I'm continuing to read through the Mary Poppins series, and continuing to love them! Mary Poppins in the Park has a slightly different layout and tone to it, but it's not a bad change. (You can read reviews of the first three books, Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins Comes Back, and Mary Poppins Opens the Door, here.)
In the previous books, each chapter had a predictable pattern: one of the Banks children would encounter a moral decision and then they would all go on a magical adventure with Mary Poppins. The child would learn a moral, and Mary Poppins would deny that any magic had taken place. In Mary Poppins in the Park, the morals are either more deeply veiled or not present at all. The Banks children and Mary Poppins go on a couple of magical adventures just for fun! From the park across from their house, they meet the Goose Girl and Swineherd, meet talking cats, meet tiny people (like seriously tiny, a few centimeters tall), meet princes from a story book, and attend a party of shadows on Halloween. Another difference between this book and the previous three: Mary doesn't make a grand entrance nor a grand departure. When the book opens, she is already in the park with the Banks children, as though she'd never left. (And all of the adventures start and stop in the park, hence the title.)
While Mary is still rather abrupt in her manner of speaking to others, she seems a bit softer yet in this book during the magical moments. At the Halloween party they even catch her dancing! Readers of previous books will also delight in seeing cameos from favorite characters in this book, such as Nelius and the bird woman. And I won't spoil it for you, but you do get a glimpse of where Mary might just go whenever she leaves the Banks' for a season!
I listened to Mary Poppins in the Park. Fantastic narration by Rosalyn Landor. She sounds just like I would imagine the literary Mary Poppins to sound! (We have already discussed how the literary Mary Poppins is not much like the Julie Andrews Mary Poppins.) The recording has well moderated volume (I never had to turn it up or down in the middle of a story) and Ms. Landor has a very comfortable cadence. I give it two thumbs up!
This series continues to be one I would recommend to old and young alike... even better, for old to share aloud with young! :)
0 comments:
Post a Comment