Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse

Cherry Ames #4

by Helen Wells

Meet the nurse who inspired a generation of young people to go into nursing. Smart, courageous, mischievous, quick- witted, and above all, devoted to the profession of nursing, cherry meets adventure wherever she goes…

In Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse, Cherry is whisked off to a new assignment on an island in the Pacific close to the battlefront - as Acting Chief Nurse! Colonel Pillsbee thinks she is too "young and pretty" to successfully supervise sixty nurses and 200 corpsmen. Can she do it? For the first time Cherry and the nurses of the Spencer unit have to work under fire, in a makeshift tent hospital uncomfortably close to the fighting. When the casualties pour in, the nurses and doctors work night and day, constantly under danger of attack by the Japanese. When the other Lieutenant Ames, Cherry's twin brother Charlie, is unexpectedly stationed nearby, Charlie and Cherry piece together the mystery behind the silence of an injured pilot - which involves a secret enemy weapon.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Mystery, Historical Fiction, World War II, Childrens, Historical

213 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Original name: Helen Weinstock. Social worker turned full-time young adult writer, born in Illinois but moved with family to New York City when she was seven. In 1934 Wells graduated from New York University [where she'd been the first female editor of the literary quarterly], with a major in philosophy and a minor in sociology and psychology.

During World War II, she served as a volunteer with the State Department's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, escorting Latin American visitors in the United States.

Author of Cherry Ames, Nurse books, a series for young teens.

She was also the author of the Vicki Barr books, about a young mystery-solving flight attendant. And, as Francine Lewis, she penned the short-lived Polly French series (1950s), aimed at a younger readership.

After writing the first eight books of the Cherry Ames series and the first three Vicki Barr books, Wells decided to abandon both series to write for television and radio, and Julie Tatham took over (however, both the ninth Cherry Ames book and the fourth Vicki Barr book were published under Wells's name). Tatham later returned the Vicki Barr books to Wells in 1953 and the Cherry Ames books in 1955.

Reviews

[Majenta]

ACTING Chief Nurse, that is. Picking up days--hours?--after ARMY NURSE left off, CHIEF NURSE finds ACTING Chief Nurse Cherry Ames going into battle, and not just the battle to win the respect of her new Commanding Officer, Colonel Pillsbee, although that's harrowing enough. No, it's jungle combat, complete with mosquitoes, long marches, and mobile-hospital patients with all kinds of physical and psychological wounds. One silent patient suffers the further indignity of a typo in the text, which has the doctors and nurses searching for damage to his vocal "chords." Otherwise, a very exciting episode in the life of Nurse Cherry Ames!

Thanks for reading.

[Gina House]

Such a surprisingly fantastic Cherry Ames! 🤩

I was charmed by the first book, I liked the second book and I got through the third. So, I wasn't expecting anything awesome from this one. But, I really liked it!

It had a much more mature feel to it (most likely because of the historical content included about the war) and I even found myself tearing up in parts. There were many likeable and helpful characters in Chief Nurse, as well as a little mystery for Cherry and her twin to solve.

I was feeling lukewarm about reading the rest of the Cherry Ames series after finishing the first three, but I'm so glad that I kept going! Thank goodness for my buddy read with my dear friend, Caro (@carosbookcase) 😍❤️ If it wasn't for her, I don't think I would have read this one for a long time.

I'm hoping the rest of the books keep the same level of interest but, even if they don't, I'm looking forward to trying at least a few more. Sometimes, vintage series like these are such a wonderful escape!

[Liralen]

Cherry tried to look intelligent. (8)

Oh dear god there's so much to unpack here. If you're not familiar with the Cherry Ames books, they're in a similar vein as the Nancy Drew books, except that Cherry is a nurse. I learned of them in a sort of backwards way, through their satirical lesbian counterparts (highly recommend), but have since read the occasional original.

Chief Nurse takes place on a Pacific island towards the tail end of World War II. Cherry has been promoted so that she can head up the nursing unit at a 1,000-bed hospital (though the idea that they'd let a lieutenant do that is laughable...but let's just stipulate that anything that has to do with actually military procedure is insanely unrealistic and leave it at that). There's very little plot for much of the book, though eventually there's some kind of mystery to do with the fact that the medical team is deeply confused about why an exit wound is bigger than an entry wound. Far more interesting is what is unsaid.

