Book #78: Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers

Okay, I decided I wanted to read this back after watching Saving Mr. Banks over Christmas (was that when it came out?), which makes me feel kind of like a cheater to read a book because of a movie. But I felt like I had only just realized that this original movie was based off a book, which I'd never read, so I wanted to check it out. I read it today, while both my boys were napping (and I of course couldn't fall asleep), and it was the weirdest deja vu experience--every image and every sentence reverberated in my mind and sounded so familiar. And I knew I'd read this before. I must have read it when I was in the 10-12 age range, because I read lots of books like this and they have all blended together (I feel like the Shoes books, like Ballet Shoes and Tennis Shoes, were right along this same time), and I honestly had no idea I'd read this before. But I knew every story in this whole book, and I'm remembering even more, so I know I've read some of the sequels as well.

This book is different than the all-familiar movie that we all know and love. First off, Mary Poppins is cranky. All the time. Not this sweet Julie Andrews character (although she's kind of tart in the movie too, but not like this Mary Poppins). Also, the book is like a collection of unrelated short stories, with each chapter as its own self-contained adventure, which gives it a different feeling than the movie--it feels like they last over a longer period of time, to me, and makes you wonder what other adventures they are having in between the ones recorded in the book. And I loved that. But--and it's been a long time since I've seen the movie, so I don't know if this is in contrast to the movie version or not--what stands out to me from the book is how magical the magic of Mary Poppins is, and how miraculous every adventure is to Jane and Michael (and the other kids--I forgot that there were several other Banks kids that they left out of the movie). I thought it was so fun and exciting and darling to read. And I want to look at a few of the sequels now that I've revisited this one too!