Cherry Ames Nurse Stories Series Information

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September 9, 2006

The Cherry Ames Nurse Stories were published by Grosset and Dunlap from 1943 to 1968.  The series was written by Helen Wells and Julie Campbell Tatham.  Both Wells and Tatham also wrote the Vicki Barr Flight Stewardess series.

List of titles:

  1. Student Nurse, 1943
  2. Senior Nurse, 1944
  3. Army Nurse, 1944
  4. Chief Nurse, 1944
  5. Flight Nurse, 1945
  6. Veterans' Nurse, 1946
  7. Private Duty Nurse, 1946
  8. Visiting Nurse, 1947
  9. Cruise Nurse, 1948
10. At Spencer, 1949
11. Night Supervisor, 1950
12. Mountaineer Nurse, 1951
13. Clinic Nurse, 1952
14. Dude Ranch Nurse, 1953
15. Rest Home Nurse, 1954
16. Country Doctor's Nurse, 1955
17. Boarding School Nurse, 1955
18. Department Store Nurse, 1956
19. Camp Nurse, 1957
20. At Hilton Hospital, 1959
21. Island Nurse, 1960
22. Rural Nurse, 1961
23. Staff Nurse, 1962
24. Companion Nurse, 1964
25. Jungle Nurse, 1965
26. Mystery in the Doctor's Office, 1966
27. Ski Nurse Mystery, 1968

Formats:

Volumes 1 through 22 were originally issued in hardcover with dust jacket.  The first printings of volumes 3 and 4 have dust jackets and frontispiece illustrations featuring pictures of Cherry in a military uniform.  The dust jackets and frontispiece illustrations of these two volumes were quickly changed to pictures that do not show Cherry in a military uniform.

In 1961, the series changed to the picture cover format, and volumes 1 through 22 were issued in picture covers with yellow spines.  The spines were soon changed to green, and volumes 1 through 27 were printed in green spine picture covers during 1961 to 1968.

Volumes 19 through 22 were reprinted in paperback by Grosset and Dunlap in 1972 and are renumbered as volumes 1 through 4.  Volumes 20 through 22 were reprinted again in paperback in 1978.

Availability:

The higher-numbered titles are more scarce than the earlier titles since each higher-numbered title went through far fewer printings than the earlier titles in the series.  Volume 27 is the most difficult volume to acquire.  There is also a volume entitled Cherry Ames' Book of First Aid and Home Nursing that was printed in hardcover with dust jacket in 1959 and was reprinted later in picture cover.  Cherry Ames' Book of First Aid and Home Nursing is also a more difficult to acquire volume.

Printings:

As with all other series books published by Grosset and Dunlap, the copyright page is the last place to look in order to date a book.  All printings of each book have the identical copyright page.  For instance, all printings of Cherry Ames, Student Nurse printed from 1943 until 1968 have the copyright page stating 1943 with no other dates or printings indicated.  One of the many ways that Grosset and Dunlap saved money was by never updating the copyright pages.

In order to determine the age of a book, find a list of titles present somewhere on the dust jacket or inside the book.  Do not use any list that may appear on the copyright page.  Since the copyright page was never updated, a list that appears on the copyright page will almost always be wrong.  The dust jackets will have a list Cherry Ames titles, usually on the front flap, and the inside of the book may have a list of Cherry Ames titles on a pre-text page in the front of the book.  Again, do not use a list that may appear on the copyright page.

Once a list has been found, make note of the last title on the list; this title will reveal the age of the book.  For instance, if the dust jacket or a pre-text page lists to Cherry Ames, Night Supervisor, then the book was printed in 1950, which was the year of publication of Cherry Ames, Night Supervisor.  Or, if the dust jacket or a pre-text page lists to Cherry Ames, Island Nurse, then the book was printed in 1960, the year of publication of Cherry Ames, Island Nurse.

For the picture cover editions, there will be a list of titles on the back cover of the book and another list that will appear on a pre-text list inside the book.  Refer to these two lists to date the picture cover editions.   

Final Thoughts on the Cherry Ames Series

I owned a Cherry Ames set for around eight years, intending to get around to reading them.  I had trouble getting motivated, because the books never appealed to me.  I am not overly fond of Vicki Barr; the books are okay but not stories that I greatly enjoyed.  I have always suspected that I would rank Cherry Ames about the same as Vicki Barr. 

On this page, I ranked the different series books that I had read up to that time.  I suspected that Cherry Ames would get ranked a "1" like Vicki Barr.  Now that I have read the series, I can report that I was correct.  I rank Cherry Ames somewhere between Vicki Barr and Melody Lane on my list.  For me personally, this is a below average series.

The Cherry Ames series has many fans but is not my type of series.  The books are not bad, but they are not the kind of books that I greatly enjoy.  The books are too sentimental and get hung up on great detail.  I am not interested in nursing, so the detailed descriptions of nursing practices were not of interest to me.

It didn't help that I didn't like most of the people who are important to Cherry.  I especially didn't like Dr. Joe or Midge.  Midge outright annoyed me.  I didn't even feel much for Cherry's family.  I strongly disliked Cherry's first suitor, Lex.  I also didn't like her second suitor, Wade.  I only slightly liked most of her later suitors.  Cherry's nursing friends were okay, but I didn't like them much, either.

