The Cherry Ames books
Created | Updated May 22, 2002
The Cherry Ames books were a series of girls' stories published by Grosset and Dunlap in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s that featured a young nurse named Cherry. The earlier stories focus on Cherry's life in nursing school and as a military nurse. However, the remainder of the series featured Cherry in an amateur detective role, solving a new mystery every place she worked1. Cherry also 'played Cupid' in many of the books, creating schemes to get a couple together, to rekindle an estranged relationship, or to give the man a push to pop the question. While Cherry has several devoted suitors2 herself throughout the series, she repeatedly chooses nursing over marriage3.
The authors
The creator of the Cherry Ames series was Helen Wells, who wrote books 1-9 and 16-27. Books 10-16 were written by Julie Tatham.
Helen Wells grew up in rural Illinois, and used many events and settings from her life in the Cherry Ames series. She also created the Vicki Barr series, which was quite similar to the Cherry Ames books, except the main character was a flight attendant rather than a nurse.
Julie Tatham temporarily took over the writing of both the Cherry Ames and Vicki Barr series while Helen Wells took a break. A girls' series author in her own right, Julie Tatham also authored the Trixie Belden and Ginny Gordon books.
The books
- Student Nurse
- Senior Nurse
- Army Nurse
- Chief Nurse
- Flight Nurse
- Veterans' Nurse
- Private Duty Nurse
- Visiting Nurse
- Cruise Nurse
- At Spencer
- Night Supervisor
- Mountaineer Nurse
- Clinic Nurse
- Dude Ranch Nurse
- Rest Home Nurse
- Country Doctor's Nurse
- Boarding School Nurse
- Department Store Nurse
- Camp Nurse
- At Hilton Hospital
- Island Nurse
- Rural Nurse
- Staff Nurse
- Companion Nurse
- Jungle Nurse
- The Mystery in the Doctor's Office
- Ski Nurse Mystery
The Extras
The Cherry Ames books were published across the globe by translating them into the local tongue and, in some cases, making them more culturally appropriate. The Cherry Ames books were especially popular in Britain, where the series also spawned a decade's worth of Cherry Ames Girls' Annuals. These annuals included both fiction and non-fiction.
Also published were the Cherry Ames Book of First Aid and Home Nursing and the Cherry Ames' Nursing Game, both of which sought to introduce girls to nursing as a career.
Cherry Ames Books as Collectibles
The first 22 Cherry Ames books were originally published as red hardback books with dustjackets that featured colored illustrations and a yellow spine. The shade of red varied with the edition, beginning with red, then maroon, and finally a dusty red tweed. These books are considered more valuable to collectors than later editions, especially if the dustjackets are intact.
Beginning in the 1960s, the first 22 books were published as yellow hardback books with pictorial covers.4 Also published in the 60s was an edition of green hardback books with pictorial covers -- this is the only edition that includes the last 5 books in the series. The last two books are very difficult to find in good condition, and have been observed to sell for several hundred dollars in online auctions.
Some of the later books in the series were republished during the 1970s as paperbacks. These books had their titles changed to make them sound more like Nancy Drew style mysteries.
