Cherry Ames, Student Nurse

by Helen Wells

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0977159701
• ISBN13: 9780977159703
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Springer Publishing Company
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

#1 Best Book💯💯💯💯

Anyone wanting to become a nurse NEEDS to read this amazing book (series). They are fun and enjoyable!! You follow beautiful Cherry Ames as she starts a new chapter in her life...NURSING!!! We need to bring these books back, it explains nursing career in fun and enjoyable way. So, grab the book and relax another mysterious, funny, and helpful read!!! This book will never grow old been if it was written back in the 1950's.😉

Charming, but must be read in context

I remember reading these books growing up in the 1970's. Even at that time, they had a somewhat dated feel. As long as they are read with the knowledge that they are set in a specific time -- when women did not have the educational, social and career freedom that we enjoy now -- they have a certain charming quality. I would recommend them for pre-teens, but a discussion to place them in context is a good idea. Yes, a girl can become a nurse if she wants to, and its a very honorable profession -- but she can also become a doctor, an option that didn't really exist in Cherry Ames' day.

Can This Girl Hold Down a Job?

(SPOILERS) I just read the first book in this series, where plucky Cherry Ames (who, on the cover, strongly resembles actress Jennifer Jones) scampers off to Spencer Hospital in 1943 and makes friends with seemingly everyone she meets. I love our heroine because she has eyes like sparkling black diamonds - - that's a new one! - - but also because she keeps a 7-year-old from turning into a traumatized adult by assuring him the face that's been burnt off by an exploding water heater will be good as new any day now. Also highly dramatic is the dorm room scene in which Nurse Ames takes on jealous fellow student Vivian Warren, a bitter loner with the shady habit of wearing too much lipstick. Musing that a "surprise attack" often works best, Cherry knocks on the taken-aback Vivian's door one evening, invites herself in, and says, "You probably know this without my telling you, that I think your tactics against me in class are pretty unfair. I want to tell you very plainly that I don't like them. I also want to tell you that I won't stand for that sort of thing." Since the sullen Vivian hasn't broken a lamp over her head, at least yet, Cherry goes on, "I can't help wondering why you feel you have to resort to such tactics, when you're every bit as capable as the next student, and why you're always alone." Cherry has got her digs in, but then cleans up the bloodshed by complimenting the cheap little viper, and even tops it all off by inviting her to a movie. Highly impressive! PS: This chat changes Vivian's life. What I'm mostly worried about, though, is that for all her gifts and capability, can Cherry Ames prove to HOLD DOWN A JOB? Does she work any job longer than a few MONTHS? In addition to "Student Nurse, the series looks to include Cherry Ames: Senior Nurse, Army Nurse, Chief Nurse, Flight Nurse, Department Store Nurse, Boarding School Nurse, Jungle Nurse, Dude Ranch Nurse, Rest Home Nurse...etc. etc. etc! This is a dangerously spotty resume for a career woman to be building!

Cherry Ames, Why I Went Into Nursing

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. Cherry graduated from high school, and as she always knew she would, she went to Spencer School of Nursing. She met her new classmates and fell into the study routines. She wore her blue and white striped uniform proudly. She met the doctors. They were never to be argued with and always addressed with respect. The professors of nursing were tough and rigid, but Cherry Ames understood they had to be that way. After all these student nurses had life and death situations in their hands. It wasn't all study- there was fun. Cherry stole Annie Chase, the doll they used to practice injections and bed baths on. They had dances where they met all the young physicians on staff. They had parties, and this was a big city so they could go out once in a while if permission was given. They could go out to a movie or have dinner at a restaurant. Cherry Ames was a model nurse; her patients received the best of care during her 12 hour shifts. They were so appreciative of their brave nurse who stood up for them against the stodgy old doctors. She smoothed the way for all of them- she loved them so. And, all of her sister student nurses loved her too. She was perfection and the best. She moved through her first year so effortlessly. There were no weekends or holidays at home. They were all spent taking care of patients. Patients came first. What a role model! Did I find life as a student nurse much different than Cherry Ames portrayed? Yes, Yes, Yes! Tough science and math courses. Anatomy and physiology and chemistry and physics and then dissecting a cat and going to see my first autopsy. My first patient who had a broken femur and the first time he stood up, he had a massive pulmonary embolus and went into cardiac arrest. Yes, an exciting time for us all. And, I have to thank Cherry Ames. The glamorous life of a nurse. I do love my profession, and I do thank Cherry Ames. Student Nurse. Highly recommend, prisrob