Cherry doubts her abilities in book after book.  It's logical in the first few books, but by volume 10, Cherry's lack of confidence is ridiculous.  This is particularly jarring during the Julie Tatham books.  I suspect that Tatham read the early Cherry Ames books and modeled her books after those.

I found Cherry's constant job-switching to be quite annoying by halfway through the series.  I feel like the series would have been stronger if Cherry had stayed with a few of her jobs for more than one book.  Cherry's nursing jobs all seem very important to her.  If so, why does she abandon them so easily?

I noticed strange changes in the series towards the later books, and I have to question whether Helen Wells really did write all of the later books that were credited to her.  The changes make Cherry Ames seem more like Nancy Drew.

Several higher-numbered books mention Cherry going to church.  There is no reason to mention church anymore than there is reason to mention Cherry going to the bathroom.  Most all series books never mention restroom needs, other than baths or showers.  Even though series book characters don't use the bathroom, they do go to church, at least in some Grosset and Dunlap books of the 1960s.  This is most prominent in the Nancy Drew series, so I was interested to see it appear in some Cherry Ames books.

When church is mentioned, it is usually just a single sentence, and it has nothing to do with the plot of the book.  It's like mentioning church was a requirement of the books at that time, just like with the higher-numbered Nancy Drew books.

By #24, the series fell in line with the other Grosset and Dunlap books of the 1960s.  I have to wonder how much editing was done on the books.  #24 is eerily similar to other Grosset and Dunlap travelogue books of the 1960s.  I would have thought that the book was a product of the Stratemeyer Syndicate if I didn't know better.  #24 uses the word "swarthy" more than once.  I don't recall this word from any earlier Cherry Ames books.  Did an editor place "swarthy" in the book, or did someone other than Helen Wells write the book?

Here's what I thought of the books.

Greatly enjoyed and wouldn't mind reading again:

 8. Visiting Nurse
 9. Cruise Nurse
13. Clinic Nurse
14. Dude Ranch Nurse
15. Rest Home Nurse
17. Boarding School Nurse
22. Rural Nurse

Enjoyed but probably wouldn't read again:

 1. Student Nurse
 2. Senior Nurse
 6. Veterans' Nurse
 7. Private Duty Nurse
12. Mountaineer Nurse
16. Country Doctor's Nurse
18. Department Store Nurse
20. At Hilton Hospital
23. Staff Nurse

Did not enjoy:

 3. Army Nurse
 4. Chief Nurse
 5. Flight Nurse
10. At Spencer
11. Night Supervisor
19. Camp Nurse
21. Island Nurse
24. Companion Nurse
25. Jungle Nurse
26. Mystery in the Doctor's Office
27. Ski Nurse Mystery

I see this series as divided into three parts:  the early Helen Wells books, the Julie Tatham books, and the later Helen Wells books.

Early Helen Wells:  #1-8
Julie Tatham: #9*-16
Later Helen Wells:  #17-27

*#9 was credited to Wells but was written by Tatham.

Let's see if there's any pattern as to which books I liked the best.

Early Helen Wells:  greatly enjoyed one book, enjoyed four books, and disliked three books

Julie Tatham:  greatly enjoyed four books, enjoyed two books, and disliked two books

Later Helen Wells:  greatly enjoyed two books, enjoyed three books, and disliked six books

My opinion is mixed for all parts of the series.  It looks like Julie Tatham has the edge, although I didn't like all of her books.  I definitely dislike the later books in the series the most. 

I am going to sell a good many of the books in my set.  I only bought these books to try, never expecting to like them greatly.  My experience was about what I expected, although I did enjoy some books greatly.  I plan to keep the books I enjoyed greatly plus some of the books I overall enjoyed.  I will sell all of the books that I didn't enjoy.

........................................................
Right after I finished writing the previous part of this post, I began reading Biff Brewster #2.  I had tried reading Biff Brewster just before beginning Cherry Ames and found that I couldn't get interested in reading #1 again.  I decided that since I didn't especially enjoy reading Cherry Ames that trying Biff Brewster again might actually work, as in I might be more receptive to the series than previously.

I noticed a great feeling of relief as I read Biff Brewster #2, and that feeling strengthened as I began reading Biff Brewster #3.  I didn't enjoy every single part of the two books, but I enjoyed them far more than most of the Cherry Ames series.  This made me realize how difficult it was for me to get through all of the Cherry Ames set, more so than I realized as I read the books.

In conclusion, most of the middle part of the Cherry Ames set, which includes some books by both Tatham and Wells, was a pleasure to read.  The last part of the set was a bit torturous, and the first part of the set was also fairly difficult for me to enjoy.  Now that I have moved on to another series, I have decided that I will likely sell most of my Cherry Ames books.

Cherry Ames Doctor's Office and Ski Nurse Mystery

In Cherry Ames #26, The Mystery in the Doctor's Office, Cherry takes a position in a doctor's office.  Soon after Cherry's arrival, she begins to wonder whether the medical secretary, Irene Wick, is up to something.

Here we go again with another book with a lengthy and detailed description of another doctor's office.  I am long past being bored with these books, and I now simply want it to be over.

I wasn't interested in the book until around one-third of the way into the story.  It was obvious from the beginning of the book who the likely culprit would be once Cherry discovered what the mystery was.  However, there was no mystery for the first one-third of the book, so I was quite bored.  Finally, the mystery begins with the suspect as expected, and I enjoyed the story from that point on.