The book is deeply racist. There's literally a point at which Cherry 'hurried over to him [a soldier] and congratulated him on shooting down the Jap plane' (150); there's another point when Cherry asks a soldier, eagerly, "Did you kill any Japs?" (67). 'Jap' is used consistently rather than 'Japanese', and there's a point when a bunch of nurses and patients are joking around, and the only joke that the book thinks bears repeating (I do not and thus will not be quoting) is one about the Japanese.

I had to remind myself, repeatedly, that the book was first published in 1944: the war was still on, with no guarantee about how it would end. Fear of the Japanese was rampant (to say nothing of internment camps), and it would be several decades before the term 'politically correct' came into use as we use it now. (This is the only reason I'm not giving it a lower rating.) There's a Chinese-American nurse who is thrust onto the page every now and then, I think as a reminder that 'hey, reader! We don't hate all Asians! Just those evil ones!' Which is...ever so slightly better than it could be? I guess? Don't get me wrong, it's still painful and offensive, but I'm trying to remember to put it in the context of the average American's understanding in the 1940s.

This is not a story of men and women but of men and girls. Again, it was 1944. Cherry is told that she is too young and pretty (8) to be in charge. Half of what the nurses do is boost morale:

"You're going to be fine and dandy," Cherry told a hollow-eyed youngster, and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Honestly you are." He looked so comforted that Cherry could have cried. (27)

(I mean, I think what we're really seeing is Cherry healing PTSD with a pat on the shoulder.) They're told that they might be bombed, and the nurses 'listened with visible excitement' (39), because apparently they don't understand that people die in war. Cherry 'made a rule that her nurses wear their feminine white uniforms on Sundays and curl their hair and powder their noses, come storms, heat or bombings—and it perked up everybody's morale' (69). Oh, they're competent nurses and save everybody's lives and all that, but it's the 1940s, so there's never any question that the doctors are gods and the nurses are mere acolytes.

The entire thing is basically an extended ad for the Army. Specifically, it's a call for girls to become nurses:

"Huh!" said Bertha. "Instead of three years in nursing school, only two and a half years in school, and six months' real practical experience with some Federal agency! That's something!"

"It's funny," Cherry mused. "Mildred is a very good but not spectacular student, and her parents could afford to pay for her training. But here the Government is paying her whole nursing school tuition, plus her living expenses, plus an allowance. ... If mildred can qualify for the Cadet Nurse Corps, I should think lots of other smart girls could, too. They could even enter training direct from high school. (31)

And:

"The only solution," Cherry scowled," is to load each girl with forty patients or get more nurses. But there aren't more nurses! And there aren't going to be more nurses until more girls become student nurses! Oh-h!" (61)

And:

"So I went back to a civilian hospital at first," Mrs. Flanders told Cherry. "They certainly do need more nurses! My, there are lots of older, retired, patriotic nurses returning to help out in this shortage. Some of them grandmothers, that's how shorthanded we are. The real young student nurses are a great help. Well, then I thought I'd like to get into the Army Nurse Corps." (96)

And so it goes. I can't imagine contemporary publishers getting away with the same overt call to arms, but...different time, different market. It's weird. It's fascinating. It had very little to do with reality. I'm deeply tempted to read a whole lot more Cherry Ames (read this one because I was in the middle of two mediocre memoirs and wanted something fluffy and fictional), though I sort of think I'd end up with a very earnest, powdered headache.

Edit: Worth checking out this actual brochure from the 1940s, available at archive.org.

[Luisa Knight]

If you're looking for a fun series for your young adults, this is a nice choice!

It has similar vibes to the original Nancy Drew series; just replace the mystery with various events and story developments. And personally, I think the writing is better; more full and less matter-of-fact.

Cleanliness: Uses of “good gracious” “goodness” “gee” and the like. There is a little romance. Mentions young ladies wearing make-up and going to dances. The word "Jap" is used regularly.

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[Kaitlyn S.]

By far one of the most exciting of Cherry Ames adventures. I *need* to search down the rest of the series since the first four are the only physical copies my library has.

