Mary Poppins Opens The Door (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
"Mary Poppins Opens the Door" is the third book in the Mary Poppins series by P.L. Travers. It's good. I can see where many of the elements for the movie came from. Though the movie is its own creation, I saw "Saving Mr. Banks" and I know the author had a lot of input into the Mary Poppins movie as well.The Story: Mary Poppins has used her "return ticket" as was suggested in book 2 and has dropped out of the sky. She takes the children on various fantastic (that is, fantasy) adventures and hints that she will leave when the door opens. Any problems with the book? A few. They aren't serious ones to me but I know a parent would want to know about them before reading this book to their kids. 1. The book is really a series of short stories. The chapters flow one into another so it is a smooth transition but frankly the stories could have been mixed and matched with stories from the other books, I think. This is not a big problem and is probably a bonus because when reading to your kids at night you can come to an ending without reading the entire book, nor spend time the next night reminding your children what happened last time.2. Old stereotypes are used. Some would be considered racist. It happens infrequently so when reading, you can spot it and gloss over it as a parent should do. Just substitute... "terrible people" or "uncouth people" if your kids know what "uncouth" means. Let me talk about the racism of that day. In the days that P. L. Travers wrote these books there were certain attitudes toward the races that took on a scientific air as if it were proven by scientific means that the races were different and that the cultured Englishman was best preserved and taught to children. In America we still have the notion that the English accent means culture and intelligence. (Stop laughing over there. It's true! :-)) It's not what we think but how we react to the English... culturally speaking. Also... the reason I've been reading these books is because I saw the movie "Saving Mr. Banks" when was a more-or-less commentary on the books. I wondered what element in the books would suggest that Mr. Banks needed any "saving". In the movie, Mr. Disney clearly missed that point and up until now, I would have missed it too. I see some small element of complaint in Mr. Banks. He must pay for everything so that his children may have the many things they want but it is always a negotiation with him. You can have this but only if this other thing happens. I would not have recognized much of a problem except that the two movies ("Mary Poppins" and "Saving Mr. Banks") pointed out that there was a problem with Mr. Banks. As of book 3 this is not emphasized. I'm moving on to book 4: "Mary Poppins in the Park".
About Mary Poppins: Mary Popping Opens the Door is the second part of Mary Poppins. I never even knew there were any other Mary Poppin's books besides the first one, before I found it on the shelf at the library. I had only seen the movie Mary Poppins, and not read any of the books yet. In this book, Mary Poppins returns (coming down from the sky again) and "saves the day" for the 5 children and their parents who didn't know what to do after Mary Poppins left unexpectedly the first time. Mary Poppins comes back to the children's home and gets everything in orde. While Mary Poppins is living with them many unusual things happen such as a statue coming alive, riding on flying candy canes, a trip under the sea, stuck in "the crack" between the years, and when James gets a present for his birthday and it comes alive. It happened like this, James got a little, white, glass cat for his birthday that had little painted green flowers all over it. The glass cat jumped off of the mantel one day and went out the window. Then Mary Poppins told a story about where the cat had gone. The story goes along the lines of the poem:Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?I’ve been up to London to look at the queen.Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there?I frightened a little mouse under her chair.At the end of her story the cat comes back up through the window, jumps back onto the mantelpiece, and is still again. That is one of my favorite parts in the book. My other favorite part is where they go into "the crack" between the old year and the new year. In "the crack" all of the fairytales ever gather together and have a party. All of the fairytales are nice to each other, for istance, Little Red Riding Hood is friends with the wolf. One thing though, Mary Poppins is very mean all throughout the book. She tries to never let the children see her smile and she says mean things. The children's Dad is a Mr. Grumpypants most of the time. :) At the end of the book Mary Poppins goes away suddenly again; the children don't know she is going away until she is. They see her walking through the "other door" in their nursery. I am going to read the next book in this series soon. I will probably read the first Mary Poppins book first though, since the second book referred to the first book a couple of times. I recommend this book to children and adults. I think it is a very entertaining book and, as you see by my rating of stars, I really liked it. :)
What do You think about Mary Poppins Opens The Door (2006)?
This one was published during WWII; also definitely set up as the end of the road--MP makes her good-byes at the end and there are many allusions to Jane and Michael being old enough to not need her. Next book opens with explanation that she's not come back again--just more tales from her time with the Banks family. Reading along, I have to admit that Travers' stories were ideal for a mind like Disney. Also, only one character of color--and their speech was a racially profiled as any in the US at the time.
—Wileyacez
Intensely similar to the books that have come before, this sequel in the Mary Poppins series follows the formula that has been so successful - the super-nanny arrives, promising to stay for a limited amount of time, and takes the children under her care on magical adventures in the meantime.It also gets a bit more formulaic than that, with Poppins' going off on her own adventure on her day off, just as she has previously. There's also a strange family member to be visited, as well as an unusual trip flying over the park, just as before. None of that is a complaint, though. In it's familiarity, it's quite charming, and even though it follows the same patterns, it's still quite inventive. I enjoyed the story about the cat and the king, proving that knowledge is what you make of it. Two concepts stood out for me too: those under the sea fishing for humans (and throwing them back), and the gap at the end of each day, between the first and last stroke of midnight. Intriguing.
—Christine Blachford
Despite its claim as the third in the Mary Poppins series, Mary Poppins Opens the Door is the book containing the story of our heroine’s final departure and hence, should probably be read last. Once again she returns to a state of disarray. One and all are lost without her: children, parents, fellow servants, animals and even the surrounding neighborhood. Why did she leave? What has kept her so long? Never mind, Mary Poppins is back. You might as well ask why the gift horse is a dapple gray. Because it is—be grateful. Life at #17 Cherry Tree Lane can return to normal … well sort of. Anyway, it can be happy again. Normal is overrated anyway. One of P.L. Travers’ trademarks are the little telltale bits of evidence which confirm the most incredible things the children Jane and Michael have seen Mary Poppins do (such as reappearing in a rocket or cavorting under the sea) things which she also vehemently denies. And yet if she really didn’t want the children to know the truth, why not also be tidier about all the scraps of proof which belie the adventures? Rather, like the loving person we know her to be, Mary Poppins lets them have the joy of belief while outwardly scorning their suggestions of impropriety on her part. As readers we smile sympathetically along with Jane and Michael’s secret knowledge but inability to confirm it. In this third book we are introduced to more things found in the movie, including one of my favorite lines, ‘Close your mouth, Michael! You are not a Codfish!, except I think in the movie, Mary says, ‘we’ are not a codfish, but close enough. The closing episode and possibly my favorite in the series. *Interestingly this book ended with these Latin words written in all caps: GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO (or GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST)
—booklady
