Anyways, the book was first published in 1934 and was quite enjoyable. The children go on different adventures with her in the book. Some of them are very fun, such as going Christmas shopping with a star named Maia from the Taurus constellation, the birthday party at the zoo at midnight where people are in cages and the animals are out and about, or going around the world in a very short period of time and meeting various animals. It is a little tricky to read/listen to books for which there is a film or musical, particularly if you are familiar with the latter beforehand. I was sad that the children don't ever meet Bert in the book, or that he is not even a chimneysweep, just a Matchman. And there are more Banks children in the book, too! Who knew?!
Mary is made to be much more kind and helpful in the Disney film, but she is one tough nanny in the book, which was kind of fun because by the end of the book the children were enjoying when she was "cross." She's also a bit more conceited in the book, which was also humorous. "She loved looking in the shop windows to see her new fur-trimmed gloves with her hands inside of them." And of course, with no songs in the book, there is no way to learn "biggest word you've ever heard", or "the word you say when you don't know what to say": SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS. I suppose I am still vascillating between liking the book or the movie more, but maybe I don't need to decide between both.
I just placed a request at the library for Mary Poppins She Wrote: the Life of P.L. Travers as I thought it might be interesting to read about what her role was in making the film and if there were any issues she had with how it ended up. I liked the book enough to also request the second tale in the series (I didn't know there was a series!), Mary Poppins Comes Back. I'll let you know how the next one is!
Maybe I'll get to see the musical one day so I can add that to the versions of the story I'm familiar with...
*image via google images, jimandellen.org
1 comment:
I find it funny that the post immediately following the announcement concerning my master's thesis is about my having read a children's book. Go figure. Also, of course the musical would be touring in Cleveland, OH, a mere 2 hours away from us, as we speak. Doesn't look like it's coming to Detroit...sad!
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