That is... I enjoyed most of the remainder of the story.  The book has a subplot involving some theater people that bored me.  I skimmed everything having to do with the subplot. 

In Cherry Ames #27, Ski Nurse Mystery, Cherry works as a nurse in the mountains of Switzerland.  This book did not interest me at  all.  I skimmed the first half of the book, then I quit reading the book halfway through.  I couldn't finish it.

The plot of this book gets started faster than some of the other books, but it wasn't interesting.  The characters are flat and uninteresting. I didn't care about anything.

We learn on page 19 that Cherry speaks some Italian and French.  When did this happen?  It's like she's morphing into Nancy Drew with all of Nancy's abilities.  However, it is stated that Cherry "struggles" in other languages, so she isn't perfect like Nancy Drew.  Still, it's interesting that the reader only now learns that Cherry can speak other languages.

On page 23, the doctor tells the patient, "It's a good thing you didn't hurt your right hand.  That would be inconvenient."  The patient then informs the doctor that he is left-handed.  This is only mentioned because the man's left-handedness is important to the plot.  However, the passage jumped out at me since I am left-handed.  I found it interesting that the doctor naturally assumes that the patient is right-handed.  This reminded me of how society has always looked down on left-handed people.  It's not so bad now as before, but during the first part of the 20th century, many parents forced left-handed children to use their right hands.  Even during the last ten years, I have had people suggest that I will have a shorter life because I am left-handed and will die from an accident.  The old wives' tales still linger.

I noticed as I read this and other higher-numbered Cherry Ames books that some characters have surnames that match series names published by Grosset and Dunlap.  A character named "Swift" appears on page one of this book.  This character was in the very first book and was one of Cherry's nursing friends.  I recall noticing it but not thinking much of it.  In recent books, character names have included "Drew," "Holt," and "Hardy." Only one such name appears per book, usually mentioned just one time in the book. I might have missed other names, since it was not until a book mentioned the "Drew girls" that I took notice, thinking it strange.

Cherry Ames Companion Nurse and Jungle Nurse

In Cherry Ames #24, Cherry Ames, Companion Nurse, Cherry travels to the United Kingdom as the nurse of a famous author, Martha Logan.  Martha plans to tour several museums and exhibits in her research for her latest book.  Valuable artwork is stolen, and Cherry begins to suspect one of their new acquaintances.

This book is a travelogue that features an art heist.  This tired-out plot has been used in so many different series books.  During my reading of the Cherry Ames series, I detected a shift in the books beginning with this title.  This book reads like a generic travelogue 1960s Grosset and Dunlap book that is not as good as earlier books.  The book is similar to Ken Holt #18, The Mystery of the Sultan's Scimitar.  The story also reminds me of a good many of the Nancy Drew books from #41 and up and of the higher-numbered Judy Bolton books.  In short, Cherry Ames, Companion Nurse is missing something, just like most of the other books I just mentioned.

In Cherry Ames #25, Cherry Ames, Jungle Nurse, Cherry travels to Kenya to work as a nurse in a remote village.  And she does some nursing stuff and then discovers that diamonds are being smuggled out of the hospital.  What an original plot!

This book starts out as a blatant travelogue.  It's sad how the Grosset and Dunlap books switched to travelogues in the 1960s.  It's not just one series but all of them!  Unfortunately, that makes most of the books rather boring in comparison to the earlier books from all of the series.

The book gets a little bit better once Cherry arrives in Africa, but I still found the text to be flat and uninteresting.  I didn't care about or even like most of the characters. 

On pages 22 and 33, the word "swarthy" is used to describe somebody.  "Swarthy" is used commonly in Grosset and Dunlap books, but I have not seen it in the Cherry Ames books.  Did Wells write this book, or did someone else?

In the 1980s, it was learned that Vicki Barr #16, The Mystery of the Brass Idol, was written by Walter B. Gibson.  The book is credited to Helen Wells, but a manuscript written by Gibson was found by a collector.  If Wells didn't write the last Vicki Barr book, then a possibility exists that she might not have written all of the final Cherry Ames books.

Assuming that Wells did write this book, I believe that Grosset and Dunlap had a far greater role in determination of content than previously.  It wouldn't surprise me if an editor inserted "swarthy" into the text.  Furthermore, these books fit the cookie-cutter mold of all the other Grosset and Dunlap books of the 1960s.

On page 84, Cherry shows the villagers how to plant flowers, like they have no idea how to plant anything.  I find it a strange assumption that no one in Kenya would know how to plant flowers.  Also, wouldn't vegetables be more helpful than flowers?  It seems silly.

I found this book rather boring.  The villains are obvious, and it doesn't take the reader long at all to figure out how they are smuggling diamonds out of the area.  This book has no suspense at all.  I skimmed a lot of the book.

Cherry Ames Rural Nurse and Staff Nurse

In Cherry Ames #22, Cherry Ames, Rural Nurse, Cherry becomes the county nurse for a county in rural southeastern Iowa.  Cherry soon learns that many of her patients are taking a homemade remedy for illness.  The remedy is made from ginseng, and Cherry suspects that the source is a local abandoned farm.  Cherry suspects that the remedy is making her patients ill, and an investigation is launched.

