Resources for |
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Suggested Activities  |
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| Assembly Script |
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| Daily Trivia |
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| Daily Trivia Answer Key |
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| End of Book Trivia Questions |
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| End of Book Trivia Answer Key |
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Suggested Activities for The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks (1980)
1. Dicey Questions
The following are all quotations that might provoke interesting conversation or discussion with your student or child. Ask them to explain the sentiments expressed by the character who says each quote. See if they agree or disagree. Or what wisdom they might have to add.
- “You touch - much fear.” (Little Bear, p. 36)
- “Little Bear isn’t a toy. He’s a real man. He lived. He’s not fun.”
(Omri, pp. 69-70)
- “Go and paint. It’ll make you feel better.” (Omri, p. 77)
- “Omri cook! Omri woman!” (Little Bear, p. 98)
- “Less mebbe you ain’t red atall - but yeller.” (Boone, p. 102)
- “Better enemy than alone in the dark.” (Little Bear, p. 113)
- “Chiefs ought to know how to keep their temper.” (Omri, p. 167)
2. Creative Writing
a) Write a story about bringing a figurine to life. Who would you choose? What would you want to ask him/her? What might you do together? What adventures might ensue?
b) Make a diorama of your favorite scene in I&C.
- Or of a scene in your own imagined adventure w/ your own character/figurine.
3. History Questions
a) Learn more about Little Bear’s time and context. Who were the Iroquois? Why did they fight the Algonquins? Who were their friends? Enemies? Why?
b) You can do the same for Boone. Look for details in the book that flesh out your picture of his time. He draws a picture of a street scene at one point. He also describes how his “school” was different than Omri’s.
c) Little Bear makes a big deal of not liking the toy teepee that Omri offers him. It’s a toy. It has no paintings on it. And most important, it’s not a longhouse. Find out and report on some of the other differences between the Iroquois and other Indians.
d) There are a number of moments in the book when one character encounters something that is not part of his/her world. This is only natural as Little Bear, Boone, and Omri lived at three different times. (“That hadn’t been invented yet,” says Omri at one point.) You can make a timeline to make sense of these differences and chart other details. Start with when Little Bear lived (sometime in the 1700s; you might choose 1760, right in the middle of the French and Indian War); then add a date for Boone (Boone cites it from a newspaper); then look up and add the following details:
- WW I
- the invention of Coco-Cola
- the Crusades (when the Saracens fought in Palestine)
- the invention of penicillin
- when the Grand Canyon was explored by white men
- when chocolate was likely to have made it to Boone or Little Bear
e) Alternately, you could make a list of every character that Omri brings to life, find out when each of them lived, and then place them all on a timeline. (Maybe illustrate with pictures, too.) The key is to remember even the obscure characters (like the knight who fought the Saracens).
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More Who Said Questions
These questions were prepared along w/ the trivia questions that will/are being asked in school. I have found that children enjoy these kinds of questions because they re-immerse them in the narrative, they give them a sense of ownership of the story, and they encourage them to attend to details. The following questions have been left off the daily trivia file and the end of month quiz. But some students may benefit from or enjoy re-visiting or re-hearsing the story thru questions like these. Ask them,
Who said:
- “I speak slowly.” (p. 9)
- “I not small. You big.” (p. 11)
- “Peace of Spirits be with you.” (p. 89)
- “Well I’ll be jiggered. Bit of a lark this. Be with you in a tick.” (p. 45)
- “Gone to ancestors. Very happy.” (p. 59)
- “It’s all made of real twigs and bark. It’s absolutely terrific!” (p. 67)
- “You no Great Spirit. You little boy. You feel shame.” (p. 76)
- “It’s sweat that keeps a man clean.” (p. 105)
- “Washin’ hair’s fer wimmin. ‘Tain’t fer men!” (p. 105)
- “We’re doing art. She just let’s us get on with it.” (p. 130)
- “Omri wouldn’t steal.” (p. 138)
- “Omri fool to steal Boone.” (p. 139)
- “I HAVEN’T GOT YOUR STINKING SHORTS.” (p. 143)
- “Go and paint. It’ll make you feel better.” (p. 77)
- “Don’t you dare spit. There are no spittoons here.” (p. 148)