Mary Poppins in the Park (Harcourt Brace Young Classics) [Hardcover]

Dr. P. L. Travers (Author), P.L. Travers (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1997 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Harcourt Brace Young Classics

Who else but Mary Poppins can lead the Banks children on such extraordinary adventures? Together they all meet the Goosegirl and the Swineherd, argue with talking cats on a distant planet, make the acquaintance of the folks who live under dandelions, and celebrate a birthday by dancing with their own shadows. And that’s just for starters!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As good as ever, and that's very good."--Providence Sunday-Journal

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

P. L. TRAVERS (1899-1996) was a drama critic, travel essayist, reviewer, lecturer, and the creator of Mary Poppins. Ms. Travers wrote several other books for adults and children, but it is for the character of Mary Poppins that she is best remembered. MARY SHEPARD (1910-2000) was the daughter of Ernest Shepard, illustrator of the Winnie the Pooh books and The Wind in the Willows. She illustrated P. L. Travers's Mary Poppins books for more than fifty years.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (September 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 015201716X
• ISBN-13: 978-0152017163
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,164,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mary Poppins Pops In For Parties in the Park, July 3, 2000

By 

Lynn Bulmahn - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mary Poppins in the Park (Harcourt Brace Young Classics) (Hardcover)

When adults forget their childhood pals, daydreamers make foolish wishes and the wind blows unusually strong, it always leads to something quite out of the ordinary -- that is, whenever Mary Poppins is around.

In this, the final Mary Poppins book that P.L. Travers gave us before her death at age 90, we share the five Banks' childrens' adventures. Besides Jane and Michael, who were in the classic Disney movie, there are also toddler twins John and Barbara and infant Annabel.

A big departure from the Disney flick is Mary Poppins herself. Here, she is not the smiling, syrupy sweet nanny that young Julie Andrews portrayed; rather, the book's title character is strict, stern, often sarcastic and very taken with herself. Her strong personality makes her a unique storybook character and readers will find this Mary Poppins more of an enigma. Which, frankly, makes for better stories.

Everything in this book is G-rated but not preachy. Travers gives her young readers many fascinating, but never frightening, fantasy situations. Or are they real? Jane and Michael can never quite tell. The lines between what's real and what's not always blur around Mary Poppins.

This book is a series of unrelated chapters, self-contained stories, all dealing with the same main characters. Nothing is ever as it seems in the nursery of No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane -- or in the nearby park.

On a hot summer's day, Mary Poppins tells the children a tale of a hobo who was an angel in disguise, shedding his rags and growing wings as he flies away.

In another chapter, Michael, upset that he's caught a cold, finds that some days when everything seems to be going all right, it's actually going all wrong. He's taught a valuable lesson on a planet full of cats.

Later in the book, the children find messages on falling leaves. And witness a delightful, but not frightening, Halloween shadow dance in the park.

The nanny's magical cousin, Mr. Mo, is introduced. Jane finds the little toy figures she's created and destroyed do have lives of their own.

Around Mary Poppins, adults -- including favorites such as Admiral Boom, Miss Lark and her two dogs Andrew and Willoughby, the Bird Woman and Bert -- are caught off balance. Zookeepers, policemen and taxi drivers react to a flurry of frenzied events. Characters pop out of storybooks, out of Jane's mind, and off ceramic bookends. Lions and unicorns and even Indian chiefs prance through the park.

We are taken to worlds that exist between the blades of grass in the lawn, and up in the sky, to where felines and children disappear. There are traffic snarls, wedding breakfasts and birthday parties. And through it all, stalks Mary Poppins, with not a hair out of place. In very short order, characters get what they deserve, if not what they expect, and things are set right.

How does she do it? No one knows. Mary Poppins, you see, never, ever explains. But, she always entertains. Have some fun in the park with this magical nanny.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not A Fourth Book...More Like *DELETED* Scenes From Other *POPPINS* Books., January 14, 2009

By 

Alex Honda "onyx575" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mary Poppins in the Park (Hardcover)

I enjoyed MARY POPPINS IN THE PARK, but this book is more like an "extras" rather than a complete book.

There are a collection of stories and magical happenings that surround Mary Poppins and the Banks kids, and of course they all take place in the park.

The stories and illustrations are still charming and I really like that in the beginning of the book there's a two-page spread showing an illustrative map of Cherry Tree Lane, the park, and the various locations that were used in the stories including Number 17, Miss Lark's house and Admiral Boom's, and Neleus the statue. And there's a personal note from author P.L. Travers that explains this book.

Another good book for bedtime stories.

5.0 out of 5 stars childhood classic, June 22, 2011

By 

Seeker - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mary Poppins in the Park (Odyssey Classics (Odyssey Classics)) (Kindle Edition)

I can't understand people reading a children's book as an adult and dissecting it for character development. This is what it is, a children's book. This is not adult fiction so don't apply adult rules to a children's book. This was my favorite children's book. It will appeal more to girls than boys. Travers had such wonderful imagination and wrote so delightfully. I couldn't wait to pick up another book and see what would happen next. I am sorry that there were not many more books. This is the book the movie was based on. The movie was only partially true to the books. The movie is wonderful in it's own way. I loved the movie, but I prefer the books. Many adults react to Mary Poppins negatively but I see Mary Poppins as a reflection of the time in which the author grew up. Mind you that many years later as a child reading this book I didn't care about those things. However some will find it dated and therefore miss out on a real gem. 50 years from now Harry Potter will be dated too but no less engaging. I fell in love with the adventures that whirled around Mary Poppins and the delightful way Travers told a tale. Who but Travers could dream up Uncle Arthur and his tea party or that wonderful chalk picture adventure? Aunt Corrie and her daughters and the gingerbread stars and the birthday and the twins story did not make it into the movie but are as enchanting a tale as you could wish. My favorite story of all is not in this book but another and that is the story of Jane and the China plate. As an adult I just reread this book and all the good feelings this book engendered from my childhood came rushing back. This is for a younger child than Harry Potter's books so I can't compare them. I am just grateful that Walt Disney's daughter was as infatuated with these books as I was. Disney recognized that this could translate into box office success. It was the highest grossing movie Walt produced to that date. The boon of the movie is to keep these books alive in people's consciousness so that the book might survive for other generations to fall under the spell of Mary Poppins.