{"id":2224886,"date":"2024-04-19T00:18:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T04:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lynne-reid-banks-1929-2024\/"},"modified":"2024-04-19T00:23:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T04:23:03","slug":"lynne-reid-banks-1929-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lynne-reid-banks-1929-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Lynne Reid Banks, 1929-2024: A Legacy Remembered"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flynne-reid-banks-1929-2024%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2224886&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The works of Lynne Reid Banks, particularly &#8220;Indian in the Cupboard,&#8221; resonated with those who grew up in the 1980s and\u200b &#8217;90s, akin\u2064 to Spielberg&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/disney-responds-to-dinklages-criticism-of-snow-white-remake\/\" title=\"Disney Responds To Dinklage\u2019s Criticism Of Snow White Remake\">iconic movies<\/a>. Banks&#8217; imaginative storytelling, featuring smart children stumbling upon magical secrets, captivated\u200d readers. Her legacy lives on\u2063 through a\u200b series of enchanting sequels,\u2063 showcasing \u200cher \u200dskill in \u200cweaving tales that \u2064blur the lines between\u2062 reality\u200c and \u200dfantasy.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>For those of us who grew up in the 1980s and \u201990s, Lynne Reid Banks\u2019s <em>Indian in the Cupboard <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/novel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>novels<\/a> held something of the same appeal as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/steven-spielberg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Steven Spielberg<\/a>\u2019s <em>E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial<\/em> or <em>The Goonies<\/em>. Each centers on smart, sensitive children who happen upon something secret and unshareable with the grown-up world: a space creature in <em>E.T.<\/em>, a treasure map in <em>The Goonies<\/em>, and a figurine-turned-real-man in Banks\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/books\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>books<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Banks, who died on April 4 at age 94, earned a permanent place in the hearts of millennials with her charming series. The success of the original book, 1980\u2019s <em>The Indian in the Cupboard<\/em>, shepherded a set of sequels written over the next two decades: <em>The Return of the Indian<\/em> (1986), <em>The Secret of the Indian<\/em> (1989), <em>The Mystery of the Cupboard<\/em> (1993), and <em>The Key to the Indian<\/em> (1998).<em> <\/em><\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>(Rex\/Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The series was sustained by Banks\u2019s simple yet bewitching premise: A little boy named Omri, whose name was borrowed from one of the author\u2019s sons, receives a pair of rather wanting birthday gifts: a plastic toy Indian and a secondhand medicine cabinet. Yet, when situated inside the cabinet, the toy is given all the properties of life, albeit in miniaturized form: He breathes, he talks, he sleeps, he eats, and he fights.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis Indian \u2014 <em>his<\/em> Indian \u2014 was behaving in every way like a real live Indian brave,\u201d Banks writes early in the first novel, \u201cand despite the vast difference in their sizes and strengths, Omri respected him and even, odd as it sounds, feared him at that moment.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>In concocting this flight of fancy, Banks was advancing the tradition of British fabulists like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Born in London in 1929, Banks acquired a taste for the fantastic thanks to her Irish mother, an actress. \u201cI was brought up to think we really shared the world with little people, fairies, and elves and so on,\u201d Banks told the <em>New York Times <\/em>in 1993. Her father was a physician.<\/p>\n<p>Just a year after her birth, her family, seeking to avoid imperilment during World War II, pulled up stakes for a city in Saskatchewan, Canada, where they remained until 1945. \u201cSaskatoon was a thriving metropolis, but there was still a very strong, pioneering Western flavor to the town,\u201d Banks told the <em><em>New York Times<\/em><\/em>, crediting that background with her subsequent interest in the milieu that later informed <em>The Indian in the Cupboard<\/em>.