Mary Poppins Comes Back - P. L. Travers

 

This is the second book in the Mary Poppins series, and I read the first back at Christmas time in 2019. Mary Poppins (the 1964 film), is one of my favourite films of all time and I was so excited to read the original stories. I believe that the second book, Mary Poppins Comes Back, was the basis for the 2018 film Mary Poppins Returns (which I thought was okay but not a patch on the original).

The book begins with the Banks children, now with a few extra additions, who are once again in desperate need of some discipline. When out flying their kite in the park, who should appear at the end of the string when it emerges from a cloud? Mary Poppins, of course - back again!

This book is just as magical with the first, and the children and their enchanting nanny have many adventures in a China bowl, at a night-time circus and watching spring appear outside their very window. Each adventure is more creative and wonderful than the last, and I cannot fathom a mind so creative to invent such wonderful stories (okay, perhaps Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree stories are up there!).

My only issue with the books is that Mary Poppins herself appears rather smug and at times cruel. My love for Julie Andrews in the role, with her loving and nurturing character who just adores the children - but is also firm and strict - is unparalleled, and she displays the perfect measure of discipline.

However the book version is harsh, unwieldy and unemotional with the children, often accusing them of bare-faced lies about their adventures (Andrews is much more subtle!). Let’s be honest, I also miss the classic songs (Feed the Birds always makes me cry) and the loveable characters played by Dick van Dyke and David Tomlinson.

I will definitely be reading on and continuing with the book series as they are just so heartwarming and magical. I think it’s best to disassociate them with the film if, like me, you love the musical version so much that nothing will ever live up to it!