Yesterday I read Cherry Ames- Student nurse, first published by Helen Wells in 1944. (If it is about nursing it doesn't count as wasting time...). This classic series has been reissued about a year and a half ago, and my local library has the whole set. I had read articles about the books- apparently they inspired many young people to enter nursing, and the new copyright holder hopes that that will indeed be the case again. So I decided to check them out of the library on a regular basis, to keep their circulation numbers up- I helped in a library so I know this matters.
But I kept forgetting, until they practically fell off the shelves at me the other evening.
So this was my first actual reading- I think maybe I put if off because I was concerned that I wouldn't like it, but it was pretty good. Some of it is very dated- nurses are not trained in that overly controlled hospital based way anymore-living there and being told off because her apron is untidy, but that was actually some of the most interesting parts for me. Obviously it is fiction, so it is not a historical report, but I find that often fiction describes the mood and culture better than a listing of facts alone.
The story itself is written in a windswept excitement sort of fashion, but I reminded myself- it is not intended for adults, it is juvenile fiction, and with that reflection I can say, again it was pretty good. I am intending to get the next one in the series on my next visit, because there must be lots more to go through before she even graduates, and afterwards she seems to do everything in the 18 or so additional books- jungle nurse, flight nurse, camp nurse. I wonder if she ever returns to teach other nurses?
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