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Lynne Reid-Banks, playwright and children\u2019s author, photographed on Jan. 3, 1956. (Photo by Daily Mirror \/ Mirrorpix via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Yet, as Banks embarked on her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-attorney-general-nominee-pleads-ignorance-on-gun-control-limits\/\" title=\"Biden Attorney General Nominee Pleads Ignorance on Gun Control Limits\">professional life<\/a>, her distinctive melding of British fantasy and North American iconography was still a long way off. Seeking to emulate her mother, Banks trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but she settled on the less glamorous trade of television journalism. By her account, she wrote her first novel \u2014 the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-15-most-anticipated-albums-of-2021\/\" title=\"The 15 Most Anticipated Albums of 2021\u00a0\">acclaimed<\/a>, and very adult-oriented, <em>The L-Shaped Room<\/em> \u2014 during her \u201cdowntime\u201d while employed at ITN. <\/p>\n<p>Published in 1960, <em>The L-Shaped Room<\/em> in no way presages Banks\u2019s later works for children: The book revolves around a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/robert-e-lee-statue-removed-from-us-capitol-video\/\" title=\"Robert E. Lee Statue Removed From US Capitol (VIDEO)\">young woman<\/a> whose status as an unwed mother-to-be proves a significant complication as she attempts to forge a life for herself. In 1962, as a kind of female answer to the \u201cAngry Young Man\u201d genre of British cinema, the book was turned into an acclaimed movie starring Leslie Caron.<\/p>\n<p>Confronted with such success, most authors would do the talk-show circuit and churn out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/morning-wire-publishing-company-censors-conservative-books-lawmakers-debate-cryptocurrency-activists-protest-obamas-presidential-center\/\" title=\"Morning Wire: Publishing Company Censors Conservative Books, Lawmakers Debate Cryptocurrency, Activists Protest Obama\u2019s Presidential Center\">similar books<\/a>, but the adventuresome Banks made the decision to relocate to a kibbutz, where her eventual husband, the gifted sculptor Chaim Stephenson, was living. The couple married in 1965 and were parents to three children. In 1971, Banks and her family left Israel for her home country, but the marriage endured. Stephenson died in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Then came <em>The Indian in the Cupboard<\/em>, the outlines of which, the author asserted, originated as a bedtime story for her son Omri. Because so many years had passed since the triumph of <em>The L-Shaped Room<\/em>, the widespread popularity of <em>The Indian in the Cupboard<\/em> must have seemed as out of the blue as the instant success of J.K. Rowling\u2019s Harry Potter books.  <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Banks and Rowling have something else in common: They both attract critics. Unbelievably, the <em>Indian in the Cupboard<\/em> books \u2014 a wonderfully human, generous-spirited series ideally suited to children \u2014 were attacked for, in the words of Louise Erdrich, being akin to \u201cOrwellian allegories of childish imperialism.\u201d Perhaps conceding too much, Banks acknowledged some limitations in her writing. Of the title character, she said, \u201cBy today\u2019s progressive rules, I misnamed him.\u201d But she held firm against the proposed addition of a \u201cwarning label\u201d to her books: \u201cI said they may not meddle with my book,\u201d she told the<em> Independent<\/em> in 1995. \u201cI will sue them through every court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To the credit of a pre-\u201cwoke\u201d Hollywood, <em>The Indian in the Cupboard<\/em> was made into an appealing movie in 1995. Muppets artisan Frank Oz directed, and <em>E.T.<\/em> scribe Melissa Mathison adapted the novel, faithfully and lovingly. It\u2019s a good film and deserved sequels (Netflix, are you listening?), but devotees of Banks needn\u2019t rely on Hollywood to get their fill of their favorite author. <em>The Indian in the Cupboard <\/em>and its offspring remain as delightful as ever.<\/p>\n<p><em>Peter Tonguette is a contributing writer to the <\/em>Washington Examiner <em>magazine.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lynne Reid Banks\u2019s Indian in the Cupboard novels, popular in the 1980s and \u201990s, captivated a generation like Spielberg\u2019s films. Both feature intelligent, caring children discovering extraordinary secrets hidden from adults: a captivating parallel between Banks\u2019s work and Spielberg&#8217;s iconic movies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2691,"featured_media":2224887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2024-04-18-at-7.30.19%E2%80%AFPM-1024x665.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2224886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2024-04-18-at-7.30.19%E2%80%AFPM-1024x665.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2224886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2691"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2224886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2224886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2224887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2224886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2224886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2224886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}