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Post by tintin on Jan 12, 2013 0:39:36 GMT 1
Has anyone read any of these? If so what did you think?
I understand they are regarded as classics in the US
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Post by Claire on Jan 12, 2013 2:34:47 GMT 1
I read one years and years ago - from my mum's childhood book collection but can remember nothing about it. That may be a comment in itself! I can't see the appeal in nursing stories as I hate hospitals and have enough ill health to put up with in my own life to want to read about it too!
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Post by susanb on Jan 12, 2013 3:23:30 GMT 1
I've read some of the Cherry Ames books...I don't know if "classic" really describes them....they were certainly popular girls series books. The early titles were virtually recruiting material for the Nursing Cadet Corps and for military nurses generally, the later ones incorporated mysteries (as the Nancy Drew influence grew). The info in the link below is mostly correct, except that I believe the government was working on the plan even before Pearl Harbor....there was a HUGE nurse shortage in the US in WWI. Nursing was still a young profession for women at the time, and many of the young women who entered it, in an era when few women even worked outside the home, were just the type you'd expect to find....adventerous, outgoing, intelligent. Not surprisingly, when the war broke out, many voluteered to go overseas. Great, except that it left a shortage on the homefront, especially when the Spanish influenza broke out. Determined not to get caught short again, the government developed this program. I don't know if the publishers of the Ames books were directly approached by the government to develop a series that would promote an interest in nursing/miltary service (and this program particularly), or if they just thought it would sell well! news.nurse.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005505090311
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Post by susanb on Jan 12, 2013 3:31:51 GMT 1
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Post by rallycairn on Jan 12, 2013 4:29:24 GMT 1
I never read any Cherry Ames, but one of the series's authors was Julie Tatham, also known as Julie Campbell Tatham or Julie Campbell, the creator of my favorite girls' mystery series, the wonderful Trixie Belden. Many Trixies feature horses and riding in varying degrees, though Trixie Belden is not a horse series per se. I could easily have posted this before, so forgive me if I have, but best first line of a series _ever_ to a ponymad girl: "Oh, Moms," Trixie moaned, running her hands through her short, sandy curls, "I'll just die if I don't have a horse!" That's my Trixie! My fictional alter ego, for sure. Tomboyish, impulsive, horse-mad Trixie Belden. Julie C T took over the Cherry Ames and the Vicki Barr series of books from their creator, Helen Wells, but I don't know anything about Wells. The Trixie series is set in the Hudson River Valley in the state of New York. The series has a strong sense of place, and Trixie's home, Crabapple Farm, is based on Campbell's farm called Wolf Hollow, and streets in the books like Glen Road were actually Glendale Road, etc. In that regard, the Trixie books remind me of Monica Edwards's work, with the strong sense of place in the Punchbowl and Romney Marsh books. Julie Tatham Campbell links: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Campbell_Tathamwww.trixie-belden.com/books/JulieCampbell.htmAnd of course the ponymadbooklovers author page for Julie Campbell! IIRC from Trixie fansites, there are quotes from Campbell talking about how much she enjoyed writing the Cherry Ames titles she authored, because she enjoyed writing a bit older character than the heroines in most of her other books (such as Trixie, who was 13 then 14 in the series). Throwing in some more ponymad stuff, most of the Campbell-authored Trixie books feature a fair bit of riding, especially 1, 2, 5, and somewhat lesser 6, but most any of the books set in the characters' hometown are going to feature some riding. And The Saratoga Mystery, a later title in the series, is set at the famous racetrack and racehorse town, Saratoga, NY. Poor tintin, you asked about Cherry Ames and I keep wanting to talk about Trixie Belden!
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Post by trixiepony on Jan 12, 2013 6:32:46 GMT 1
LOL your quite the Trixie Belden fan. I love her too, her mystery's where sum off my early favorites. She was such a Tom boy and I was a Girly girl.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2013 7:47:22 GMT 1
I've never even heard of them!