As typical with the Cherry Ames books, the story is a little slow to get started, although still interesting from the beginning.  Once the plot completely develops, the story is quite engaging.  I read this book quickly and greatly enjoyed it.

In Cherry Ames #23, Cherry Ames, Staff Nurse, Cherry is back at Hilton Hospital.  One of the patients, Peggy Wilmot, has been investing large sums of money in the Pell Plan.  Peggy receives payments of 10% on her investment each week.  Cherry suspects that the Pell Plan is some type of fraud, and she searches for answers.

This book is very slow to get started.  A lot of text is devoted to the extensive training of the Jayvees, Midge and her friends, who are volunteering at the hospital.  I was so very bored and skimmed almost everything having to do with the Jayvees.  For instance, I didn't find it interesting to learn how the Jayvees are supposed to answer the phone. 

Slowly, we learn about Peggy and how Pell might be defrauding her.  I gradually became interested as more information was revealed.

I couldn't help thinking of Pell Grants the entire time I read this book.  Pell Grants were created in 1965.  This book is from 1962.  I think if this book had been written a decade later that a name other than Pell would have been used. 

The last chapter bored me.  I get tired of books that spend many pages telling the reader in great detail exactly how the villain perpetrated his crimes.  We actually already know the main details.  We don't need a lengthy play-by-play.  I skimmed the last chapter.

I enjoyed most of the second half of this book.

Cherry Ames Hilton Hospital and Island Nurse

In Cherry Ames #20, Cherry Ames at Hilton Hospital, Cherry becomes a staff nurse at Hilton Hospital.  An amnesia patient arrives in the men's ward, and Cherry is assigned to his case.  Bob Smith cannot remember anything about himself, so Cherry and Dr. Hope work together to help Bob remember who he is.

The early part of this book reminded me of Nancy Drew #61, The Swami's Ring.  That book also deals with an amnesia case, and that book bores me.  Since I associated this Cherry Ames with a Nancy Drew book that I dislike, I immediately disliked this book.  I skimmed a lot of the first part of the book.  Finally, somewhere between pages 50 and 100, the book gradually began to interest me.  By page 100, I was thoroughly interested in the story and read the rest of the story very quickly.

I greatly enjoyed the second half of this book.

In Cherry Ames #21, Cherry Ames, Island Nurse, Cherry nurses Sir Ian Barclay, who suffers from a peptic ulcer.  Soon, Sir Ian must return to Balfour Island due to pressing business matters.  Cherry travels with him as his nurse.

This book is very slow to get started.  It takes 64 pages before Cherry arrives on the island.  I expected her to arrive a bit sooner, since this book is titled Cherry Ames, Island Nurse.  The island didn't seem much like an island to me.  Cherry stays in a mansion that is set right on the coast, and it doesn't matter much whether the mansion is on an island or not.

The plot of this book crawls slowly along.  I became more bored the more I read.  I skimmed a lot of this book, especially the last part.

Cherry Ames Department Store Nurse and Camp Nurse

In Cherry Ames #18, Cherry Ames, Department Store Nurse, Cherry takes a position as a nurse in a New York department store.  Cherry becomes friendly with Mrs. Julian, an employee in an antique shop inside the department store.  After several valuable items disappear, Mrs. Julian comes under suspicion.  Cherry works to prove Mrs. Julian's innocence.

As this book began, I was disappointed that Cherry was not still at the boarding school.  I wish that Cherry had held some of her positions for more than one book, which would have added better continuity to the series.  It was jarring that Cherry abruptly left the boarding school in the middle of the school year to take a job in a department store during December.

I enjoyed most of this book.  Near the end, I began to grow bored, and I skimmed most of the last couple of chapters.

In Cherry Ames #19, Cherry Ames, Camp Nurse, Cherry nurses in a camp for girls.  This is one of those books that I couldn't enjoy.

The book begins with too many characters introduced too quickly.  The first two chapters introduce the reader to at least 20 people, and several share the same last name.  Several have similar first names.  Two characters are named Ruth.  How can the reader be expected to keep up with all of these people?

Cherry seems to think Mac is Jack Waldron, the missing cashier who was accused of theft.  But on page 118 when Mac admits he is Jack, Cherry is surprised, like she has forgotten what she suspected. Cherry, what is wrong with you?

I didn't like this book.

Cherry Ames Country Doctor's Nurse and Boarding School Nurse

In Cherry Ames #16, Cherry Ames, Country Doctor's Nurse, Cherry takes a job as a nurse for a country doctor in Sleepyside, New York.  Cherry takes a room in a boarding house, and the owner acts like she hates Cherry.  Cherry soon begins helping Harry Jenner, who is trying to unseat the current mayor, Cy Hillman.  Harry has accused Hillman of corruption and graft, but he must find proof.

Lex appears in this book, and I still don't like him.  Unfortunately, Lex never did get married, so he is still a potential suitor for Cherry.  Oh, joy.

The beginning of this book drags.  Way too much expository information is given about the people that Cherry is to meet in Sleepyside.  She is told pages of information before she meets any of them.  I find it hard to care about a lengthy back story before I get to meet the characters.  I'd rather see what's going on and then learn the history.

I also couldn't help thinking, Where's Trixie?  Sleepyside, New York, is the setting of the Trixie Belden series, which was created by Julie Tatham.  She incorporates some names from the Trixie Belden series, such as Old Post Road. 

