I have had two of the Cherry Ames books sitting on my bookshelf for years. I’m not sure how many years exactly, but here they are (sixth and seventh from the right) back in 2019 when I did my series on what was on my bookshelves.

As part of my aim to finally read my way through all the unread books on my shelves (and stacked up around the flat) I picked up the first Cherry Ames book and read it. That’s something like 5 down and 70 to go, then.

I don’t remember when or where I bought them, but I’ll have bought them as they combine two things I like – nursing stories and vintage children’s books with nice covers.

Who is Cherry Ames?

As of the second chapter of her first book Cherry Ames is a student nurse in America.  She leaves home to study at Spencer Nursing School, and then according to the dustjacket of book one, she becomes (amongst other things) a senior nurse, flight nurse, cruise nurse, chief nurse, visiting nurse, private duty nurse, department store nurse, dude ranch nurse, mountaineer nurse…

I’m not sure that’s an entirely normal career trajectory but at least there’s plenty of variety! I wonder if she moves every 6-12 months or whether she does a Famous Five and barely ages instead.

Interestingly although Helen Wells begins the series, she doesn’t write all the books. She wrote 1-7, 12, 14 and 17-27. while Julie Tatham wrote 8-11 and 13-16.

Student nursing

The world of Cherry’s student nursing was familiar to me – mostly from having read various other books about student nurses from the 1930s-1950s. Less so from my own student nurse days as thankfully they were quite different by the time I started.

(Hilariously the dustjacket blurb reads that nursing offers: many opportunities for service, for adventure, for romance [and] makes a nurse’s career a glamorous one. Definitely not in my experience! I found it offered many opportunities for a sore back and aching feet, and absolutely no glamour.)

As was regular then – both in the UK and the US it would seem – student nurses began as probationers for three months, winning their caps if they passed. Probationers would have lessons on anatomy, hygiene, nutrition and so on, including practical learning (which always seems to involve wrestling with a recalcitrant dummy patient) as well as working shifts on the wards.

And so that’s what Cherry and her fellow probationers do. Cherry, of course, is not only pretty and popular but clever and compassionate so she does well – though she’s not convinced she will pass and get her cap. This is at least partly down to the fact that she does sometimes make very risky decisions – like smuggling the aforementioned recalcitrant dummy across the hospital to cheer up a child patient whose room she was never meant to be in in the first place.

There are some other risks she takes which are more serious – but the bigger the gamble the bigger the pay-off – and in the end lives are saved.

The fact that we know she goes on to be a senior nurse takes away some of the suspense as we know she won’t fail or be thrown out, but that was never likely in a children’s book anyway. Would have made for a bit of a depressing read if so!

For fans of Blyton?

I’d say this one was a little more of a stretch than some previous recommendations. If this were a series on If You Like Nancy Drew, it would be top of the list. Cherry and Nancy are quite similar – and the writing style is too – so it reads like it could have been a Nancy Drew book if only Nancy had decided to become a nurse and not an amateur sleuth. Saying that there is a little mystery solving done in the first Cherry Ames book – and a few later books have mystery in the title!

However, I have recommended that if you like Blyton you might like Nancy Drew, so we are only one step away from that.

Although perhaps a bit too perfect Cherry is likeable and her hospital experiences are interesting. While there are a few challenges and unhappy occurrences for Cherry along the way these are not dwelled on, as this is a light read for (as per the dustjacket) girls aged 11-16.