Summary

In “East Wind,” the reader is introduced to Number Seventeen, Cherry-Tree Lane, a slightly dilapidated and busy house in which the Banks family lives. Mr. and Mrs. Banks are respectable people with four children: Jane, the eldest, then Michael, and the infant twins, John and Barbara. Mrs. Brill is the cook, Ellen lays tables, and Robertson Ay takes care of other chores. The narrative begins with Mr. Banks complaining about the abrupt departure of the children’s nanny, Katie Nanna, prompting Mrs. Banks to put out an advertisement in the papers for a nanny. Later that day, an aggressive eastern wind blows through the street and seemingly sweeps a figure right to the entrance of the house. Jane and Michael witness the apparition of a woman who introduces herself to Mrs. Banks as Mary Poppins.

Mrs. Banks finds Mary...