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A review by katykelly
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
4.0
There can't be a child alive now who actually reads this book in ignorance of the Disney film. And I count myself here too. Anybody reading this will have their reading of it coloured by Julie Andrews and the famous songs and scenes of the film. And this doesn't help the book, in some ways.
I wish I knew how I'd view this story if I'd not seen the film first. I suspect I'd have liked it - it's pretty magical still, with the parrot umbrella, magic medicine and upward banister travel, the ceiling lunch, chalk drawings. But if you're reading this to your child expecting dancing penguins, chimney-top dancing and the moving father-child scenes at the end, think again. Uncle Walt put those in. Sorry.
This is on my son's shelf and I do intend to share it with him when he's old enough. There are some great chapters here that I didn't remember - the midnight zoo and the twins' chapter (Jane and Michael's baby siblings have a chapter of their own which is adorable) are my favourites. I didn't like Mrs Corry at all, a very strange chapter and character that I found disturbing. Bert hardly appears, it's much more a sequence of stories and adventures and around Mary and the children. So it's very different to the film, which apparently (as I can't say I've read any of the others) is based on chapters from several of Travers' volumes.
I would treat them as two different and quite separate things I think. My son is three and a half and wants to see the film (after ad nauseum repeats of the songs in the car) so I know he'll be seeing this before we read it. I know at this age he'll be enchanted by the film whereas the book, which most certainly is a classic of its time will have an appeal when he's older. And I'll be talking to him about the differences between the two and why he thinks Walt Disney changed things.
Mary Poppins is a contradiction in the book - still vain and snooty, but lets her hair down with Bert. And with Sophie Thompson's excellent reading can sound almost common when she forgets herself.
I reread this as an audiobook, and thoroughly enjoyed it this way. The narration was excellent, beautifully English. I expect Travers would approve. I was spurred to read it again by 'Saving Mr Banks', the recent film. Maybe the whole series of Poppins books needs to be read to understand her a little better, but I did get a good feel for the period, the middle class family, and the gentle magic that I'm sure enchanted readers long before Walt persuaded her to allow him his penguins.
Has to be read. But don't let the film spoil it for you.
I wish I knew how I'd view this story if I'd not seen the film first. I suspect I'd have liked it - it's pretty magical still, with the parrot umbrella, magic medicine and upward banister travel, the ceiling lunch, chalk drawings. But if you're reading this to your child expecting dancing penguins, chimney-top dancing and the moving father-child scenes at the end, think again. Uncle Walt put those in. Sorry.
This is on my son's shelf and I do intend to share it with him when he's old enough. There are some great chapters here that I didn't remember - the midnight zoo and the twins' chapter (Jane and Michael's baby siblings have a chapter of their own which is adorable) are my favourites. I didn't like Mrs Corry at all, a very strange chapter and character that I found disturbing. Bert hardly appears, it's much more a sequence of stories and adventures and around Mary and the children. So it's very different to the film, which apparently (as I can't say I've read any of the others) is based on chapters from several of Travers' volumes.
I would treat them as two different and quite separate things I think. My son is three and a half and wants to see the film (after ad nauseum repeats of the songs in the car) so I know he'll be seeing this before we read it. I know at this age he'll be enchanted by the film whereas the book, which most certainly is a classic of its time will have an appeal when he's older. And I'll be talking to him about the differences between the two and why he thinks Walt Disney changed things.
Mary Poppins is a contradiction in the book - still vain and snooty, but lets her hair down with Bert. And with Sophie Thompson's excellent reading can sound almost common when she forgets herself.
I reread this as an audiobook, and thoroughly enjoyed it this way. The narration was excellent, beautifully English. I expect Travers would approve. I was spurred to read it again by 'Saving Mr Banks', the recent film. Maybe the whole series of Poppins books needs to be read to understand her a little better, but I did get a good feel for the period, the middle class family, and the gentle magic that I'm sure enchanted readers long before Walt persuaded her to allow him his penguins.
Has to be read. But don't let the film spoil it for you.