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I couldn’t resist buying this book at the AAUW Used Book Sale earlier this week. Who else remembers Cherry Ames? Raise your hand! I was one of those girls who loved these books (there are 27 in the series) that featured 18 year old Cherry Ames in a variety of hospital settings.
ThriftBooks has a great list of all of the Cherry Ames books and while I have no idea how many I actually read, I do remember loving her.
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Despite all my efforts to make the image more readable I failed but you get the idea. Cherry Ames – Student Nurse, Cherry Ames – Staff Nurse, Cherry Ames – Jungle Nurse, Cherry Ames- Mountaineer Nurse. All fun titles and all encouraged young girls and women to consider nursing as a career.
Written between 1943 and 1968 these mysteries were one of the popular series along with Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, The Hardy Boys and more. Apparently during World War II, the series encouraged girls to become nurses as a way to aid the war effort. Today, Cherry Ames seems to have an uneasy or mixed legacy; sometimes considered to be propaganda but the stories still inspired many young women to choose nursing as a career.
I am not sure if my failed desire to become a nurse was nurtured by my love of reading Cherry Ames. Once I discovered that I faint at the sight of blood that career path was ripped from my dreams. But that’s okay . I still had Cherry to inspire me in other ways.
What book or series do you remember from days gone by that makes you smile and reminisce? Tell me all about it in the comments.