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Post by Claire on Jan 12, 2013 14:26:15 GMT 1
Thanks people for the info and links for both Cherry and Trixie, especially Trixie as I have been trying to find out how much horse content is in the 'non-pony' Trixie's for a while! Trixiepony - has your forum name anything to do with Trixie Belden?
Now you mention it Rally I do seem to remember that Cherry was quite grown up and probably too old a character for me, reading at the time. Could explain why I didnt read any others. Would be interesting to know if they really were gov propaganda.
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Post by trixiepony on Jan 14, 2013 9:56:11 GMT 1
Yes Claire I was going thew the books at the time as my local library had just gotten all most all the Trixie books in as a donation, I got first read.
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Post by Claire on Jan 14, 2013 14:31:40 GMT 1
Its a good name
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Post by tintin on Jan 14, 2013 14:56:36 GMT 1
Thanks all, especially Susan and Rally.
I am looking into the differences between UK and US Military Hospitals, I have read some very good US histories and learnt a lot (including that the US soldier's relationship to ice is similar to that of the British soldier's to sausages and the French's to red wine - there is almost none so bad that they will not consume it), but they frustratingly fail to give a real ward level view. I asked an old friend who is a Spinal Injuries Specialist and former Captain and his advice was "read Cherry Ames"
When I looked her up I was very surprised it was girl's fiction.
I'll let you all know how I get on.
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Post by rallycairn on Jan 14, 2013 16:03:22 GMT 1
Interesting, tintin. I wonder what Helen Wells's background (creator of Cherry) is, i.e., her own nursing experiences, if any, or what research she herself did when she began the series.
Trixiepony, "way cool" about your forum name!
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Post by susanb on Jan 14, 2013 16:44:48 GMT 1
tintin, another (if you're not limited to WWII) book to check out is the original M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker. The author actually was a surgeon in a M*A*S*H unit in Korea, so it's right from the horse's mouth!
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Post by susanb on Jan 14, 2013 17:37:00 GMT 1
adding a (hopefully) useful link....a fan site created by a collector of girls series books: www.series-books.com/I've found it useful to look at editions and backstories for different series....there are pages for Trixie Beldon, Kit Hunter, Peggy Lane and Cherry Ames, among others.
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Post by trixiepony on Jan 16, 2013 23:32:26 GMT 1
Some off the Trixie books have sum horsey content not a lot there mystery books not pony book. The secret of the mansion well Trixie learned to ride I'm not shore if I remember much about it thow. The red trailer Honey and Trixie hire horses wile there hunting Jim, I remember it had plenty of riding and horses in it. Mm maybe what I'll do Claire is do this slowly on my computer then I can send it to you as a word or PDF.
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Post by tintin on Jan 21, 2013 14:56:41 GMT 1
I have to say I'm intrigued by Trixie Belden. I'm a bit of a railfan, mainly US steam, and I have a couple of New York Central videos featuring their main line up the Hudson Valley from New York to Albany. The scenery is fantastic - beautiful lakes, mountains and woods - not at all what a Brit like me would think of when you say New York. An incredible place for a young lady and her horse to have fun and adventures and get into scrapes.
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Post by rallycairn on Jan 22, 2013 23:24:28 GMT 1
Tintin, if you decide you want to give Trixie a try, let me know if you have any trouble finding some titles to get started! Try to read 1 Secret of the Mansion, 2 Red Trailer Mystery, 3 Gatehouse Mystery, and 4 Uninvited Guest first and in order, as it takes those books to introduce most of the main characters and setup.**
Trixie and Honey, plus Jim, in #1, Jim solidified into the family in 2, Trixie's brothers Mart and Brian are introduced in 3, and friend Diana in 4. Then read 5 because it's got a fair bit of horsey content and outdoor "stuff" as the kids take on patrolling a game preserve on horseback during the winter holidays -- plus some of the best humor in the series as tomboy Trixie assumes a feminine persona for ulterior motives (to help her brother). **A final core character is introduced in 8 The Black Jacket Mystery, too, BTW.
