P. L. Travers

An extraordinary English nanny blows in on the East Wind with her parrot-headed umbrella and magic carpetbag and introduces her charges, Jane and Michael, to some delightful people and experiences. Children's BOMC.

Mary Poppins

Gracie Marsden

Fun, quirky, and cute! This would be a great book to read to kids as a family.

I get PL Travers’ lack of interest in Disney adapting this book and her frustration with the adaptation, but her Mary Poppins is a jerk and Julie Andrews is a delight.

Dan Dugan

Kendi Dockum

Oh, my goodness. I have to admit that I had no clue that Mary Poppins was a book... Let alone the first in a series... But when I found it available on Audible I knew that I HAD to listen to it. There was no if's, and's, or but's about it! Mary Poppins is one of my most watched movies, and I knew from the moment I read it... erm, or rather, listened to it, I guess... I would love the book just as much! After listening to it, I honestly feel jipped. There was soo much that wasn't included in the movie that I would have loved to see, but eh. It's whatever. It was an incredible book, I enjoyed it tremendously. And now I want to watch the movie again for the umpteenth time...

Silvia Lucchini

Mary Poppins mi riporta sempre al Natale.
Il libro sicuramente è differente dall'iconico film, ci sono molte più "avventure" per i piccoli fratelli. Ma scalda sempre il cuore.

"An extraordinary English nanny blows in on the East Wind with her parrot-headed umbrella and magic carpetbag and introduces her charges, Jane and Michael, to some delightful people and experiences." --

Steph L 

Overall I don't know where to begin with this. It was a solid 4 star read for me. I knew the story going in, but I had never read it before. 

Characters 4.8/5

.2 docked off becasue Jane and Michael bothered me at times. Overall, I enjoyed them but man at times I almost dnfed this book becasue they annoyed me. Mary was the saving grace of this book for me so that's why I upped the rating. 

Plot 4/5 

Some of the plot of this book was kind of a yikes because I couldn't tell where it was going. I felt like I could have skipped a few chapters and not really missed all that much. The book is about Mary and her adventures with the Banks's children and helping them. While I understand that, I felt like some of the chapters could be skipped entirely as they added nothing to the story for me. 

Writing 5/5

The writing is whimsical as it should be for a book that it meant to be read to children. Had it not been for the writing keeping me engaged I would have dnfed this book. 

Pace 4.5/5

The pace of the book was so stagnate in places and I didn't understand why. See the plot for more.

Mary Horton

Many mixed feelings on this. The writing style was utterly delicious and classically British. The illustrations in this edition were gorgeous and by far my favourite part. There was a definite feeling of magic & whimsy that thrilled my heart.

But then we have some problems, Jeeves.

I'm namely referring to Several Disturbing Chapters that involved a) an emotionally abusive mother (Mrs. Corry) who was scarily nice to everyone but her children, b) a birthday party wherein humans are caged like animals in "celebration", and c) a snake that is apparently a cousin (???) of Mary Poppins. 

Just . . . wut.

Contrast that with the other delightful chapters wherein the characters explore chalk drawings and go Christmas shopping with a star, and I'm just left in a state of utter bewilderment. 

Not to mention Mary herself is a bit of a conundrum. Sharp, bitter, and not-at-all nice, she's not what I would have chosen as the guardian of my children. I knew this going into the book, and despite a few (albeit brief) moments of kindness on her part, I never liked or trusted the famous nanny. 

In summation: Did I enjoy this? Yes, with some fairly large disclaimers. I loved the overall Aesthetic of this book and may end up revisiting the Poppins stories, especially because of the scrumptious illustrations. But I'm very confused and slightly disconcerted by some aspects of the book. *shrugs*

(also I'm so glad they revised the Bad Tuesday chapter because, my gosh, I looked up the original and talk about Problematic . . . )

3.5 stars

Life was never the same again for the Banks family after the astonishing Mary Poppins blew in with the east wind. This revised edition introduces some delightful new characters. "Delightful nonsense that defies an age boundary of appreciation."--Booklist

See C.G. Drews' review. In it, everything I could possibly say about this book has been expressed.

Caroline Lewicki

If you've never read Mary Poppins, you absolutely should. She is not the sing songy, happy go lightly that she is in the Disney adaptation, but the book is still a wonderful classic. I'd highly recommend reading it, then watching "Saving Mr. Banks" as you get a feel for what PL Travers really wanted Mary Poppins to be like.

Based on the original 1934 novel by P. L. Travers with beautiful illustrations by Genevieve Godbout, this collectable picture book is sure to become a favorite of Mary Poppins fans old and new. When the East Wind blows Mary Poppins over Cherry Tree Lane and into the lives of the Banks children, nothing is ever the same! This picture book adaptation of the original novel is full of Mary's unique brand of whimsical adventure: There's a tea party on the ceiling, a visit to the night zoo, and a trip to a mysterious shop that sells stars. Told in a lyrical text with fresh yet timeless art by Genevieve Godbout, this version of Mary Poppins is perfect for reading aloud. Young and old, longtime friends of Mary, and those meeting her for the first time, will revel in this colorfully illustrated version of the story that inspired the image of the beloved nanny of page, stage, and screen.

