Mary Poppins

By P.L. Travers

Book Overview

This classic novel continues to enchant readers of all ages! A day with Mary Poppins is a day of magic and make-believe come to life.From the moment Mary Poppins arrives at Number Seventeen... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• ISBN: B000GLD23U
• Release Date: January 1937
• Publisher: Cadmus Books (E.M. Hale & Company)
• Length: 137 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great!

I love grim-dark fantasy and such, but in between those books, classic children’s literature is a fantastic pallet cleanser. Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, the secret Garden, and Mary Poppins. In one divergence from its movie counterpart Mary Poppins translates for a dog and its owner, hilarious. Mary Poppins is much more stern with Jane and Michael in the book.

Any way the wind blows.

This is the original Mary Poppins book, which came out a long time before the famous Disney movie. Mary Poppins in the book is somewhat different than the movie version. The book version of Mary Poppins is a magical nanny of unexplained origin. She is strict with her charges, and she is quite vain, frequently admiring her appearance in the mirror. The book doesn't really tell one lengthy story. Rather, each chapter relates a seperate fascinating anecdote involving Mary Poppins. This is a great, classic childrens book.

Will the Real Mary Please Stand Up

Who WAS Mary Poppins, anyway? Well, as one who grew up with P.L. Travers' fabulous books, I can tell you who she was not. She did not give medicine with a spoonful of sugar, she was not a nauseatingly sweet airhead with an umbrella, and--guess what--she was NOT A NICE PERSON!Which is exactly why I and my friends loved her. Other reviewers have found all kinds of hidden meanings, from satanism to British racism, to describe this and the other Mary Poppins books, probably because of the shock of finding that the real thing has so much more depth than the sickening movie version.As a child in the 50s, I had no notion of British sensibilities or history, no clue about so-called satanism, and my sweet little child mind was ripe for all kinds of dire cult messages. But somehow, what I gleaned from these books was the best kind of adventure: an adult who wasn't really a parent, wasn't really a teacher, was definitely in charge--and yet strange magical things constantly happened in her presence. There were lessons to be learned: if Jane and Michael, the older children, misbehaved, the magic went awry. Badly awry. There was danger. There were consequences to their actions. Have a tantrum, and you just might wind up on the wrong end of an antique plate--trapped inside with no way out. Be rude to adults and other children, and your nice little world will change in ways you don't want to know about. But always, in the end, Mary Poppins was there to save the day without saying "I told you so." She was what so many modern children sorely lack: a strong parent figure. There was no spoiling, no giving in to whining demands (who would dare whine at Mary Poppins anyway?), and no indulgence. But there was also love and protection and security.Is it wrong to expose today's children to literature such as this that may be politically incorrect? That is a debate that is larger than this review. I can only say from experience that even as a child, I took these books for what they were: fiction. And I loved them. Give me my nasty, vain, pompous REAL Mary Poppins any day of the week. In my view, she wears well. Very, very, well.

Beautiful work of literature for all ages

I bought a copy of this book when I was 9. I read it , loved it, but as any child would, eventually lost it. As I was going through a pile of stuff in the attic the other day, I came across it once again. The pages were yellowed and torn, and the spine was falling apart, but the story never lost its magic. I was engrossed in the characters' every move, and I actually cried when the book reached its end. I would recommend Mary Poppins for readers of all ages, for it is a work of art that leaves memories that will be treasured for a lifetime.