Before Cherry arrives in Sleepyside, she predicts that Dr. Clem won't want to hire her.  Cherry has some serious self-esteem problems.  Additionally, a large amount of text is devoted to Cherry learning everything about Dr. Clem's office.  Cherry keeps saying that she can't remember how to do something and that she needs a refresher.  Girl, get a grip on yourself.  You are an RN, and you have had lots of experience.  You don't need practice.

Cherry plays this same dumb broad act at the beginning of every book, and it gets really old. 

This book contains a bit too much history about Washington Irving and the area around Sleepyside.  Julie Tatham probably enjoyed writing it, but I didn't enjoy reading it.  Parts read like a travelogue, and I almost always dislike travelogues.  I skimmed most of the travelogue parts.

This book also contains a bit much information about the mayor and the history of the characters.  At times, I felt similar to how I felt while reading Cherry Ames, Mountaineer Nurse.  I'd rather see more action and less discussion.

While the book is overall good, I was bored quite a few times throughout the story.

In Cherry Ames #17, Cherry Ames, Boarding School Nurse, Cherry takes a job nursing in a boarding school out in the country.  Cherry becomes friendly with Lisette, a new girl at the school, who seems to be searching the mansion for something.  Lisette has isolated herself from the other girls, which concerns Cherry.  Meanwhile, another girl accuses Lisette of theft, and Cherry hopes to clear Lisette.

The end of Country Doctor's Nurse states that Cherry would be going to Jamestown, Rhode Island for her next job.  The first page of this book states that Jamestown is not far from Cherry's hometown of Hilton, Illinois, so Cherry will be able to go home during all school breaks.  This confused me, since Illinois and Rhode Island aren't that close.  On page 10, Cherry tells a woman that she has "been brought up right here in Illinois."  That makes more sense. The location of Jamestown changed from Rhode Island to Illinois between the two books.

Cherry doesn't pull the "dumb broad" act in this book.  She just has minor nervousness with the new situation, which is normal for anybody.  She does worry about the doctor's approval during her first job with him, but anyone might be nervous working with someone new.  At least she doesn't forget everything she knows.

This is the third book in a row to use the word "sesame" as in "open sesame."  It's not a word that appears in the average series book, and it's odd for it to show up in three successive titles written by two different authors.

This book flows so much better than the previous book.  The expository information is short and to the point.  I really enjoyed the school setting, which is very similar to the setting of the Dana Girls series.  The school even has a mean girl, who causes Lisette problems.

I greatly enjoyed this book.

Cherry Ames Dude Ranch Nurse and Rest Home Nurse

In Cherry Ames #14, Cherry Ames, Dude Ranch Nurse, Cherry takes a position at a dude ranch in Arizona.  Soon after her arrival, Cherry discovers that the tutor, Harold Bean, despises her and does everything he can to make her job difficult.  Several of Cherry's patients also strongly dislike Cherry for some unknown reason.  The situation worsens when the pranks begin, pranks that threaten to grow deadly when the perpetrator tampers with the medications.

This book is quite reminiscent of the Trixie Belden book, The Mystery in Arizona, since Julie Campbell Tatham wrote both books.  Cherry Ames, Dude Ranch Nurse was written first, so Tatham reused ideas in The Mystery in Arizona.  A major part of the plot in Cherry Ames, Dude Ranch Nurse is Cherry's difficult patients.  I was amused, since Trixie, Honey, and Di have to clean the rooms of difficult guests in The Mystery in Arizona.  In both books, the difficult people eat up time, causing the protagonists to have to hurry through other tasks. 

Both books have the same feel and flavor.  The rooms are like cubicles.  Both Cherry and Trixie aren't able to have much fun due to the various complications.  They both get homesick. 

I have noticed that Cherry gets out of each climactic scrape very easily in every book.  In this book, Cherry is confronted by the villain, who has a gun.  They are alone with no one around for miles.  Oh, no!  However, I was not in any sort of suspense.  I caught on a number of books ago that Cherry is not allowed to be in great danger for more than a brief moment, and she is always rescued by one or more men.  In this book, Cherry is only with the villain for around five pages, long enough for him to recite what he did and why, then she is rescued.

Cherry and Patty have a lengthy conversion that I found boring.  Cherry spends four pages describing her nursing training in great detail.  Cherry lists all of her friends, describing them thoroughly.  Patty then tells Cherry everything she knows about nursing.  Patty spends close to two pages reciting her knowledge.  How boring!  I skimmed this conversation.  The reminiscing from the early Cherry Ames books is a quality that I dislike about all of those books, and I didn't need to read the same story again for the umpteenth time. 

Aside from that one conversation, nothing about this book is boring.  The book is thoroughly engaging, and I greatly enjoyed it.

In Cherry Ames #15, Cherry Ames, Rest Home Nurse, Cherry returns to Hilton.  She and two of her friends take positions at a new rest home.  Soon after Cherry's arrival, Mr. Stanley is admitted as a patient at the home.  Mr. Stanley is extremely disagreeable, and Cherry instantly dislikes him.  Mr. Stanley's nephew shows up wanting to see him, and Mr. Stanley becomes quite upset, refusing to see the nephew.  Cherry soon realizes that the nephew is threatening Mr. Stanley, and Cherry decides to figure out why.