Grace O'Callaghan

This was such a pleasant surprise! I’d heard from so many people that this was wildly different to the movie, but it wasn’t that different in my opinion.

If you’ve been living under a rock, Mary Poppins follows the Banks family as they take on a new nanny, Mary Poppins. But she’s unlike any other nanny the children have had. She can slide up banisters, has a bottomless bag and can talk to animals. Follow them as they go on wacky adventures with their peculiar nanny.

I’ve seen a lot of criticism about Mary Poppins’ character. While I adore the movie I actually loved her in this. I can’t say she’s a good nanny but she’s so vain and sassy. I think it would’ve been boring if she was ‘practically perfect in every way’. 

Jane and Michael were also such brats that you can’t help but love. Honestly they sometimes deserved the treatment Mary Poppins gave them.

I loved how episodic it felt. It was almost like a collection of short stories. It was just so much fun and full of magic.

All in all, a highly entertaining read. I’m not sure if I’ll continue in the series as I think this one was so good and I don’t want to taint this experience.

Meredith Rose

Whimsical and wonderful! I absolutely loved listening to this first book in the Mary Poppins series. In my opinion, these are the kind of stories that were meant for audio format. Especially when such talented voice actresses as Thomspon bring them to life!

I just adore Travers' wit and sass that comes through in really all of her characters but most especially in Mary Poppins. While every chapter was a delight to hear, Bad Tuesday was by far my favorite—the cheekiness of Michael had me laughing out loud and grinning ear to ear.

A wonderful story all around for children and adults alike!

Emily S

I feel like PL Travers would slap me across the face but I really did enjoy those animation sequences 🙈. Yeah overall good stories but certainly not my favorite children’s lit.

adria

I'm not the biggest fan of how Mary Poppins treats the children. They are actual smart, thinking, feeling little persons. They shouldn't be told to shut up all the time, or tricked into believing that some events didn't happen, even though they did. It doesn't bode well for their future mental health. So jeez, Mary Poppins, learn to chill sometimes. 
Overall quite a fun, engaging read.

Jeni Enjaian

A review from my old blog...

I was absolutely enchanted by this book. I always loved the movie and wondered what the book would be like. Obviously some things are different... such as the fact that different little stories are told in the book than are related in the movie but overall I think the book to movie transition worked well.

Now, onto the book itself.
Even if I didn't picture Julie Andrews in the role of Mary Poppins I would have loved to have a babysitter/nanny like Mary Poppins who could tell the most wonderful stories like that of the red dancing cow. I was reading along and didn't quite catch the transition to Mary Poppin's story but once I figured things out I couldn't get enough of that little story.

As I turned each page I could definitely picture myself reading this book to my kids (if I ever have kids)... you know, the chapter a night thing.

I was also enchanted by the British spellings and sayings. Heh... I don't think I can say anything negative about the book.

Describes the many adventures of the extraordinary English nanny and her charges, Jane and Michael.

80th Anniversary Collection

Reading this collection of the stories showed just how formulaic and repetitive most of the Mary Poppins stories really are. As I stated in my review of another one of the stories I read a couple weeks ago, I definitely prefer the Disney version of Mary Poppins. The biggest issue for me? The children never seem to learn their lessons. How good of a nanny can Mary Poppins really be if the children constantly misbehave when she's not around? At least in the Disney version the children modified their behavior.

Jales

well, that was a fun ride; my heart is chill now. loved it!

Luisina Rivoira

This was a complete delight upon reread <3

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Well that took forever.
I don't even know what to say, I was pretty underwhelmed by this book. I was expecting so much more.
The story kept jumping from one thing to the next without stopping too long to get anything figured out, and the ending felt super rushed.
There were some things that made me laugh and we meet some loveable characters on the way, hence the 3 star rating, but not much else. I supposed I hyped it up too much in my head.

An extraordinary English nanny blows in on the East Wind with her parrot-headed umbrella and magic carpetbag and introduces her charges, Jane and Michael, to some delightful people and experiences.

Sandy

I don't quite know what to make of this book, but I did enjoy listening to it!

Lisa Beasley

I listened to this on audiobook which was read by Olivia Colman and while her narration was enjoyable I found the book lacked something. Maybe I've just been too influenced by the films, which I love, but I found this Mary Poppins hard to like. 

I know a lot about the story as I've seen the films as well as Saving Mr Banks so I knew a lot about the adaptation etc but I have to admit having listened to this I understand the changes that were made and definitely prefer the adaptation. I am however glad I listened to the original even if I wasn't that keen on it.

Mary Poppins

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