Watching the recent film “Saving Mr. Banks” brought back some vivid childhood memories for me (warning: this will give away how ancient I am!): the opening night of “Mary Poppins,” the ensuing months of fun listening to the soundtrack on record, the coloring books, on and on -- and of course the purchase of the first two books bound together in one hardback version, Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back.
This week I went searching
for the volume and found it still sitting on one of my bookshelves, a bit
musty, faded blue cover, pages stiff, lovely line illustrations and even two color
plates. I wonder whether it has been hiding on the shelf all these years since
I wasn’t even sure I still possessed it; perhaps it has been blending in with
the books on either side, never quite in my field of vision as I perused the
shelf, pretending to be some other book? I suspect some magic at work here
since I would swear that I’ve not seen it for 30 years ...
I remember little
about these two books -- the only ones of P.L. Travers’ series that I ever read
-- except that the plots were somewhat different from the film (understandable
now with any Disney movie), and that odd things happened to the characters. So
I’ve decided to re-read these children’s classics and “reboot” my memories. This
may be the start of a trend for me: re-reading and thereby re-remembering many
of my childhood reads. Or perhaps not even remembering, but discovering anew
the joys of the old plots and characters. I guess it is a perq of the aging
process: (re)discovery of marvelous stories and characters like Mary Poppins.
Hmmm, I think I’ll
go peruse some more shelves and see what other old treasured books will
suddenly present themselves to me for re-reading. I can think of few better
holiday gifts.
