Like many reviewers have said this book is very different to the film. Which is fortunate for me as I can’t say I particularly liked the film but I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The lovely happy Mary Poppins from the film is in fact quite a stern, not that attractive, magical nanny and an intriguing character. 

It's really a collection of short stories, with no real over arching plot except that it covers the arrival and departure of Mary Poppins as their nanny. This collection, as with most, is a bit of a mixed bag but I enjoyed them all, and some were particularly good. 

I read this to my son, who is too young to understand it right now, but in the future I think he could like these stories. I’ll try to get the rest of the collection, and then I can read him individual chapters as bed time stories later. I love the world built here P L Travers, and it’s so much more interesting than the film.