Fiction Tuesday - Helen Wells

Helen Wells (1910-1986) was the author of nurse Cherry Ames books, a series for young teens. She wrote volumes #1-7 and #17-27. She was also the author of the first four Vicki Barr books and possibly the last Vicki Barr book.-Amazon

In Student Nurse, Cherry starts nursing school at Spencer with a mixture of anxiety and anticipation - would she have what it takes to be a nurse? She leaves her quiet town of Hilton, Illinois for the bustle of hospital life, to meet challenges she wouldn't have imagined. The U.S. is at war. Many nurses have gone to the front, and there is a shortage of RNs at Spencer-which Cherry and her classmates help to fill, as they learn the skills they need to graduate. And who is the mysterious patient in the secret room that no one seems to know anything about? Should Cherry risk expulsion to save his life?

My List Of Books That Should Be Made Into Movies: Cherry Ames (Helen Wells)
“You, the flight nurse, will be in complete medical charge on the trip…From the time you pick up the wounded in the combat zone, until you unload them at the base hospital, you alone are responsible for the lives of eighteen wounded soldiers.”-greenmedellion

Springer Publishing Company is proud to present the re-release of the Cherry Ames nursing series! The books are just as you remember them, retaining the same look, feel, and sense of adventure and patriotism as when they were first published. With fully illustrated color covers and a soft-finished hardcover format just like the originals, these books will transport you back to the days when you were reading about this spunky young nurse. They will also make delightful reading for a new generation of younger readers, transporting them back to a more innocent time when an independent young woman, devoted to helping people--yet also adventuresome, resourceful, and courageous--balanced helping others with getting involved in breathtaking mystery and adventure.
With a heart of pure gold and a true yearning to make a difference in the world, eighteen-year-old Cherry Ames leaves her hometown and enters nursing school, embarking on a lifetime of adventures. Follow Cherry through the entire 20-volume series as she grows from a student nurse to a fully qualified RN, all the while making friends, pushing the limits of authority, leading her nursing colleagues, and sleuthing and solving mysteries. Smart, courageous, mischievous, quick-witted, and above all, devoted to nursing, Cherry Ames meets adventure head-on wherever she goes.

Cherry Ames, the, slim black eyed, black haired, beauty who introduced me into the realm of nursing. I was a 9 year old avid reader, when I was given my first Cherry Ames book. She did it all, student nurse, senior nurse, cruise ship nurse, public health nurse and on and on. She was the epitome of a glamorous woman who could do no wrong.

Cherry Ames, had a twin brother, Charles, He was as fair as she was dark, but he was tall as she was. They were both very intelligent and lived in Hilton. They had wonderfully kind and intelligent parents who loved them. We all had loving parents, but they could never measure up to the Ames.-pris

Cherry Ames, Flight Nurse, Book 5. Helen Wells. Illustrated by Ralph Crosby Smith. Grosset & Dunlap, 1945. First edition. Original dust jacket.
Cherry, based in England, flies into battle areas to help evacuate wounded soldiers.

“Wherever people needed a girl with love in her heart and healing in her hands, that was where Cherry belonged. She wanted to serve, she had trained to serve. Sympathy or vague good intentions — these were not enough. Only a nurse, Cherry knew, could bring so much help and comfort and hope to others, who sorely needed her. Only a nurse could experience such broad human adventure, such profound inner reward.”

—	pgs. 5-6, Cherry Ames: Flight Nurse by Helen Wells

The Cherry Ames Nurse books were written by Helen Wells in the wake of the First World War. Cherry, the heroine, is the Nancy Drew of the medical world. Like Nancy, she is beautiful, popular and successful at all she does. And she solves cases too, prompting the savvy reader to ask, Who knew the medical field was so fraught with mystery? Her adventures begin when she enters nursing school in order to help the war effort (Cherry Ames, Student Nurse.) From there, so goes on to do every kind of nursing in the world, including some that nobody’s actually ever heard of (Cherry Ames, Dude Ranch Nurse; Cherry Ames, Island Nurse.)  -nightshiftreport

Have you read any books about Cherry Ames?