The Key to the Indian — Lynne Reid Banks

In 1980, Lynne Reid Banks created an extraordinary story that has captured the imaginations of children and adults. The Indian in the Cupboard opened doors on a fascinating and highly original world of toy figures brought to life through the magic of a bathroom cupboard and a wonderful key. Three sequels followed the original novel, and readers eagerly have awaited the latest in the series...

In The Mystery of the Cupboard, Omri's father found out his great secret. When Omri and his father read together of the terrible plight of the Iroquois people, their abandonment by their British allies and their struggles with rapacious European settlers in late eighteenth-century America, they realize that Little Bear, Omri's Iroquois friend from the past, is in urgent need of help. But how will they go back to the Indian, and what help can they possibly give?

Father and son struggle to solve the problem of traveling together in time. Jessica Charlotte, Omri's ancestor whose magic gift may have been passed on to him, tries to help, but things go so wrong that Omri finds himself almost lost in an entirely different time and place, while his father has a hair-raising adventure of his own. Little Bear's need makes them persist in their quest, but they little understand the terrors that lie in wait -- for their Indian friends and for themselves.

With history, mystery, humor, adventure, and all the surprising twists readers expect of its master storyteller, The Key to the Indian may be the most exciting and poignant of the five-volume series so far. Readers are sure to be absorbed to the last word of its astonishing final pages.