The past few books written by Julie Tatham have gradually had more Trixie Belden expressions slip into the text, such as "gleeps."  This book also has the expression "super-glamorous perfect."

I greatly enjoyed this book.

Cherry Ames Mountaineer Nurse and Clinic Nurse

In Cherry Ames #12, Cherry Ames, Mountaineer Nurse, Cherry goes to help Bertha in the mountains of Kentucky.  Bertha has injured her foot, so Cherry has to assist her with nursing the locals.  Soon, Cherry learns that the people are superstitious and that two families are engaged in a bitter feud.

I was interested as I read the first few pages of the story, but I should have known it was too good to last.  The first 7 1/2 pages tell the reader the necessary information as Cherry begins her stay in Kentucky.  Next, the book goes into a flashback where a lengthy letter from Bertha to Cherry requests Cherry's help in Kentucky.  Bertha's letter lasts for close to four pages.  The letter explains what we already know from the first 7 1/2 pages, but with greater detail.  Back to the present, Cherry and Bertha discuss the situation for 2 1/2 pages.  Next, Cherry writes a letter home to her mother, telling her mother what we already know with even more detail.  The letter to Cherry's mother lasts for five pages!

I was strongly reminded of Harriet Pyne Grove's book, The Adventurous Allens Marooned, in which events from the book are retold in a very lengthy and boring diary entry.  It's never good when I am reminded of Harriet Pyne Grove.

This book contains a lot of dialect, where the words are spelled phonetically the way the characters speak.  This always makes reading harder.  Often, I have to pause and think about how the word would be pronounced in order to figure out what the word is supposed to be.  Sometimes, I have trouble figuring it out.  In one case, "biled" was used.  I was puzzled and kept reading.  The next statement mentioned cooking, so I read the previous statement again and concluded that "biled" meant "boiled."

In this book, I found that I often skimmed or skipped the dialect since I didn't want to take the time to sound out the words.  Dialogue written phonetically almost always annoys me, and this time was no exception.  This is a good story, but many conversations are in dialect, which makes reading this book very tedious.  Not only that, but a very large portion of the book is dialogue, consisting of lengthy discussions between Cherry and Bertha about what to do and how to proceed.  The plot crawls at a snail's pace. 

What I am finding as I read the Cherry Ames books is that most of the books annoy me for some reason or another.  With Cherry Ames, Mountaineer Nurse, it is the dialect and the excessive amount of discussion.  Otherwise, this is an enjoyable book.  With less discussion and more action, this book could have been outstanding.

In Cherry Ames #13, Cherry Ames, Clinic Nurse, Cherry is back home in Hilton.  Dr. Joe has opened a clinic, and Cherry has taken a position at his clinic.  One afternoon, Cherry is leaving the clinic when a man abducts her, blindfolds her, and takes her to a location deep in the woods.  Cherry is forced to assist in a surgery, and then is released.  Cherry later tries to remember enough details of the journey so that she can figure out where she was taken.

This book has fewer expository details than the other books, which made it easier to get into the book.  Cherry is abducted on page 34, and I was thrilled, since Cherry had never been abducted.  I knew that I would end up greatly liking this book.  The book is solely a mystery from the abduction through the rest of the book.

This is the first book in quite a few titles that a Cherry Ames book has not annoyed me.  As I read the previous book, Cherry Ames, Mountaineer Nurse, I reflected that I was not liking the Cherry Ames books enough to want to ever read them again.  I decided that if the trend were to continue that I would sell my set after finishing reading the books.  I enjoyed this book enough that I may have to reconsider selling all of the books.  I'll have to see what happens with the rest of the series, but right now, I'm thinking that I will sell some books and keep ones that I really like.

I greatly enjoyed reading this book.

Cherry Ames at Spencer and Night Supervisor

In Cherry Ames #10, Cherry Ames at Spencer, a man is accused of a crime he did not commit.  Cherry seeks to prove his innocence, or something like that.

To be honest, I didn't read most of this book.  I found the expository information to be excessively boring.  I was so bored that I quit reading the book a few chapters in and read Brandon Mull's Five Kingdoms series.  I then tried to continue reading this book but was so very bored.  I tried skimming and couldn't get to anything that seemed interesting.  I decided to go on to the next book.

In Cherry Ames #11, Night Supervisor, Cherry goes to work at a rural hospital that is understaffed and in great need of money.  The hospital was to receive a large sum in a man's will, but he changed his will.  Soon, Cherry has reason to believe that the will was not changed and is missing.

The beginning of this book also bored me, almost as much as all of Cherry Ames at Spencer.  I can only read series successfully when I do not allow myself to read other books in between titles.  Since I let myself read the Five Kingdoms series, I ruined my enjoyment of Cherry Ames.  I enjoyed the Five Kingdoms books far more than I am enjoying Cherry Ames.

I ended up having to skim a lot of this book.  Finally, the book began to interest me sometime past halfway through the story.  I skimmed some of the later part of the story, but at least I was able to enjoy some of it.  I felt as I reached the end of this book that my Five Kingdoms experience was losing its hold and that I would be able to enjoy the next Cherry Ames book.

I also want to mention that I do not like Midge.  The reader is supposed to like her, but I don't.  I also don't like Dr. Joe.  My negative reaction to both characters, who are very important to Cherry, make it harder for me to enjoy these books.

