Customer Reviews

The Mystery of the Cupboard

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The Mystery of the Cupboard is one of the many sequels to the fabulous The Indian in the Cupboard. Omri, the main character, has moved into an Indian longhouse. When Thatcher's come to redo the roof, Omri finds a box and a diary. He reads it. It is about Jessica Charlotte, his Great-Great Aunt. She writes about her experiences, and she knew the secret of the cupboard.

Omri learns a very important lesson: Do not steal because you feel sorry for yourself. Jessica Charlotte does this, and the results are not good.

With a key that can unlock lots of locks, a thatcher with a secret, a person of whom The Secret of the Cupboard is revealed to, and two terrible injuries that result in one death, this book is a great read.

It takes about two and a half weeks to read, and is a great book. You always want to turn the page! But, if you haven't read The Indian in the Cupboard, you should do it first, or else this great book by Lynne Reid Banks won't make sense. Also, for more adventures with Omri, buy The Key to the Indian, The Secret of the Indian, The Return of the Indian, and The Indian in the Cupboard.

By Sammy K.

4th Grade

The Mystery of the Cupboard is one of the many sequels to the fabulous The Indian in the Cupboard. Omri, the main character, has moved into an Indian longhouse. When thatchers come to redo the roof, Omri finds a box and a diary. He reads it. It is about Jessica Charlotte, his Great-Great Aunt. She writes about her experiences, and she knew the secret of the cupboard.

With a key that can unlock lots of locks, a thatcher with a secret, a person of whom The Secret of the Cupboard is revealed to, and two terrible injuries that result in one death, this book is a great read.

It takes about two and a half weeks to read, and is a great book. You always want to turn the page! But, if you haven't read The Indian in the Cupboard, you should do it first, or else this great book by Lynne Reid Banks won't make sense.

My nephews love this series. This is just one more book that offers them hours of reading enjoyment. Be sure to start with the first book, "The Indian in the Cupboard". That will get them hooked on reading (whether you read it to them or let them read it by themselves).

Lynn Reid Banks has done it again, in this fourth book in her famous INDIAN series. When Omri insisted his father store the magic cupboard in a bank vault, so he would not be tempted to tamper with the Past, he vowed he would resist the temptation to visit with his tiny friends. But he never did understand exactly how and why this particular cupboard changed plastic toys into living, human beings from the past--with real names, occupations and lifestyles of their own.

Now his family has inherited a cottage in the English countryside from a mysterious and much-maligned great, great aunt of his mother's. Omri discovers her diary which includes a confession of a great crime--one which precipitated multiple disasters for the family. For the old thatching conceals a rusty strong box--what secrets and objects of value are hidden within?

Soon it becomes imperative to revive the new plastic figures, but meddling with the Past can demand a heavy price--if Omri succeeds in preventing one crime, he may also erase his parents' marriage and his very life! (Shades of BACK TO THE FUTURE!) How will old buddy Patrick help or hinder Omri's private quest to clear Jessica Charlotte's name? Will Ormi's parents finally realize that something odd is going on with their son? A fascinating book which will delight THE INDIAN fans and all readers.

Omri's mother inherits a country house in Somerset, and the family is glad to leave the horrible district (especially after the events of books two and three). The house belonged to her second cousin, whom she's never met, and he inherited it from his mother (her great aunt) whom she'd never met either. For some reason, her family always hated her great aunt, but wouldn't say why. They move into the house, where Omri finds a hidden diary.

A theme of The Mystery of the Cupboard is forgiveness. Omri's mother, who inherits the house, had all these relatives who she never met. Omri's mother was incapable of forgiving some unknown mistake, and since nobody would say what it was, she never thought about it. Not only does the secret diary reveal why, but it shows how the cousin's hate and anger gave the cupboard its magic. In some ways, the cupboard was created out of hate, and needed to be found by a kid who could make himself happy. It reminded me of Charles dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" where the villain (Defarge) is incapable of forgiving, and Dickens makes her the ultimate villain. Though she's a victim herself, he makes her look more evil than the people who killed her family. Dickens believed that grudges destroy people, as it does with Defarge, and that the power of forgiveness is a very strong one. In The Mystery of the Cupboard, Omri and Patrick have to make a choice of whether to reveal the cupboard's secret, or forgive the maker and move on.

The first book in the series was great. The second had its funny moments (like the 1940's nurse and the corporal with the cockney accent). The third one was a bore. But The Mystery of the Cupboard is by far the best one. It has a more mature story than the previous installments, and the astonishing plot really pulls you in.

