P. L. Travers (1899–1996)

More adventures with everyone's favourite passive-aggressive, manic-depressive nanny as she takes her five charges on one psychedelic adventure after another (perhaps drugs per se are not involved but she does "sniff" a lot and the children's favourite candies are "acid drops"). By this, the third book, Poppins' supernatural ways and habit of accusing the kids of lying about where she takes them is getting just a little bit tired...but the writing remains crisp and the chapters fly by in a show more flurry of fantastical creatures, chimney sweeps, and hallucinatory landscapes. show less

I hate to spoil your image of Mary Poppins but...well, I'm going to spoil your image of Mary Poppins. The version that P.L. Travers created was very different from the one Disney dreamed up. She was a vain woman who seemed to be more concerned with her own appearance than with how she spoke to the children under her care. I found it almost unsettling how biting and cruel she was toward Jane and Michael (the twins John and Barbara featured in one chapter and were incidental to the rest of the show more story). However, just as in the movie version the children were in awe of her and loved her very much (her feelings about them were not quite as clear). I do think this is worth a read for anyone who grew up watching the Disney classic especially because it gives new dimensions to Mary Poppins AND details new adventures. show less

This is a perfect book about the nanny everyone loves, Mary Poppins. The reader can certainly recognize her from the movie in her extreme competence and ability to problem solve, but she's both a little harsher and more mystical in the book. There's a lovely scene in which she discusses with a starling the fact that babies can talk to animals and forces of nature because we are all one thing, but everyone, except Mary herself, loses that ability as they grow out of babyhood. In a scene at show more the night zoo we find that Mary is first cousin, once removed, to a king cobra. That accounts for her imposing nature, her refusal to waste time being nice, her demand for respect. I'd read that Travers was not happy with the Disneyfication of her book, and I'll bet that the leaving out of her mysticism was a great part of that dissatisfaction. Well worth reading at any age. show less

Not a book but rather a 40-page short story. Poppins takes the Banks children on a "dinner picnic" to the park and apparently she packed some cannabis edibles and magic mushrooms in with the hard boiled eggs and sponge cakes because before long everyone's tripping. Talking animals, constellations made flesh, and flying bird ladies? Hopefully the next story is entitled "Mary Poppins in Rehab".