Characters
This 9-year-old British boy discovers the cupboard’s magic on his birthday.
Omri
This is the special object Omri must use to lock and unlock the cupboard and activate its power.
The key
On the morning after locking the Indian in the cupboard, Omri is woken by these sounds.
noises / tapping from the cupboard
Patrick gives Omri this disappointing plastic birthday gift.
plastic toy indian figure
Little Bear is a member of this Native American nation (also called Haudenosaunee).
Iroquois
This Iroquois warrior comes to life from a plastic toy and is the son of a chief.
Little Bear
Only toys made of this material come to life when locked inside the cupboard.
Plastic
Little Bear stabs Omri with this tiny weapon when they first meet.
a knife
Omri’s mother lets him search her collection for one of these that will fit the cupboard.
a key
Little Bear comes from roughly this century.
1700s (18th century)
Omri’s best friend who later brings a cowboy figure to life.
Patrick
Omri’s brother gives him this battered metal cabinet (like a medicine cabinet) as a birthday present.
The cupboard
During a fight, Little Bear shoots Boone with this, injuring him.
an arrow
The key that works once belonged to Omri’s mother’s this relative.
grandmother / great-grandmother
Omri learns that the tiny people are not toys but real people with their own lives, teaching him this important idea.
responsibility / respect / empathy
or similar response
This cowboy from the Old West is nicknamed “Boohoo” and becomes Little Bear’s blood brother.
Boone
When a plastic teepee is placed in the cupboard, it turns into one made of this real material.
leather / animal hide / wood
Omri brings a World War I figure to life to do this for the wounded Boone.
treat / bandage / heal his wound
Omri makes one of these out of craft materials for Little Bear, but it later becomes real.
teepee / tent
Despite their differences, Little Bear and Boone eventually become these.
blood brothers / friends
The Iroquois woman Little Bear chooses as his wife.
Bright Stars
At the end of the story, Omri does this with the key so no one can use the magic again.
give it away / hide it / stop using it
Little Bear and Boone decide the best thing is to return to their own times, so Omri does this to them.
locks them in the cupboard / turns them back into plastic
Little Bear prefers to live in this type of traditional Iroquois dwelling rather than a teepee.
long house
The story shows that people from different cultures and times can still form this.
friendship / understanding