The Mystery of the Cupboard
By: Lynne Reid Banks
Reviewed by: D. Kim
There were two boys named Omri and Peter, who wanted to find out the secret to the magical cupboard. They have found the information of the cupboard from Omri's great-great-aunt's journal. Omri moved to a different state, and he was going farther away from Peter more than ever. He had lost his cat there, named Kitsa. Their new house was a longhouse, and there was also a barn. Omri found the journal before Peter traveled there by himself, and with hard work and destination, they both found out that Omri's great-great-aunt was turned into plastic after she stole her sister's earrings. Jessica Charlotte, the "aunt" loved her sister's daughter more than her own son, and hated it. When she and her son were alone, she told him to put all his anger into the cupboard, just to imagine it, and she locked it with her key. After this, she turned into plastic by opening it, and now plastic dolls who were put in it where brought to life when it was locked and then opened again. This was the secret of the Cupboard. In the end, Omri started bringing his dad more in on things, so he told him about the cupboard.
I liked this book because it made me realize that I have been doing pretty bad things before that I knew had feelings. If I had a clone, and I took his kidney for my own life, then what would happen to my clone? Thinking about this has made a difference in my life, but it was also pretty funny. One quote that caught my eye was this. "You should be outdoors, not in 'ere. What's the world comin' to, kids in pubs, I dunno. The author was like every person in the book, together, because she gave them their own minds. Each character was different, in a lot of ways, so I think that Lynne Reid Banks put a lot of effort into writing this.
In other parts of the story, things were getting pretty sad. Omri had found out that his great-great-aunt wasn't such a bad woman after all. She just made some mistakes. When Omri asked Mr. Towsler about Jessica Charlotte, he said, "I worried about her. When she were with me. Worried she'd be lonely an' that, for people her own size. But she said not to. She were content with me. She said them others weren't much company. Not her sort, she said." The others were the people she had brought to life. Even though they were her own size and had different stories about their lives, she like to have Mr. Towsler around instead of them.
My favorite part of the book was definitely the ending, because it was most interesting to me. Omri had just made a better relationship with his father, because he let him in on all the secrets. Omri knew that it could be risky, but he wanted him to know Little bear and the others, because they were just like normal people.

Have you ever read the book The Mystery of the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks ?
Omri moves into a new house, that was an old relatives, because he died.He finds his great great great aunt Jessica Charlotties note book.Omri learns about Jessica Charlottie's whole life until she gets sick and dies.Omri thinks that his mothers key will fit in the cashbox he found.I think it's a good story about life.I think this is a good book to learn about elders and history.I think that this book would be a great gift. The book is very interesting. I would recommend this book to everyone.

This story is about a magical cupboard it makes toys come alive! Toy Indians, toy cowboys toy monsters they all come alive and they all have the same attitudes, as they would have in real life. I like how this author wrote this book. I felt it was a funny book.

The title of the book I read was The Mystery of the Cuppboard and the author was Lynne Reid Banks. The main character was Omri. Omri is a boy who owns a magical cupboard that can bring plastic figures to life. He has a mom, dad, and two brothers. He also has a friend named Patrick and a cat named Kista. I liked the book because it was interesting. I also think it would be cool if plastic figures could come to life. The plot was about Omri and the magic of the cupboard. When Omri's family moves he finds a diary and a cash box. In the cashbox there are little figures. When Omri brings them to life he tries to change the past by telling them what to do. Then Omri leans that you shouldn't change other people's past because it could affect you. The setting was in England and in the country. I think the theme was don't interfere with someone's past because it could change your past.

The book is a fantasy that talks about a kid that finds a grave, I wouldn't recommend this book to children because it's not really interesting. But the story goes like this. A kid from kansas moves to a country in London. When he arrived there he didn't really like it there because he didn't know anyone there. So he was taking a walk to see what's around. He went into a forest as he was walking he found a cave around the corner.

He walked in and followed a light to the end he found a grave yard but in the grave yard he found one grave in the whole entire grave yard. So he went back to the grave he found a box that has a lock but no key so he took it back to his house and told his mom about it and so they took it to a store to get it picked locked. When he opened it and found pictures of a little girl. The little girl was an indian. So they went back to the grave where he fond it and put the pictures under a rock by the grave. But is dad found out so out that he found the pictures. So he made Omri put the pictures back in the box. But before they did they went to the store to get a new lock and a key. So then they put the pictures in the box and buried by the grave.

So he went walking around again and found....

Omri was an nice guy. He would always help people find there missing things. If you remember he found an box. He found the father to that daughter. so he kept it. As Omri was walking home he saw a kid on the ground. He walked over there to help the kid get up form the ground. Omri is caring and helpful to other people in the environment.

So if you to read it go ahead i'm just telling I don't recommend this book to anyone.