The Indian in the Cupboard was published by J. M. Dent in 1980, becoming one of the most successful children’s novels of the 1980s — selling over ten million copies, translated into dozens of languages, and adapted into a 1995 film produced by Kathleen Kennedy. The novel spawned four sequels and became a classroom staple.
Omri is a nine-year-old English boy who receives two birthday presents: a small plastic toy Indian figure and an old cupboard with a key. When he locks the Indian in the cupboard overnight, he discovers in the morning that the figure has come alive — not as a toy-sized automaton but as a fully conscious person: Little Bear, an Iroquois warrior from the eighteenth century, complete with his own history, language, culture, and demands.
Banks uses the fantasy premise to explore serious questions: what does it mean to have absolute power over a living being? What obligations does that power create? Omri initially treats Little Bear as a fascinating pet — but the warrior’s fierce dignity, his insistence on being treated as a person rather than a possession, and his practical needs (food, weapons, shelter) force Omri to recognize that bringing someone to life means taking responsibility for their existence.
The novel has been criticized for its portrayal of Native Americans (Little Bear speaks in simplified English, his culture is seen entirely through Omri’s outsider perspective), and later editions have been revised. But its central moral argument — that power over others creates obligations, not entitlements — remains powerful.
Collecting The Indian in the Cupboard
First edition (J. M. Dent, London, 1980): Cloth binding, dust jacket, illustrated by Robin Jacques.
Market values:
- First UK edition in dust jacket: $60–$200
- Signed first edition: $100–$300
- US first (Doubleday, 1981): $25–$60
- Without jacket: $10–$20