Simply charming: Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies

Julie Andrews has one of the most recognizable faces and voices in cinema of the past 70 years. Known for her iconic roles in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, she remains recognizable the world over. Drawn to images and artifice as we are, her acting gives the aura of a warm maternal figure full of wisdom and fun. Spending time with Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies, it’s not a stretch to think that she really does embody that warmth and wit.

Andrews was born into a dysfunctional family and her childhood was marred by war. Due to early success in show business using her prematurely developed larynx and a clear and stunning soprano with a four-octave range, Andrews’ childhood was truncated. What she seems to have taken away from it was an abiding love of books.

In recent decades Andrews, together with her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton, has curated the Julie Andrews Collection of children’s books. The collection of poems and songs is a resounding success for those who enjoy quirky poems, water color, and good books for young and old alike.

The collection includes some more predictable choices like a few selections from Robert Louis Stevenson and Shel Silverstein. However, the collection includes several pages of very short, delightful verses by lesser known poets. Andrews and Walton Hamilton include some of their original works. Though at times amateurish, they fit well with the collection and inspire a great deal of fun.

Evidently influenced by her immersion in music and life on the stage, Andrews includes the lyrics of many songs from musicals interspersed with traditional poetry. From “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive” to an homage to The Sound of Music with “My Favorite Things,” the musical inclusions set the collection apart from other books of poetry for children.

With intriguing section titles like “All Things Bright and Beautiful” and “Leisure,” the collection is engaging. Never dull, the collection frequently pivots to the humorous with poems like “The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven” and “Daddy Fell Into the Pond.”

Undoubtedly, the pièce de resistance are the accompanying water color illustrations. The work of James McMullan, the energetic images are captivating. They relate to the poems but add dimensions to the material. McMullan offered fascinating demonstrations of his “High Focus” method of figure drawing that reveal how he conveys so much life and movement in his illustrations.

McMullan is best known for his theater posters. He was lured into the world of children’s books while raising his daughter with his wife, the children’s book author Kate McMullan. He captures the feeling of competitiveness a parent feels when reading books to children, an itch to try out the creation of superior art and story for the young.

Julie Andrews’ website does not mention how McMullan came into her orbit, but the McMullans evidently live or used to live in Sag Harbor where Andrews’ daughter Walton Hamilton, also a children’s book author, lives or lived. However the stars aligned to bring this posse together, the result is a magical, old-time theatrical, wholesome, and happy book.

Andrews seems to understand how to introduce children to poetry, writing in the introduction, “Those early singsong poems begin the journey toward a love of poetry. I think of a poem as a gift, one that teaches us about the wonder of our world or captures a moment or a feeling that we may never have recognized until it was voiced for us.”

Andrews claims her own love of poetry was inspired by her father, writing, “My father introduced me to poetry at a very young age. He loved to learn poems by heart and thought of them as beloved friends that he could call on whenever he needed. He bought me poetry books and read to me at bedtime, sharing his favorites—many of which are in this collection. Over the years, I’ve discovered my own favorites and passed them on to my children. I watch with pleasure as they now pass the tradition to my grandchildren.”

As people continually rediscover, the good of a poem is not in its utility but in its delight. Truly, like good friends to accompany us through the highs and lows of daily life, poems are a leaven to our inner world.

Andrews writes, “In our family we write poems for each other as gifts, and because of its power to say exactly the right thing at the right time, we use poetry at important moments in our lives—celebrations, holidays, memorials, special events.” This seems almost too warm and fuzzy to believe, yet there is evidence of original poetry composition of better than mediocre caliber in the collection.

Perhaps more than artifice and the calculated posturing of an actress, Julie Andrews really does embody the nurturing figure of Mary Poppins or Maria Von Trapp. Offering encouragement, wisdom, and levity, she provides a nurturing book. If nothing else, the collection offers a charming and inspiring performance.