Springer Publishing Company is proud to present the re-release of the Cherry Ames nursing series! The books are just as you remember them, retaining the same look, feel, and sense of adventure and patriotism as when they were first published. With fully illustrated color covers and a soft-finished hardcover format just like the originals, these books will transport you back to the days when you were reading about this spunky young nurse. They will also make delightful reading for a new generation of younger readers, transporting them back to a more innocent time when an independent young woman, devoted to helping people--yet also adventuresome, resourceful, and courageous--balanced helping others with getting involved in breathtaking mystery and adventure.
With a heart of pure gold and a true yearning to make a difference in the world, eighteen-year-old Cherry Ames leaves her hometown and enters nursing school, embarking on a lifetime of adventures. Follow Cherry through the entire 20-volume series as she grows from a student nurse to a fully qualified RN, all the while making friends, pushing the limits of authority, leading her nursing colleagues, and sleuthing and solving mysteries. Smart, courageous, mischievous, quick-witted, and above all, devoted to nursing, Cherry Ames meets adventure head-on wherever she goes.
Volumes 1-4
Student Nurse: Book 1
Senior Nurse: Book 2
Army Nurse: Book 3
Chief Nurse: Book 4
Volumes 5-8
Flight Nurse: Book 5
Private Duty Nurse: Book 6
Veterans Nurse: Book 7
Visiting Nurse: Book 8
Volumes 9-12
Cruise Nurse: Book 9
Boarding School Nurse: Book 10
Department School Nurse: Book 11
Camp Nurse: Book 12
Volumes 13-16
At Hilton Hospital: Book 13
Island Nurse: Book 14
Rural Nurse: Book 15
Staff Nurse: Book 16
Volumes 17-20
Companion Nurse: Book 17
Jungle Nurse: Book 18
The Mystery in the Doctor's Office: Book 19
Ski Nurse Mystery: Book 20
Start your own collection or give as a gift to friends, fellow nurses, or the next generation of nurses-to-be! Cherry Ames is back, just as you remember her!
Helen Wells, was a social worker turned full-time writer, and, like her most famous heroine, an Illinois native who loved New York City.
She was born Helen Weinstock on March 29, 1910, in Danville, Illinois. Her brother, Robert, has said that "Danville is pretty much the town that Cherry Ames lived in, and our house was her house." The family moved to New York City when Helen was about seven, and she loved New York. The family retained ties to Danville, however; almost every summer, they spent some time visiting relatives there. As a teenager, Wells studied painting at the Art Students League in New York City; she also studied music. At New York University, she became the first female editor of the school's literary quarterly. She graduated from NYU in 1934, with a major in philosophy and a minor in sociology and psychology. After graduation, she worked for a time as a social worker and began to write for magazines, and eventually turned to writing full-time after winning prizes in two short-story contests.
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. She traveled widely, visiting Brazil, Spain, France, Austria, Israel, Mexico, England, and several other countries. Among her other interests were reading, theater, ballet, and jazz. She also was a cat lover; two of her cats were Gigi, a blue Persian, and Crissy, an orange Angora. She was active in several author organizations, especially the Mystery Writers of America, and taught writing courses at the Institute of Children's Literature in Redding Ridge, Connecticut.
Helen Wells is best known for the Cherry Ames series, which was published in numerous countries besides the United States, including Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Japan, France, Italy, Holland, and Bolivia. But Wells wrote two other series. Under her own name, she wrote the Vicki Barr books, about a young mystery-solving flight attendant--like Cherry Ames and Helen Wells herself, another Illinois-to-New York transplant. And, as Francine Lewis, she penned the short-lived Polly French series, published by Whitman in the early 1950s: Polly French of Whitford High, Polly French Takes Charge, and Polly French and the Surprising Stranger; these books, about a young teenager, are aimed at a younger readership.
Among her other books for young people were several so-called Career-Romances for Young Moderns--novels that featured a young woman pursuing a career, published by Julian Messner: The Girl in the White Coat (1953), A Flair for People (1955), Introducing Patti Lewis, Home Economist (1956), and Doctor Betty (1969). Wells also wrote Escape by Night: A Story of the Underground Railway (1953), a "Winston Adventure Book" for young people, based on a true story; and A City for Jean (1956), a novel about a young social worker, for Funk & Wagnalls; and Adam Gimbel, Pioneer Trader (1955) and Barnum, Showman of America (1957) for McKay.
Helen Wells died in New York City on February 10, 1986, and is buried in Danville, Illinois. The 1986 Juvenile Series Writers Conference in Corning, New York, was dedicated to her memory.
Springer Publishing Company is grateful to The Cherry Ames Page website for information on Helen Wells. Please visit www.netwrx1.com/CherryAmes
