Jane and Michael's Ten Life Enriching Lessons for Grownups:I normally read children's books during Christmastime. Not only to catch up with my Reading Challenge (I am behind by 8 books as of this writing), but also, most of children's books have life lessons that can be good reminders for the coming year. New Year always means new beginning, new hope... As to why I am listing the ten lessons instead of my usual reviews, let me give you the reason. Do you remember when you were still in school and after reading a story in class, the teacher asked you what was the lessons you learned from it? So, in this year's series of children's books, I will try to list the ten lessons I was reminded of while reading the book. So, here are the 10 lessons from the viewpoint of the Jane and Michael, the two older children of the Bank family who employed Mary Poppins as a nanny.1) Good nannies will stay in the hearts of their wards for the rest of their lives. Many Filipino mothers go overseas to work as domestic helps and/or nannies. When my daughter was still a baby, she also had a midwife nanny. This nanny was the one who took care of my daughter during the first 3 years of her life on earth. She still calls us up during Christmas or my daughter's birthday. According to my co-workers in Asian countries who hire nannies for their kids, Filipino nannies are the best because they can speak good English (this is not a surprise because they are all college graduates), very caring to their kids, respectful and meticulous in cleanliness.2) Nannies can have big influence to their wards. In the book, bratty Michael is tamed by the very vain and sometimes irritable Mary Poppins. However, in the end, Michael learns to love our magical heroine.3) Children's imagination is boundless and it needs to be encouraged by parents or even their nannies. Telling stories, providing education materials will surely help in encouraging small children to be imaginative that will help them develop their passion for creativity.4) Some information are not suitable for children. We all know this, right? However, sometimes we say that we need to always be honest and open to our children so we tell them everything not realizing that they are not ready to handle some of our adult stuff. The book did not reveal Mary Poppins' life story but it did not lessen our interest on the book. It is like the story of Santa Claus. In our hearts, we believe in him and who he really is becomes secondary if not immaterial. Sometimes, what is more important is that we believe.5) A dog will always be man's best friend. In the chapter "Miss Lark's Andrew," I thought that Andrew was a boy. P. L. Travers got me there. The way Miss Lark takes care of Andrew is a reminder for us to always be responsible owners of our pets.6) The power of mind. In the "Dancing Cow," the red cow is asked by the king to jump over the moon. Because, he believed he could, he succeeded despite the fact that it did not give him any satisfaction because it changed his life and made him miss some things.7) "Everybody's got a Fairyland of their own" says Mary Poppins. This means that we all don't stop imagining even if we are grown ups already. We always, and I think we should, still maintain the childlike wonder that we had we were kids. 8) Wards need entertainment. Children normally don't like boring nannies. The magic of Mary Poppins was actually the first reason why the Bank children learned to love her to the extent that they did not want to see her leave.9) Disobedience can cause nasty results. An example of this is when Michael disobeys Mary Poppins, the 4 children turns into decorations on the plate.10) What Christmas is according to Maia. Maia is this fairy who buys Mary Poppins and the Bank children some Christmas presents. Upon receiving the presents, Michael wonders how will Maia pay for them. Maia says: "the point of Christmas is that things should be given away, isn't it? Besides, what could pay with? We have no money up there."The last one made this book a nice timely read now that it's 10 days before Christmas. We should start giving away things for free and if I may add, without expecting anything in return. That for me is what Christmas gift-giving is all about.
