evidence of Omri's secret, is struck on the head by debris, meaning that no one believes any of his ramblings about "tiny people." Boone and Ruby Lou realize they are stranded as tiny people in the far future, unable to return home without the key. They attempt to make a life with one another, eventually confessing their love. They are resigned to their fate, but long to return home and be properly married. Omri's father repairs the cupboard and returns it to his son, while Omri, by sheer luck, finds the key in a hedge. He uses the magic to summon all of the group's tiny friends for Boone and Ruby Lou's wedding before sending everyone home for what he promises will be the final time. Afterwards Omri asks his parents for a safe-deposit box, into which he puts the key, the cupboard, the figurines of Little Bear and his family, and a copy of his story, leaving them for his children to find. The Mystery of the Cupboard (1993) This book was illustrated by Piers Sanford (UK) and Tom Newsom (US). HarperCollins recommends its 2004 edition for ages 8 to 12. Kirkus Reviews recommended it for ages 10 to 13 in 1993, concluding, "Not the best Cupboard book, but fans won't want to miss it; with a first printing of 75,000 they won't have to."Kirkus observed that "Banks plots expertly" and develops the relationship between Omri and his father. "There's not much chance to stereotype Native Americans here, as Banks was charged with earlier, but Jessica Charlotte is certainly a caricature of a music-hall singer; one wonders whether it's reasonable, or merely foolish, to deplore such shorthand in popular fiction." Plot summary With their house in ruins after the freak tornado in the previous book, Omri and family move temporarily to rural Dorset, where they have inherited a house from the family of Jessica Charlotte Driscoll, Omri's "wicked" great-great aunt, who became the family black sheep by being a charlatan fortune-teller, a scandalous dance-hall girl, and a thief. While the cottage's roof is being rethatched, the workmen discover a metal box and give it to Omri, telling him that the previous owners of old cottages frequently hid their deedboxes in thatched roofs. Along with the deedbox is a journal called "The Account," written by Jessica Charlotte herself as she was dying of a fatal illness. Jessica possesses a power