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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Hollis Social Library Winter Reading Challenge: Re-read a book you loved as a child
This book definitely brought me back to fourth grade. I can still picture my teacher reading it aloud to us.
This book definitely brought me back to fourth grade. I can still picture my teacher reading it aloud to us.
Progressive for its time, but still dated and eyebrow-raising by today’s standards. Still, putting aside the racist implications, a boy learns responsibility and respect for human life. There were some hypocritical moments, but they’re kids, and this is a kids’ book.
This book was incredibly popular with the third graders in my school, so I decided to sit down and give it a re-read to see how it held up since I last read it 20 years ago. While I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, it was still a fun little read and made me remember the magic I experineced thinking of my own toys coming to life. I wish I had talked more to my students about what they thought of culture portayed in the book, as it is quite different from what they know. In the end, I think this is a book I would still recommend to certain elementary school students though some might have a hard time with the cultural differences and lack of fast-paced action. It's a charming book and the idea of a tiny living person still fills me with a sense of wonder that many modern books do not.
Read aloud to Ben. He liked it. I'm not a fan of all the secrets from parents.
I remember loving this book as a child and just read it again to do the parent/child book club with my son. I found it still very enjoyable and can see why children love it. It has brought up many fun discussions in our house about what we would like to use the magic key/cupboard for!
I'm glad I finally read The Indian in the Cupboard (The Indian in the Cupboard #1) by Lynne Reid Banks. It's been ages since I've seen the movie adaptation of it, but I remember really enjoying it way back when. I don't know if I'd love it as much now as I used to, but honestly I think I prefer the movie adaptation. I didn't even know it was an adaptation until pretty recently. I definitely preferred movie Little Bear to his book counterpart. The two most surprising things about this: it's very English and Brock Cole, the illustrator, went to Kenyon College. The Kenyon thing is surprising since it might as well be in my backyard as it's in Gambier, Ohio. I don't know if I'm quite interested in reading the rest of the novel series, but I would like to rewatch the movie.
My kid and I loved this. The story was exciting and compelling, but more than that it generated so many conversations and teachable moments. Books like these that delve into issues of morality and a variety of perspectives without being preachy are my favorite kind to read with my son.
I first had this book read to me in fifth grade. My teacher read it to our class. Then I read it (and the rest of the series) with my family. It has always been a favorite. I am always on the lookout for books for Aiden (it's hard to find age-appropriate books for a kid with such a high reading level) and decided to check this out and read it again.
The story is just as lovely now as it was then. Now, of course, I find it too short and too simple, but it's perfect for my kids. Every boy should read this book.
The story is just as lovely now as it was then. Now, of course, I find it too short and too simple, but it's perfect for my kids. Every boy should read this book.
When Omri, a young English boy, puts a toy Indian in a medicine cabinet and turns a special key, the Indian magically comes to life. But the Indian is not merely a toy come to life, but a real person with a history who has been transported into Omri’s time, in miniature form. Complications arise when Omri’s thoughtless friend puts his toy cowboy in the cupboard to see if they will fight. The two boys then endanger the small people by taking them to school.
Unlike other fantasies which create an entire magical world, the cupboard is the only magical element in this story. Because of its grounding in the everyday, this fantasy has a particular charm, as readers might imagine stumbling across just this kind of magic in their own world. Omri and his friend are ordinary children, and Omri must struggle with having taken on so much responsibility for other human beings. In the end he realizes it isn’t his place to have such power over their lives, and he uses the cupboard to send them back to their own time.
As a Native American person, I am reflexively suspicious of fiction about Indians, especially in this genre, because it is easy for non-Indians to caricature people whose culture they can’t really identify with. But while Banks’ development of the Indian’s character might be a little thin, it’s no thinner than that of other characters. Banks provides enough history of the Five Civilized Tribes, and their role in the French and Indian Wars to demonstrate Little Bull’s humanity, and it is on this basis that Omri comes to respect him. This is an entertaining, appealing story, in which an immature young man learns to take responsibility and show respect for others’ welfare. Parents and teachers ought to be aware, however, that the book contains some mild profanity and several racial epithets.
There are two abysmal sequels available, but I recommend only the original story.
Unlike other fantasies which create an entire magical world, the cupboard is the only magical element in this story. Because of its grounding in the everyday, this fantasy has a particular charm, as readers might imagine stumbling across just this kind of magic in their own world. Omri and his friend are ordinary children, and Omri must struggle with having taken on so much responsibility for other human beings. In the end he realizes it isn’t his place to have such power over their lives, and he uses the cupboard to send them back to their own time.
As a Native American person, I am reflexively suspicious of fiction about Indians, especially in this genre, because it is easy for non-Indians to caricature people whose culture they can’t really identify with. But while Banks’ development of the Indian’s character might be a little thin, it’s no thinner than that of other characters. Banks provides enough history of the Five Civilized Tribes, and their role in the French and Indian Wars to demonstrate Little Bull’s humanity, and it is on this basis that Omri comes to respect him. This is an entertaining, appealing story, in which an immature young man learns to take responsibility and show respect for others’ welfare. Parents and teachers ought to be aware, however, that the book contains some mild profanity and several racial epithets.
There are two abysmal sequels available, but I recommend only the original story.