Mary Poppins Comes Back by P. L. Travis.
Title: Mary Poppins Comes Back.
Author: P. L. Travis.
Genre: Literature, fiction, children's lit, YA, fantasy.
Country: U.K.
Language: English.
Publication Date: 1935.
Summary: Pulled down from the clouds at the end of a kite string, Mary Poppins is back. In Mary’s care, the Banks children meet the King of the Castle and the Dirty Rascal, visit the upside-down world of Mr. Turvy and his bride, Miss Topsy, and spend a breathless afternoon above the park, dangling from a clutch of balloons. Surprises are sure to pop up when Mary Poppins is around!
My rating: 8.5/10.
♥ "Well, what is she, then? And where did she come from?" cried the Fledgling shrilly, flapping his short wings and staring down at the cradle.
"You tell him, Annabel!" the Starling croaked.
Annabel moved her hands inside the blanket.
"I am earth and air and fire and water," she said softly. "I come from the Dark where all things have their beginning."
"Ah, such dark!" said the Starling softly, bending his head to his breast.
"It was dark in the egg, too," the Fledgling cheeped.
"I come from the sea and its tides," Annabel went on. "I come from the sky and its stars, I come from the sun and its brightness--"
"Ah, so bright!" said the Starling, nodding.
"And I come from the forests of earth."
As if in a dream, Mary Poppins rocked the cradle-to-and-fro, to-and-fro with a steady swinging movement.
"Yes?" whispered the Fledgling.
"Slowly I moved at first," said Annabel, "always sleeping and dreaming. I remembered all I had been and I thought of all I shall be. And when I had dreamed my dream I awoke and came swiftly."
She paused for a moment, her blue eyes full of memories.
"And then?" prompted the Fledgling.
"I heard the stars singing as I came and I felt warm wings about me. I passed the beasts of the jungle and came through the dark, deep waters. It was a long journey."
Annabel was silent.
The Fledgling stared at her with his bright inquisitive eyes.
Mary Poppins' hand lay quietly on the side of the cradle. She had stopped rocking.
"A long journey, indeed!" said the Starling softly, lifting his head from his breast. "And, ah, so soon forgotten!"
Annabel stirred under the quilt.
"No!" she said confidently. "I'll never forget."
"Stuff and Nonsense! Beaks and Claws! Of course you will! By the time the week's out you won't remember a word of it-what you are or where you came from!"
Inside her flannel petticoat Annabel was kicking furiously.
"I will! I will! How could I forget?"
"Because they all do!" jeered the Starling harshly.
♥ "Busy as usual, I see!" he remarked, glancing at the knitting. "But then, you always were, even at Court. If you weren't dusting the Throne you'd be making the King's bed, and if you weren't doing that you were polishing the Crown Jewels. I never knew such a one for work!"
"Well, it's more than anyone could say for you," said Mary Poppins crossly.
"Ah," laughed the Stranger, "that's just where you're wrong! I'm always busy. Doing nothing takes a great deal of time! All the time, in fact!"
♥ The Sun waved his whip. The music began again, very swift and gay and dancey. Michael began to beat time with his feet as he hugged the Moon in his arms. But he squeezed it a little too tightly for suddenly there was a loud pop and the Moon began to dwindle.
"Oh! Oh! Look what's happening!" cried Michael, almost weeping.
Down, down, down, shrank the Moon, until it was as small as a soap-bubble, then it was only a wisp of shining light and then-his hands closed upon empty air.
"It couldn't have been a real Moon, could it?" he demanded.
Jane glanced questioningly at the Sun across the little stretch of star-dust.
He flung back his flaming head and smiled at her.
"What is real and what is not? Can you tell me or I you? Perhaps we shall never know more than this-that to think a thing is to make it true. And so, if Michael thought he had the Moon in his arms-why, then, he had indeed."
"Then," said Jane wonderingly, "is it true that we are here to-night or do we only think we are?"
The Sun smiled again, a little sadly.
"Child," he said, "seek no further! From the beginning of the world all men have asked that question. And I, who am Lord of the Sky-even I do not know the answer. I am certain only that this is the Evening Out, that the Constellations are shining in your eyes and that it is true if you think it is..."