In this book, Cherry is still on probation. She's promoted to Chief Nurse. And she has a whole host of new problems to face and conquer.

She has . . . unconventional rules, that the "Pill" frowns at -- the nurses use of their white uniforms on Sunday, the girls dressing up and being cheery, the nurses unconventional ways of getting patients to take medicine. This girl is pretty much ingenious, and I love her character!

Along the way, the two Lieutenants Ames get together, and solve a mystery together. Charlie is a dear, and Gene is delightful, and while I wish there was more Lex Upham in this one -- I still don't quite know what to think of him -- the letter he sent was so like him, it was hilarious!

All in all, I highly recommend this series!

[Kiwi Carlisle]

I’m of two minds about this book. It was certainly a rarity among books for young girls at the time to see such fairly realistic depictions of battle scenes, and as I was reading it I was once again gratified that Cherry and her nurses are never portrayed as damsels in distress. They are out there in the field of battle, dodging shells and grenades, and risking their lives like any soldiers. They are treated as courageous, intelligent women, except by one or two nasty old fossil characters, who are rather a blight on the book. Cherry seems to always run up against these types. I also found myself wincing a bit at the “monstrous Japs” of the time and genre. There’s no getting around historical events and attitudes , though. It’s worth a read, but it may make you uncomfortable here and there.

[Karen]

Congratulations, Cherry Ames is promoted to Acting Chief Nurse of a mobile hospital the Army is setting up on an island in the Pacific. She's only been out of school 3 months, has 0 management experience, and her Commanding officer thinks she is too pretty and young for the job, but Cherry accepts the position and jumps right in. One word about her promotion: Unbelievable. Ok, make that 3 words because I need to add: eyes rolling.
Now in the South Pacific and close to the fighting, we see Cherry at work helping wounded soldiers and reuniting with her twin brother Charlie, who just happens to be stationed nearby. The work sounds grueling and props to the real doctors and nurses who serve on the frontlines in wartime conflicts. Cherry does seem to do a bit of maturing in book 4, and I actually enjoyed her and the story quite a bit.

[Sarah Briel]

I read this mostly for nostalgia's sake :P I used to love this as a kid, and my friends and I formed this club thing surrounding them and it was great. I don't think the books still match up to my old view of them but eh.

[Cathryn]

Lots of action in this episode! I enjoyed the mystery about these shrapnel pieces taken from a wounded soldier who was shell shocked. The scenes with Cherry and her brother, Charlie, were sweet and I enjoyed they were working together to solve the mystery. In true Cherry nature she gets into a little trouble with the Colonel, but all ends well. In her own words, “Rules, the rules, always the rules”!

[Audrey]

This was really enjoyable! I liked the sense of adventure and intrigue, patriotism (blatant propaganda, really, but that's not necessarily a bad thing) and idealism that characterized this volume. There are also some interesting period details—washing stockings in a helmet, etc.—that add to the authenticity of the story's atmosphere. Although the characterization and plot development is not especially deep, I think this book does a good job of showing both the hardships and the urgent necessity of wartime nursing, while still being entertaining to read. Some of the minor subplots the book incorporated were quite enjoyable, though. For example, I was pleasantly surprised that a storyline about a new anesthesiologist went in the direction it did.

This remains a time capsule of the way wartime army nursing was presented to contemporary young adults. Being a product of its time, that means it does include some degrading comments about the Japanese. I understand that they were "the enemy," but it still made me wince. I don't find jokes about killing people amusing.

[James Crawford]

This is the fourth book in the series and I think is the best of the first four even the others have also been really good. In this case Cherry and her nurses are on a Pacific Island. The book does a very good job describing how they get set up and the various problems that they encounter. The mystery involves which seems to be a new enemy weapon. There's also direct action in the book as the island that Cherry and the nurses are on is attacked.

There's also a lot of anti-Japanese material, of course. It notes, in one case, where the Japanese attack a hospital area. The pro-nurse-doing-their-duty message is also strong, as expected from a book published during the war. It's a really, really good addition to the series.

