Mary Poppins Mary Poppins Mary Poppins is a series of eight children's books written by British writer P. L. Travers and published over the period 1934 to 1988. Mary Shepard was the illustrator throughout the series. The books centre on the magical English nanny Mary Poppins, who is blown by the East wind to Number 17 Cherry Tree Lane, London, and into the Banks' household to care for their children. Encounters with pavement-painters and shopkeepers, and various adventures ensue, until Mary Poppins abruptly leaves—i.e., "pops out". Only the first three of the eight books feature Mary Poppins arriving and leaving. The later
Mary Poppins Banks household, and is easily intimidated by Mary Poppins, who treats her with thinly-veiled contempt. In the film she is a strident suffragette who is treated somewhat satirically. The reason she was made into a suffragette in the film was to explain why she sometimes did not have time to look after her children. In the stage musical she is a former actress who is under constant pressure from her husband as she struggles to enter his social circle. In the 1964 Disney film she is portrayed by Glynis Johns. The Park Keeper is a prominent supporting character in the