These are well-written books for a series; I don't think you would regret taking them up!
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Post by susanb on Jan 23, 2013 4:16:49 GMT 1
A note on both the Trixie Beldon and Cherry Ames books....they're actually back in print (at least some of them) with vintage cover art and original text. It looks like both series are availalbe through Amazon UK or through the Book Depository. The latter is my favorite place to get in-print books from abroad that aren't available in the US...free shipping! It works in reverse too....you can get books in the UK from the US, free shipping and no minimum purchase.
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Post by Claire on Jan 23, 2013 13:01:02 GMT 1
Some off the Trixie books have sum horsey content not a lot there mystery books not pony book. The secret of the mansion well Trixie learned to ride I'm not shore if I remember much about it thow. The red trailer Honey and Trixie hire horses wile there hunting Jim, I remember it had plenty of riding and horses in it. Mm maybe what I'll do Claire is do this slowly on my computer then I can send it to you as a word or PDF. Sorry Trixiepony missed this post - thanks very much. I actually feel like reading the Trixie books myself now after all the talk about them! Thanks for the info about the Book Depository susan I didnt realise you could get free shipping from the US. I'll have to check them out.
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Post by rallycairn on Jan 23, 2013 14:49:55 GMT 1
Susan, I think you might mean the Random House editions from the early 2000's -- unfortunately they only went up to title 14 or 15 in Trixie Belden and stopped. Guess they weren't selling well -- sigh. But the cover art is new, most definitely (look at the in-vogue full lips and huge eyes of Trixie! She looks like a guppy!) but they did reproduce the original Mary Stevens illustrations inside. Mary Stevens was the illustrator for the editions affectionately known as the "cameos" (with a cameo of Trixie on the cover) and the "cellos' for the Whitman cellophane finish that unfortunately peeled and flaked off! Despite my poking fun at the way Trixie is painted, the Random House editions are lovely. Solidly-bound hardbacks. However, I was hoping they would at least make it up to 16 in the series. That was the number of titles published when I first started reading Trixie Belden, and they were the newest editions at that time (now called the "short and uglies"), and had 16 Missing Heiress as a new book. There are some comments in this book by Trixie about wishing the Bobwhites (the name of their club) could go on as they are, and there is some additional info about Jim's past that gives him some living biological relatives, that made it a nice closing for the series. So in some ways mentally for me that is the endpoint for the series and the last "original" Trixie (just speaking of my subjective feelings). And I could have stopped reading Trixie then, age-wise. But then in the late 1970's they started printing a pb edition and the number of titles exploded. There are some fun titles in those later books, like the Headless Horseman, the Ghostly Galleon, and Saratoga, but by this point it is becoming increasingly implausible that the characters could have that many adventures, they have long since quit aging appropriately as they did in the first books, etc. and the books have become a bit more generic/cookie cutter. BTW, either some of the RH had a short print run or there is some other factor at work, because some of the RH titles have been on abebooks and the like for hundreds. I couldn't believe it when that happened, last time I checked. And I didn't quite get them all! I was too relaxed about getting them as they came out, obviously. Back to the entire series -- Personally, and Trixie fans can have strong thoughts on these subjects! lol, I can accept up to book 34 as canon, with less affection for any book past the 27 Ghostly Galleon, but I don't really acknowledge 35-39, which were original titles in the "square" pb editions of the 1980's. These are supposed to be shorter and not as well-written, but they are also usually quite expensive so I haven't acquired any EXCEPT the never-published but commissioned title 40 which circulates as a computer file among fans and I probably still have on a hard drive somewhere. It was blech. Good overview of titles and editions: www.trixie-belden.com/books/series.htm
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Post by rallycairn on Jan 23, 2013 15:25:45 GMT 1
Quick add to my huge comment, above: browsing abe now, and they've got a new condition Random House Mississippi (#15) for $264. Yikes! There are good/fair/used ones for much less, of course, but titles 9-12 are harder to find than the other RH editions.
