Helen Wells (1910–1986)

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

When I was growing up, there were primarily three fields for woman to work in if they didn't want to be wives and mothers. You could be a secretary, a teacher, or a nurse. I still remember reading my first Cherry Ames book, Cherry Ames, Student Nurse. I eventually read them all and joined her on her fabulous adventures as an Army nurse, a cruise ship nurse, boarding school nurse, etc. Cherry was a black-haired, red cheeked beauty who was smart, courageous, mischievous, quick-witted, and show more above all, devoted to nursing. Cherry had all sorts of adventures and was one of the first “modern” women who traveled on their own and didn't need anyone else to support her. She had loads of friends but she could take care of herself.

The first book in the Cherry Ames series follows Cherry as she leaves home and goes away to nursing school. The setting of this book is pre-WW2 and I still find it so charming. The friendships that Cherry forms in this book last throughout the entire series. Because of its age, the writing will feel dated to many readers but I expect most of them will be revisiting an old friend from a different era who inspired them to become the strong and inspiring women of the 21st Century. show less

I bought this in ebook form a couple of years ago when it was first re-issued, but then it languished in my TBR. I think I was afraid to revisit it and be disappointed by a book of my youth. But it held up amazingly well.

The writing style is that aggressively cheerful, upbeat type which was so common in literature aimed at young readers, but which you don't see nearly as much anymore. Almost everyone seems decent and well-meaning, and the ones who don't turn out to have issues which, when show more resolved, reveal wonderful people underneath. But the book is saved from being saccharine by the focus on Cherry and her fellow nursing students. All these women want to be nurses and want to work. I didn't remember that, but it helps explain why I liked the books so much as a girl. I didn't want to be a nurse, but I wanted to have a job, to have a cause, and that's what we see here. No one talks about marriage or children. They are all focused on their training and their futures as nurses. I confess I didn't expect that, since we retrospectively depict women of that era as primarily interested in domestic pursuits. These women aren't portrayed as unusual, either. It was so refreshing.

The upbeat presentation coexists with the underlying knowledge of World War II. Cherry's twin brother seems destined to serve, and doctors and nurses are being mobilized for the war effort. One of the hospital's patients is a little girl who has been evacuated from Britain, there is a subplot involving the military, and the importance of drug development is heightened by its potential to treat battlefield casualties.

The subplot about drug research conducted by Cherry's home town doctor and mentor seemed unbelievable at first, but clinical trials looked very different back then. And the professionals are all aware of the medical ethics involved, so in that sense it rang true. Of course Cherry is at the center of everything important, and of course she turns out to be competent and smart and all of that. But she's nonetheless very likeable.

There is a handsome intern (spelled interne for some reason), but for the most part the doctors are here to function as doctors, and no one is setting their caps at them (so basically the opposite of M&B medicals in this book). They are really background characters except in their professional roles. The handsome intern seems as if he might be a match for Cherry, but what the book does with him (and them) is far more interesting.

The ebook I bought contains four novels in the series. The next one is Cherry Ames, Senior Nurse. I'm definitely reading it.

Recommended if you don't mind brightly cheerful stories of student nurses set during wartime. show less

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