Helen Wells (1910–1986)

I took one or two Cherry Ames books out of the library when I was a kid and remembered enjoying them, so when I saw several of the original hardbacks in a used bookshop recently, I decided I ought take one home and give it a whirl. What a fun read! I was afraid the writing might be too awful to stand or the cheery, good-girl attitude of a 50's novel for young ladies just too ghastly to sit through. But no! The writing is not great, but it's not at all bad either. If one can stand a lot of show more "exclaiming" and "crying" in dialogue tags, on the whole, the writing is fairly good. And while it is clear that the book was designed at least partly to give girls a good professional, personal, and moral role model (work always comes first! never go to bed without washing your face! stay away from fresh boys!), the attitude comes off as pleasantly innocent rather than sickeningly gooey. The story also involves an interesting (though not terribly surprising) mystery, and, in the process of resolving that mystery, provides some interesting details about nursing and another activity that I shall not name to save spoiling things. A satisfying, pleasant surprise. show less

Fun! I'd never happened to read any Cherry Ames before. They're written in an older style, but not an awkward one - slightly removed from the viewpoint character, mostly. And unabashedly proud of being able and willing to help. Cherry's adventures work - she's lucky, several times, in finding the right thing to say or do, but she's lucky in a reasonable way for who she's depicted as being, nothing comes out of a blue sky. I really enjoyed this book and intend to continue with the series; I'm show more glad they've been rereleased. show less

I really like this series, outdated as it is. Unlike the heroines of the "girl detective" novels, Cherry has a career she loves and finds purpose in, and ambitions that go beyond solving the mystery du jour (she still does the mystery thing though!). A great example for tween and teen girls!

In this volume, Cherry has been assigned to a cruise ship for a change of pace from her visiting nurse job. Aside from the usual cases of seasickness and mild ailments, Cherry has charge of a young boy show more who needs regular care (who has a mother inadequate to the job) and a hypochondriac. Cherry grows suspicious of the two "visitors" the boy gets whenever she's away, as they both use the ruse of playing with the boy to seemingly search his cabin.

It makes me laugh to note that much of the medications mentioned, while probably fine for its day, is now either outdated or illegal! show less

After the successful conclusion of the tropical disease case in Panama, Cherry is sent to the Pacific, ostensibly to bring the new serum to doctors there. She lands on the fictitious Janeway Island and is promptly promoted. She is tasked with setting up an evacuation hospital near enough to the fighting that she can hear the gunfire on an adjacent island. Then a pilot is brought in who has an unusual bullet wound to the shoulder and who is unable to speak.

I enjoyed this one more than the show more last couple mainly because of the descriptions of life in a WWII evacuation hospital in the Pacific and the construction and use of a portable runway (a development that was very useful for the Americans as they took islands). One thing grated, however, the casual use of the derogatory "Jap". Not unusual at the time, but unpalatable to modern sensibilities. show less