[Becca]

I just can't get enough of this series! It is so awesome! This time Cherry is right in the thick of battle as the U.S.A. fights Japan in World War II. She must treat the soldiers gun shot wounds and tropical illnesses. Cherry is strong, young, and independent, which is so awesome to see in literature- especially when this series was written. This was a time when women weren't really out getting careers much. Forget gymnastics and figure skating, women can face the dangers of war just like men and learn valuable skills and have a huge influence on the world.

[Anne]

Cherry STILL hasn't emptied a bedpan but in this one, she honest-to-god goes to war. Has to dive into trenches when her Pacific island is attacked in WWII. Good on ya, Cherry! As this one is set during the war, it features anti-Japanese topics more than others, and as I contemplate sharing these books with a young friend (whose grandmother recalls reading the series), I'm thinking that we'd have to have a conversation about why we do not call people Japs any more.

[Kylie]

Quite liked this! I've been on the hunt for interesting books for my 10 year old niece, where there is a strong female character with all the decent human qualities, and one where romance isn't off the cards, but not a main topic of conversation.
I've always liked mystery books of this type, and this is as good as any.

[Trine]

This I think is the best of the Cherry Ames books. There are far too few books about nurses at war and this one manages to do it for a young audience in a - I think - realistic way that gives you a feeling of both the danger and the courage during a war.

[Jen Desmarais]

It was incredibly interesting to read a book that was set during WWII, and also written during that time. The blatant sexism was a bit much at times, and I found my eyes rolling more than once, but overall, this was a gripping tale of bravery of the nurses during that time.

[Kay]

Loved this series as a kid, enjoyed them just as much as an adult. Loved Cherry's adventures as a nurse as well as mystery attached to story. Interesting to note differences in medicine at time book was written with today's standards.

[B Zimp]

This book was new to me, I must have missed it as a child. Cherry Ames goes to a Pacific Island and sets up an evacuation hospital during WWII. Interesting to learn about the medicine practices of the day and get a little fictionalized historical propaganda from the era.

[Ed]

I am being pleasantly surprised by the Cherry Ames series. I never read them as a child, but they are pretty entertaining, even if they are a bit dated and mildly racist. They hold up pretty well for being nearly 75 years old, and they have been fun to read.

[Cyd]

Read as a young adult.

[Marianne Jay]

This series if books is a lifelong dream come true. I'm in heaven.

[Mary]

Interesting to read...especially regarding the cultural differences between 1944 and now!

[Genia]

I am really enjoying the Cherry Ames books. It's time they were introduced to today's young ladies.

[Sue]

Glad to see both Cherry and Charlie reunited and very glad there is no appearance of Rex!

[francie hansell]

Wonderful memories

I read this book about 50 years ago and loved pt so much. I can't believe I found it again after so long! Can't wait to collect all the others too.

[Molly]

I read some of these as a kid, and re-reading them has been really, really fun.

[Mai]

Another fun read, with a lovely World War II mystery to solve!

[Melanie]

So good!

[Andrea Robinson]

Other than some old out of date usage of racial slurs it was another excellent ames adventure.

[Classic reverie]

Helen Wells’ Cherry Ames Chief Nurse is book 4, Cherry has arrived on island 14, to be told she is on probation for three months to be Chief Nurse but Colonel Pillsbee in charge thinks she is too young and pretty. Cherry must prove herself but is that possible with Colonel Pillsbee so biased against her? Her nursing group with familiar faces join her, Dr. Fortune and Lex Upham are at a base in the USA, working for the military in the laboratory. Charlie Ames, Cherry’s twin brother is a flier that lands on the island. Published during WW 2, the reality of the world in this work of fiction is very REAL!

Story in short- Can young Cherry make it with so many counting on her?

❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert

Cherry earns the respect of the nurses, doctors and soldiers but her trying to make the atmosphere on the island in a positive way which is felt to he too light hearted has Pillsbee thinking she is not up for the job. When her brother, Charlie and his crew bring wounded flier Gene who cannot talk and mysterious circumstances of a new kind of bullet by the Japanesse that after trying to figure out, Cherry, Gene and Charlie help prevent a surprise attach which Pillsbee dismissed at first. He finally rewards her with praise of her job as Chief Nurse. At the end the fighting continues with the unfortunate lose of some soldiers but Charlie and Gene are already to move ahead to another battle. Cherry and her nurses look to help the men in the fight.