Mary Poppins

About Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins is a series of children's books written by P.L. Travers and originally illustrated by Mary Shepard. The books centre on a mysterious, vain and acerbic magical English nanny, Mary Poppins. She is blown by the East wind to Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane, London and into the Banks household to care for their children. Encounters with chimney sweeps, shopkeepers and various adventures follow until Mary Poppins abruptly leaves, i.e., 'pops-out'. The adventures take place over a total of eight books. However, only the first three books feature Mary Poppins arriving and leaving. The later five books recount previously unrecorded adventures from her original three visits. As P.L. Travers explains in her introduction to Mary Poppins in the Park, 'She cannot forever arrive and depart.'

The books were adapted in 1964 into a musical Disney film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. In 2004, Disney Theatrical produced a stage musical adaptation in the West End theatre. The stage musical was transferred to Broadway in 2006.

The first book introduces the Banks family, consisting of Mr. Banks and Mrs. Banks and their children Jane, Michael, and baby twins John and Barbara. When the children's nanny Katie Nana storms out in a huff, Mary Poppins arrives at their home, complete with her travelling carpetbag, blown by a very strong wind. She accepts the job and the children soon learn that their nanny, though she is stern, vain and almost always cross, has a magical touch that makes her wonderful. Among the things Jane and Michael experience are a tea party on a ceiling with Mr. Wigg, travelling around the world with a compass, buying gingerbread stars from the extremely old Mrs. Corry, a birthday party at the zoo among the animals, and Christmas shopping with a star named Maia from the Taurus constellation.