents: a small plastic figure and an ordinary white medicine cabinet. And the key that makes these ordinary things magic. It's an adventure, and (politically correctness issues notwithstanding) one I still love, all these years later.

Author: Lynne Reid Banks

Potentially objectionable content: Occasional violence. And the racial sensitivity issue, which I am acknowledging but not discussing