The Real Life Mary Poppins: The Life and Times of P.L. Travers

by Paul Brody

Among twentieth century authors, P. L. Travers was by far the most productive and famous to hail from the British colony of Australia. After a brief and modestly successful acting career, she moved to London and pursued her own brand of journalism. She was a well-regarded drama critic and travel author, and she became friends with many influential writers and thinkers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Eventually, she found her greatest voice in the form of Mary Poppins, the mysterious and powerful Edwardian nanny. Thirty years after the first Poppins adventure is published, Walt Disney produced a live-action movie version, which has ingrained itself forever in the popular imagination. This biography traces Travers from her youth, her early career in acting and writing, the making of Mary Poppins, and more.LifeCaps is an imprint of BookCaps™ Study Guides. With each book, a lesser known or sometimes forgotten life is recapped.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2013

Reviews

[Phyllis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Among twentieth century authors, P. L. Travers was by far the most productive and famous to hail from the British colony of Australia. After a brief and modestly successful acting career, she moved to London and pursued her own brand of journalism. She was a well-regarded drama critic and travel author, and she became friends with many influential writers and thinkers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Eventually, she found her greatest voice in the form of Mary Poppins, the mysterious and powerful Edwardian nanny. Thirty years after the first Poppins adventure is published, Walt Disney produced a live-action movie version, which has ingrained itself forever in the popular imagination.(

My Review:

I wanted to read this book because I saw the movie "Saving Mr. Banks." I saw that P.L. Travers was not an easy person to deal with. It took Walt Disney a long time before she would consent to the filming of "Mary Poppins" and only on her terms. I wanted to know why she was so difficult. This book was not what I expected. It briefly told me about her accomplishments but not enough info as to why she became the person she was. I was expecting more details. The book only had 70 pages so I read it in one sitting.

[Ginger · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover was the best part about this book.

Paul Brody shouldn't have passed sixth grade with his writing skills, let alone become an author.

The information was interesting, and the book was short, so I stuck with it, wanting to learn more about P.L. Travers' life, but good gravy it was rough.

Tense switches (sometimes in the same paragraph), misspelled words, complete lack of supportive statements -- but I guess that's what you get when risking a self-published book.

Mr. Brody, if you ever write again, have a friend, or even a sixth-grader, read over and edit your work. For Poppins' sake!

[Debbie Parker · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is disappointing. The information is sparse, and shifting verb tenses make it cumbersome to read. Wikipedia might be more reliable and engaging.

[Lisa Bentley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Mary Poppins. I loved the movie as a child and now I am enjoying it again as an adult because my niece has now fallen in love with it too. I also enjoyed the film Saving Mr Banks in which I learned more about the life of the author P. L. Travers. This sparked me to try and find out more.

I downloaded The Real Life Mary Poppins – The Life and Times of P.L. Travers by Paul Brody and found it both interesting, accessible but also really sad. Travers led such a diverse life but you get the sense that she was lonely and that made me feel so sorry for her. Ironically, you get the impression that she would have hated that more than the feeling of loneliness.

The BookCaps Study Guide is a great place to get a potted history and to spark our interest in specific people. I would definitely recommend books in this series.

The Real Life Mary Poppins – The Life and Times of P.L. Travers by Paul Brody is available now.

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written and poorly edited. The switching of tenses was awful throughout. It’s a shame this was so poorly written, because she had an interesting life, and I was looking forward to reading about it.

[Christina Lau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as I had hoped it would be.

[Lina Slavova · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review to follow

[Kathy Parrish · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written

The writing was confused about tense. At one point the author spoke of an actor playing Malvolio in Richard III. That Shakespearean character is actually in Twelfth Night, not Richard III. That obvious mistake made me question how much true research went into writing this book.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

This took me back to High School and College...not because I was a reader of Mary Poppins books nor did I go to see the Disney movie...but because it was like using Cliffs Notes to avoid reading an actual novel. The writing was probably fairly factual, but very flat. There was no story in the book. I might have done as well with Wikipedia. I do not think I will look for other books by Paul Brody.

[Renuka · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not well written but tells about the life of P.L.Travers (who wrote Mary Poppins). I don't think that the author knew enough details about her life to construct a good story.

[Beth Hinzmann · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book contained only basic facts which were interesting but lacked any entertainment value. Very dryly written.

[Sue Robinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I watched the film Saving Mr Banks last night and wanted to find out more about PLTravers. This wasn't such a good choice.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Good Read

This is an informative but brief description of PL Travers life. It does not have nearly the detail of Saving Mr. Banks, but is nonetheless entertaining.

[Lois]

I haven't finished this yet. As interesting as the book is, it is very tedious. I'll come back to it someday.