I recently saw the movie “Saving Mr. Banks,” which is about the personality clash between Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers and Walt Disney as they attempted to collaborate to adapt her books onto the screen. Though I know some parts of the movie were fictionalized, I have no doubt that P.L. Travers was as hard-nosed as she was portrayed, and I completely understand her disappointment in the movie because, as much as I love it personally, the title character is nothing like the way she is in the book. That difference struck me like a punch when I read the book at age ten, having seen the movie a few years before. Mary Poppins of the books was stern if not harsh. You could respect her, but not love her. The Disney vision was sweet and cuddly, and he was right: that's what pleases audiences. But I could see why P.L. Travers hated it. She was probably a lot like Mary Poppins of the books – stern on the outside, but loaded with magic on the inside. In her case, the magic was in her imagination.My very favorite part of the book that did not make it into the movie was when Maia, second star of the Pleiades constellation, descended from the sky and spent a day with Jane and Michael. I re-read that chapter hundreds of times and invented a game with my friends in which we were four of the seven Pleiades. Of course, I always played Maia. Any author who can penetrate a child’s imagination so deeply is rich in talent.Though I owned the boxed set as a child, I only finished the first book. I did read a few chapters of the second, and one part of it sticks out in my memory as vividly as the illustration of Maia. Jane was lying in bed, indulging in her favorite fantasy: imagining herself as a hen laying eggs. “Saving Mr. Banks” has young Helen Goff (P.L. Travers’ real name) doing precisely that. But what struck me in the book was that Mary Poppins’ replacement said, “What’s the good of thinking the same thoughts over and over again?” I don’t think Jane had the gall to contradict, but inside, she knew she loved to revisit the same fantasy time and time again. As one who re-read and re-played Maia so many times, I certainly related. P.L. Travers, for all her personality quirks, was clearly in touch with her inner child. And of course, revisiting the very same fantasy is an absolute necessity for the craft of being a fantasy author.At least one of the books from my old boxed set still remains, the one that introduces the character of Bert. “Saving Mr. Banks” has made me curious to read it, but as an adult, I do have many other priorities.
What do You think about Mary Poppins (2006)?
The saving grace of this book, for me, was that it was the basis of a wonderful musical by Disney. I didn't enjoy the book at all. I was surprised at that because, the majority of the time, the books are better than the movies.The Mary Poppins in the book is vain, obnoxious, dishonest, and cross all the time. There wasn't any sweetness or enchantment in the character at all. In part of the story, the children are taken to a gingerbread shop where Mary Poppins is friends with the owner. The owner is verbally abusive to her daughters and Jane and Michael were frightened. The the story says "She smiled and beckoned so sweetly to Jane and Michael, that they were ashamed of having been frightened of her, and felt that she must be very nice after all". Ummm, ok. Later, after the children tell the store owner where they keep their paper stars they save from the wrapping, Mary Poppins goes in and steals them and then, with the shop keeper they go glue the stars in the sky. There was no charm in the woman whatsoever. Disappointing really since there are 3 other books in the series. I just can't get myself to read another one though.
—Natalie
This in NO WAY is the same Mary Poppins as you see in the movie! Oh, good golly! Mary is mean, and ugly, and quite possibly not human. Some freaky stuff happens, like babies being put in cages at the zoo and taunted by the temporarily freed animals! Crazy.2013 reread: I think I even liked this better the second time around. I "got" Mary more, though I still have NO CLUE where she's supposed to be from and what she's supposed to be. Is she a star? And I have to say, after having recently rewatched the movie AND Saving Mr. Banks, I think that Disney didn't do too bad a job! There is a tea party on the ceiling, there is a frolic in a chalk painting! And Julie Andrews does angrily tell them off when they try to talk about it later.
—Jessica
With the release of the film Saving Mr. Banks about the battle between Walt Disney and P.L. Travers over how best to translate the book Mary Poppins onto the screen, I thought I wanted to read the original, which I understood to be darker and sterner than the 1964 film.The literary Mary Poppins proves funnier and less cloying than the one realized by Julie Andrews. While speaking more sternly and having mastered the gimlet eye so prized by schoolteachers throughout the ages, Mary Poppins doesn’t fool her charges — Jane, Michael and the infant twins Barbara and John — for a moment: They realize it’s all an act, and they adore her. And readers will, too.Some of the episodes made famous by the film do come from the book: Mary Poppins joining Bert for an afternoon in a chalk-drawn country scene, the floating tea party, the woman selling breadcrumbs for birds at St. Paul’s, issuing cries of “Feed the birds. Tuppence a bag.” But a midnight ramble at the zoo, the world’s most delicious bakery, and a round-the-world spin prove even more delightful than the tales Walt Disney chose to include in the film. Mary Poppins does what a children’s book does best: Give you a chance to relive the childhood you never had.Don’t let the saccharine film version put you off. Mary Poppins is a children’s book that will appeal to the most cynical and/or child-hating adult.
—Ivonne Rovira