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Post by susanb on Jan 23, 2013 17:46:04 GMT 1
I hadn't realized they (Random House) didn't go through the whole series, but reprint companies don't seem to do that...I expect, as you said, that demand fizzles out. The earlier titles do seem to still be fairly available...they're on Barnes and Noble and Amazon. I didn't notice at first, but 8 or so available as ebooks too, both for Nook and for Kindle.
Re the cover art....the format was enough like the Cameo editions that I didn't really notice....the series went through so many variations. Have to admit I wasn't a huge fan....Trixie was great, but the series had the one cliche that sets my teeth on edge....the Annoying Younger Sibling. Probably irritates me more because I'm an only...my friends who actually had younger siblings always list Trixie as their favorite series book (even those not interested in horses!).
Are there any titles where they ditch the kiddies? Maybe I'll have to give the series another shot.
Re the early Whitman "Cello" editions....easily the best cover art, but one cannot warn overseas friends enough....these books are set to self-destruct!
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Post by rallycairn on Jan 23, 2013 20:03:28 GMT 1
Oh, those Whitmans are horrible indeed. Not only the cello finish flaking, but the pages crack and break off at the corners, the bindings come apart -- shudder. The Cameos are much better in that the covers don't peel and I think the bindings are slightly sturdier. The Deluxe hardbacks, though, were excellent and still hold up pretty well.
I did love Trixie but I think it was in part availability. I would have rather been reading more straight horse books, but in those days school libraries and occasional city library visits were my only options, and I would read all the horsey titles they would have (agree with Susan's comment recently that KM Peyton got decent attention in American libraries in those days, so I read Flambards and Fly and Team way back when, and American authors like Lyons and Sam Savitt and Jean Slaughter Doty, but that was largely it) -- but the likes of Trixie were carried at local stores like Kmart and even some larger drugstores we had at that time, such as GC Murphy.
As a child of the suburbs (another shudder -- suburbs are cultural deserts, and when you are an American kid with no mass transit, you pretty much have to rely on an adult to take you places, so your life is largely school and home, unless you have involved parents), I was so glad to get any vaguely appealing book I could find, and I did resonate with Trixie's tomboyish, adventurous qualities. But in terms of depth of characterizations and so forth, they certainly don't compare to, say, a KM Peyton. But for comparison, they are worlds better than something like a Saddle Club, I think.
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Post by susanb on Jan 23, 2013 20:36:55 GMT 1
Oh yes.....miles better than any Saddle Club books! I know what you mean re the suburban wasteland...my town didn't even have a bookstore, though it did have a great library. Most of the books I got to own were Nancy Drews (because the local department stores carried them) and whatever I could get from Scholastic Book Fairs in school.
Have you read any of Vian Smith's work? If you like Peyton, I think you'll love his work as well. A British author, his work is actually better known in the US (and easier to find, and cheaper!)...I think, in part, because librarians (rightly) loved him. Mine certainly did!
Re Whitman....totally agree....the non-cello picture covers were mostly ok, the Deluxe were the sturdiest of the lot. None were as good as the Grosset & Dunlap paper/bindings though...such a pity! I've got the Robin Kane books (mysteries, some horse content) in what would be the Cameo era bindings.
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Post by Claire on Jan 23, 2013 20:39:43 GMT 1
Crikey I think I'll have to retitle this thread to Cherry Ames and Trixie Belden - hope you don't mind Tintin - it may be helpful to anyone browsing the forum.
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Post by susanb on Jan 23, 2013 20:41:24 GMT 1
LOL.....I just added Vian Smith and the Robin Kane series to the mix....it's out of control!
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Post by rallycairn on Jan 23, 2013 20:46:48 GMT 1
We're so, so bad, we just WON'T stay on topic! lolol
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