A boy named Omri, who lives in England, likes to collect plastic figures, and one year, for his birthday, he receives two presents that take him on a series of magical adventures. His best friend, Patrick, gives him a plastic Native American figure, and one of his brothers gives him an old wooden cupboard that he rescued from an alley. At first, Omri isn’t thrilled with the American Indian figure because he doesn’t have any other American Indian figures, and it doesn’t fit the rest of his collection. However, he likes the old cupboard and thinks that he could use it as a place to keep his figures. There is a lock on the cupboard door, but it doesn’t have a key. Omri’s mother gives Omri an old key that used to belong to her grandmother’s jewelry box because it’s the right size, and it turns out to fit the lock.

When Omri puts his American Indian figure in the cupboard and locks it, he quickly discovers that the cupboard as the ability to bring plastic figures to life. Instead of just playing with plastic figures, Omri is soon getting to know the little people he’s been playing with, who turn out to be real people from the past.

Most of Omri’s adventures center around the American Indian figure, who turns out to be the son of an Iroquois chief and is named Little Bear. Little Bear has a definite personality and memories of life during the French and Iroquois Wars and the French and Indian War in the Great Lakes area of North America. During the course of the series, Omri not only brings Little Bear into his time as a miniature living human, but he also finds a way to go into the past to visit Little Bear. Little Bear marries another American Indian woman who Omri bought as a plastic figure, and they eventually have a son together.

Omri’s friend Patrick also learns the secret of the magical cupboard and brings one of his figures, a cowboy named Boone from the 19th century, to life. During the course of the series, Boone also gets married to a woman from his own time who already knows him and learns the secret of his time traveling, also coming to the future in the form of a little figurine.

Over the course of the books, the question of where the magic originates is answered. At first, it isn’t clear whether the cupboard or the key is responsible for the magic or if it’s some combination of the two, and the cupboard also seems to have a special ability to affect plastic. There is a history behind both the cupboard and the key that also tie in with the history of Omri’s own family.

The author of the series is Lynne Reid Banks.

Books in the Series:

The Indian in the Cupboard (1980)

A magical key and cupboard bring plastic toy figures to life.

The Return of the Indian (1986)

Omri brings his toy American Indian back to his time and learns that Little Bear needs his help.

The Secret of the Indian (1989)

Omri’s adventures continue as others begin to learn the secret behind what he and Patrick have been doing and Patrick goes back in time to the Old West.

The Mystery of the Cupboard (1993)

When Omri’s family moves to a house in the country that his mother has inherited, Omri learns secrets about his family and the history of his magical cupboard and key.

The Key to the Indian (1998)

In their final adventure, Omri and his father travel back in time to help Little Bear save his people.