Cherry Ames Visiting Nurse and Cruise Nurse

In Cherry Ames #8, Cherry Ames, Visiting Nurse, Cherry and all of her friends (how convenient!) get positions with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York.  The girls rent an apartment in Greenwich Village.

Most of the girls are disappointed in their apartment.  They are angry with Gwen, who rented it.  I'm used to protagonists making the best of a bad situation, and I personally didn't see what was so awful about the rooms.  Were they actually expecting to board in a fancy place?  Finally, the girls get past their displeasure.

On page 111, "paper handkerchiefs" were mentioned.  Of course, nowadays, we call them "tissue" or "Kleenex."

On page 116, we learn that in Miss Culver's home "[w]ell-chosen books, borrowed without cost from the public library, lay on her table."  I thought that the description of "well-chosen books" was interesting.  I suppose all of us would choose our books well, but what is "well-chosen" to one person would not be to another.  

I greatly enjoyed this book.  In fact, I wish that Cherry had been a visiting nurse in more than one book.  I really like the setting.

In Cherry Ames #9, Cherry Ames, Cruise Nurse, Cherry collapsed from exhaustion from her visiting nurse job and was sent home to rest.  A cruise was recommended, so Cherry gets a temporary job as a cruise nurse.

I was glad that an explanation was given for Cherry to leave her visiting nurse job in order to become a cruise nurse.

The expository information was a bit much for me, which has been the case with most of the Cherry Ames books.  I am not at all interested in nursing, so lengthy descriptions of nursing technique is boring to me.  Also, Cherry gets extremely sentimental every time she leaves home for another job, and sometimes, this goes on for several pages.  I find it uninteresting and end up skimming those scenes in the books.

Timmy is so much like Bobby from the Trixie Belden series, so much so that it is uncanny.  I wondered if Julie Tatham wrote this book instead of Helen Wells.  I immediately quit reading and ran some searches in the Yahoo! Groups, and sure enough, I learned that Julie Tatham wrote Cherry Ames, Cruise Nurse, even though Helen Wells is credited as the author.

I greatly enjoyed this book.

Cherry Ames Veterans' Nurse and Private Duty Nurse

In Cherry Ames #6, Cherry Ames, Veterans' Nurse, Cherry has come home from the war, which is now over.  She will now work in a military hospital to help rehabilitate men who were injured in the war.  The men have missing limbs, broken backs, or other assorted severe injuries.  Cherry also becomes acquainted with a young couple who have a son whose body will not absorb nutrients from food.  The boy is slowly wasting away.

Finally!  Cherry's war experience is over.  Apparently, many people love the three books set during World War II, but I could barely stand them.  Now, perhaps, I can resume enjoying the books.

In one scene, the people from town stare at one man who is missing a limb.  Their behavior is rude, and that struck a chord with me.  That scene is realistic, because many people do behave in that fashion.  People stare at anyone who is different without consideration for that person's feelings.

This book is much more to my liking.  While I wasn't particularly interested in many of the details about nursing, I did end up liking the men for whom Cherry nurses.  I also cared about the boy who was dying from lack of nutrition.  I was bored at moments and skimmed over some of the details about nursing, but I overall enjoyed this book.

In Cherry Ames #7, Cherry Ames, Private Duty Nurse, Cherry is hired as a personal nurse to a gifted musician.  Scott Owens has a heart condition, and the eccentric musician is easily excited.  His sister, Miss Kitty, is obsessed with psychics, and Scott feels that he must attend the seances with his sister in order to protect her from being swindled.  Invariably, the seances upset Scott, putting his health in danger.

This book is much more about mystery than nursing.  Since I'm not interested in nursing, this was a welcome change for me.  In fact, Cherry Ames spends a large portion of the book sleuthing.

I enjoyed both of these books.

Cherry Ames Army Nurse, Chief Nurse, and Flight Nurse

In Cherry Ames #3, Cherry Ames, Army Nurse, Cherry trains to work as a nurse in the army.  This book annoyed me so much that I refuse to write a decent summary.

On page 36, Lex is upset because Cherry was friendly to another man.  This is just like an abuser.  I still don't like Lex and don't know why Cherry likes him.

I find the relationships between Cherry and her commanding officers quite hard to believe.  There are passages in which I feel like the military is depicted as playtime. The girls call their instructor "Lovey."  Really?  This took away greatly from my enjoyment of this book.  I felt that the girls were too flippant and that their interaction with the officers was not portrayed accurately.  Since the girls' interaction with the officers was not accurate, I was suspicious about whether any of the content of the book was accurate to the time.  That caused me to be uninterested in everything.  I ended up skimming a lot of the book.

I found much of this book to be tedious and boring.  As I read this book, I experienced exactly what I always expected the Cherry Ames series to be, which is why I haven't read them until now.

I dreaded the next two books, also set during the war, and was quite honestly tempted to skip to a post-war book.  I decided to read the next two books with the goal of reading them as fast as possible.  Meanwhile, the idea of reading Biff Brewster, another series with which I struggle, was sounding better all the while.

In Cherry Ames #4, Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse, Cherry and all of her friends from nursing school are sent to an island in the Pacific where they care for injured soldiers.  My, how convenient that everyone from Spencer joins Cherry on the island.

