Mary Poppins Comes Back

More adventures with the Banks' children and everyone's favourite passive-aggressive pothead nanny. This time around Poppins takes the kids on a series of tot-sized LSD binges where they fly into outer space to dance with the constellations, get blown through the air on magical balloons, and spend an afternoon bouncing on their heads.

P.L. Travers famously loathed the 1964 film Mary Poppins — so much so that her will stipulates that a sequel can never be filmed. No wonder I and so many others never realized quite how many books there are in this series.

In Mary Poppins Comes Back, the legendary nanny reappears from the sky with as much notice as she gave when she vanished at the end of the very first book: none. The Banks family, at sixes and sevens without her, welcome her return — particularly the children: Jane, Michael and the toddler twins Barbara and John. In this book, first released in 1935, Mary Poppins rules the household even more imperiously than in the first, if that’s possible. But, as always, Miss Poppins brings magic and good sense wherever she show more goes.

Some of the characters from the first novel reappear as well — Admiral Boom, the prissy Miss Lark and her dogs, Mrs. Corry and her giant daughters, and Bert the Match Man — but quite a few new ones emerge, too. Some of the adventures are a bit repetitive (e.g., cousin Arthur Turvy bears too much of a resemblance to the uncle, Mr. Wigg ) and chapter on the introduction of spring falls flat; however, some of the tales are a bit darker than you’d find in today’s children’s fare, and most of the tales are reasonably funny. Chapters on Mr. Banks’ harridan of an ex-nanny, on a celestial circus, and on the Dirty Rascal prove particularly satisfying.

While not quite in the same league as the 1934 debut Mary Poppins book, adults and children alike will still love the sequel. show less

I am not reading these because of the upcoming movie - a movie which seems like such an odd choice for Disney to make considering how much she hated the company's eponymous founder. But I guess they figure better them than anyone else? I don't know. Anyway, I've noticed with the Mary Poppins books that sometimes the description is a bit lacking - but I don't see that as a flaw. Rather, an understanding that children don't need much to go on and don't want the worlds they're inhabiting through their books to be overwrought with description. This is where upside down tea party scene takes place. There is also a strange, god-like, circus in the clouds kind of thing. I'm not in love with these books, but there's something about them ...

Still working but not sure how much longer the series could continue to be this enjoyable. There are some repetitive elements, Poppins staring at herself in mirrors, or denying that anything magical has happened. Also some of the plot outlines are similar but these are all minor things in the grand scheme. For now still charming.

In my review of the first book i compared Poppins to the Discworlds' Granny Weatherwax but at this point she reminds me of Doctor Who, especially the early versions of the doctor.

During the read i was wondering if the Mary Poppins stories count as magical realism but i then needed to define that term so i came up with this: "Magical Realism is when a story has magical (ie non-scientific) elements, said elements show more being neither Consistent nor Persistent".
I concluded Poppins was inconsistent enough but failed the second criteria because Mary and the magic around her was too Persistent. Anyway, sidebar over.

Overall still delightfully weird enough for me to continue the series. show less

Audiobook performed by Sophie Thompson

From the book jacket: Pulled down from the clouds at the end of a kite string, Mary Poppins is here again to take the Banks children in hand, leading them from one head-spinning adventure to another.

My reactions
Oh, My! I read these books when I was about nine or ten years old. My best friend and I would share the books back and forth, spending countless hours at recess and over lunch talking about Mary Poppins, the Banks children and their fantastical adventures. There were only four books in the series at that time, and I think we read each of them three or four times. This was before the Disney movie adaptation, which we eventually saw and loved, though we recognized the differences and were a show more little disappointed that some of our favorite adventures were missing.

I re-read the first book when my first niece was about six (she’s 19 now), thinking I might want to give her the series. I was struck by how mean and unpleasant Mary Poppins was – definitely not the lovable nanny of my memory!

I had no such reaction this time, although Mary Poppins is certainly a stern taskmaster at times, not to mention vain. But I just loved the adventures she and the children had! Who would not smile at Mr Turvy, the Balloon Woman, or the trip to the Constellations?!

Sophie Thompson does a marvelous job narrating the audio version. Like many children’s books, this one lends itself easily to being read aloud. Thompson has great pacing, and a gift for voices that really helps to bring these characters to life. show less

Without Mary Poppins around, the Banks family is not doing very well. Mary returns and the Banks children immediately begin their adventures. They meet the King of the Castle and the Dirty Rascal, visit the upside-down world of Mr. Turvy and his bride, Miss Topsy, and spend an afternoon above the park, dangling from a clutch of balloons.

There is a bit more darkness in this book than in the original. Mary Poppins herself is both more self-centered about her appearance as well as much crabbier to the children. Mary Poppins never explains how any of the magical things happen to the children and never answers their questions. It seems they are becoming more accepting of this in this second book, and just take her and the mysteries that show more surround her for part of who she is.

In this book we meet a new character, baby Anbabel. For the life of me I can't imagine why Mr. and Mrs. Banks keep having children they ignore and can't care for. These books were written in the 1930’s for an English audience but almost all children are familiar with the movie Mary Poppins and have wonderful memories associated with the whole series. show less

B (Good).

A family gets a magic nanny again.

A lot of it is redundant, just doing things the first book did a second time. But a handful of the stories are great.

(Sep. 2024)