On page 7, Cherry hopes that her commanding officer will say something "comforting and reassuring" to her.  Oh, please.  Cherry wants a military officer to be nurturing?  Ugh.  This isn't going well.  I already knew at this point that I would have as much trouble with this book as the previous one.

Cherry promises the soldiers an ice cream party.  Yes indeed, Cherry promises the soldiers ice cream on an isolated island in the Pacific in the middle of World War II with Japanese fighter planes bombing away in the surrounding area.  Not only that, but her commanding officer decides that the soldiers can't be disappointed.  He gets 400 quarts of ice cream delivered to the island.  Good grief.

Cherry asks the colonel for exceptions and favors and thinks he's mean when he refuses.  #$*&%!!!  It's the army!

I did not like most of this book.  I did like the last part of the book better once Cherry quits getting annoyed with the colonel for being such a meanie.  How dare he!

In Cherry Ames #5, Cherry Ames, Flight Nurse, Cherry and all of her friends are sent to England by the army.  Each nurse is assigned to a plane.  Each plane will fly out into the combat zone to pick up wounded soldiers to bring back for hospitalization.

On page 140, we learn that Cherry "had never found Lex much fun."  I'm just glad to be rid of the freak.

Once again, Cherry tells someone who is severely wounded that the doctors will make him what he once was.  On page 169, Cherry tells a soldier who has a "burned, torn face" that he will be restored.  Cherry says, "Plastic surgeons are going to restore your face.  They will work from pre-war photographs of you.  They'll turn you out as good as ever."  And, undoubtedly, the soldier will have no scarring.

I was set against enjoying this book due to my experience with the previous two books.  I wanted Cherry's military experiences to be over quickly.  I did not enjoy the first part of the book at all.  I did enjoy the book somewhat once I reached the later part of the story, but even then, much of the story was not interesting to me.

These wartime books have way too much information about nursing technique for my taste.  Apparently, most readers of Cherry Ames love the information in these books and particularly enjoy the books set during World War II.  I am uninterested in nursing, so all of the information about nursing is boring to me.  The part about World War II should have been interesting to me, but I couldn't get past Cherry's unreal expectations of the military officers.  I greatly dislike these three books and doubt I will ever read them again.

Cherry Ames Student Nurse and Senior Nurse

Cherry Ames is another series that I have ignored for many years.  The books have never appealed to me, because I have not the slightest interest in nursing.  Furthermore, I have had an aversion to the idea of reading books set in the hospital setting.  After a second failed attempt in reading Biff Brewster, I decided to read the Cherry Ames series.

In Cherry Ames #1, Cherry Ames, Student Nurse, Cherry begins her probationary year of nursing school.  Cherry makes a few mistakes along the way and worries that she won't measure up.  She becomes good friends with several other nursing students.  Soon, Cherry becomes aware of a secret patient and is faced with a dilemma when the patient faces an emergency.

I noticed how Wells uses ethnicity to point out the differences between people.  On pages 60 and 61, "Cherry looked down into the contrasting faces:  a plump Jewish grandmother, an Italian woman with a smile like a sunburst, a tiny little Irish girl not much older than herself, a Slavic woman who spoke no English.  What an assorted lot they were!"

On page 132, Cherry thinks of how two nurses are friends.  She thinks about how they are very different on the surface including of different nationalities but that they have similar personalities.  There again, Wells uses ethnicity to point out differences.

A hot water boiler explodes in a young boy's face, and he is badly burned.  On page 137, Cherry assures him that he "won't look a bit different."  The child needed to be reassured, but I didn't like Cherry assuring him that he wouldn't look different at all.  That bothered me.  

These books have lots of sentimentality in them.  Cherry feels homesick.  She worries about the future.  She worries about her patients.  I especially notice it because I have been reading boys' series books, which don't have the excessive amount of reflection in them.  I find the sentimentality to be excessive even for girls' books, and it is too much for me.  I skimmed some of it.

In Cherry Ames #2, Cherry Ames, Senior Nurse, 20-year-old Cherry Ames begins her senior year of nursing school.  Her first assignment gets off to a shaky start when the maid smuggles a rabbit into the children's ward, and Cherry plays along with the prank.  Later, Lex, a young doctor, pursues Cherry relentlessly, even to the point of becoming Dr. Joe's assistant.

On page 12, Cherry tells a girl, " 'I'll try to have your mother come, Mary Ruth, but I can't promise.' She knew she had to be scrupulously honest with children, to keep their trust."  Oh, really?  When I read this sentence, I thought of the burned boy and how Cherry promised him that he would look the same.

Just after Cherry's thinks about how she has to be honest with children, Cherry tells the girl that a teddy bear spoke to her that morning, wanting a playmate.  The girl tells Cherry that she knows that the teddy bear can't talk.  Ugh.  Cherry says that she needs to be honest, and then she tells an obvious fib in the next breath. 

I do not like Lex.  He reminds me of a stalker who would end up becoming an abusive spouse.  He is obsessed with Cherry and has abusive tendencies.  Helen Wells says it herself.  On page 144, Wells uses the word "violent" to describe Lex's reaction to a few questions. 

It's quite difficult to believe how quickly Cherry wins over Mildred after not getting along with her for months.

I enjoyed both books, although as expected, most of the details regarding nursing were of very little interest to me.  As I already mentioned, the sentimental details were not of great interest.  I also feel no connection to Midge and Dr. Fortune, so I find them uninteresting.